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Archive : Ernest Mandel - Selected Works
The Leninist Theory of Organisation
The Leninist theory of organisation represents, broadly speaking, the deepening of Marxism, applied to the basic problems of the social superstructure (the state, class consciousness, ideology, the party). Together with the parallel contributions of Rosa Luxemburg and Trotsky (and, in a more limited sense of Lukacs and Gramsci), it constitutes the Marxist science of the subjective factor.
A serious discussion of the historical importance and current relevance of the Leninist theory of organisation is possible only if one determines the exact position of this theory in the history of Marxism - or to be more precise, in the historical process of the unfolding and development of Marxism.
The Marxian proposition that "the dominant ideology of every society is the ideology of the dominant class" appears at first glance to conflict with the character of the proletarian revolution as the conscious overturning of society by the proletariat.
The process whereby the proletarian mass, the proletarian vanguard and the revolutionary party are united depends on the elementary proletarian class struggle growing over into revolutionary class struggle.
It would be a great injustice to Lenin to characterise his life work as a systematic "underestimation" of the importance of spontaneous mass actions as opposed to their "appreciation" by Luxemburg or Trotsky.
The full value of the historic work of Trotsky and Rosa Luxemburg becomes clear in facilitating an understanding of the dialectical formula "working class - advanced workers - workers party."
It is a question of carefully distinguishing between an objectively conservative organisation and an objectively revolutionary one
The objection was made to Lenin’s theory of organisation that through its exaggerated centralisation it would prevent the development of internal party democracy.
The Leninist theory of organisation proceeds directly from this assessment of the position of the revolutionary subject.
The massive reintroduction of intellectual labour into the process of production brought about by the third industrial revolution has created the prerequisite for a much broader layer of the scientific intelligentsia to regain the awareness of alienation which it had lost through its removal from the process of direct production.
Once it is understood that the Leninist theory of organisation tries to answer the problems of the current potential for revolution and of the revolutionary subject, this theory then leads directly to the question of historical pedagogy.
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