Can a Leninist Party succeed without a Lenin?
The Monroe News  A standard in contemporary political discourse is to smear your opponents rather than engage their arguments or programs. Thus Trump, an anti-dictator as he freed up the common man from excessive taxation and regulation and increased his take-home pay, allowed him to worship as he pleased and bake cakes for whomever he wanted and not force nuns or doctors to violate their consciences, was called Hitler. Not that there was a thing Hitlerian about what he was doing, but simply that Hitler was the worst insult imaginable. However, when it comes to Democrats, when I cast about for historical parallels I cannot help but notice the party is now become a Leninist party. For those of you unschooled in Russian history, Vladimir Lenin was a Russian revolutionary who emerged from exile in 1917 to take over the Bolshevik party and overthrow the newly created and unstable republic that had succeeded Tsar Nichols II. It is a fascinating dramatic history, and I urge you to read about it. Lenin was a Marxist, believing in the historical inevitability of the working classes taking over capitalist societies. The insight in classical Marxism was, as the proletariat became ever more immiserated by bourgeois capitalism, the increasing numbers of the oppressed would inevitably overcome the decreasing numbers of the ever-richer oppressors and the whole capitalist system would collapse. Everybody would be equal, and the state would wither away. Lenin, however, saw that this process was taking too much time. What Is To Be Done? he famously asked. The first problem was the immiserated werent aware of their oppression. Life, by fits and starts, was getting better. Reform, that great enemy of revolutions, was occurring with increasing frequency. The masses needed to be led, needed to be shown, despite the evidence of their senses, that things werent getting much better and for that a core of true believers - Bolsheviks, in this case - had to be assembled. These true believers, however, couldnt come from the unaware masses, but had to come from the middle and upper classes who had the education and the theoretical knowledge to understand the true nature of the system they had to overthrow. These cadres would lead the oppressed, kicking and screaming, if need be, into the better tomorrow. This core, in turn, had to be led by a central group who set policy and agenda - the Bolsheviks were quite clear they were not forming a debate society. Finally, at the top, there had to be a supreme leader who had the will, persistence, vision, and courage to shape the whole apparatus. Lenin. Thus was formed the dictatorship of the proletariat. Not a dictatorship like Caesar or Napoleon, but a dictatorship by and for and of the people.  To bring this about, propaganda and organizing and agitation had to expand the core, convincing more and more workers, peasants and other oppressed classes just how bad off they were. In the higher echelons of society, the universities had to be penetrated since it was from the educated classes that more of the core had to be recruited. In addition, youth returning home from university indoctrination could sow dissension among these upper classes, convincing them of the rottenness of traditional society and ways of doing things. Finally, since the ends were so noble, there should be no scruple about the means. Violence and unrest could help destabilize the existing order. People who were resistant to accepting the theory could be cowed into submission one way or another. Despite the Bolsheviks best efforts, however, the masses refused to go along. But then a great crisis occurred -- World War I -- and the whole system of traditional Russia was shaken to its foundations, and Tsar Nicholas the Second, the last of the Romanovs, was simply not up to the challenge. When collapse came, the Bolsheviks were ready. We shall explore that next week. Charles Milliken is a Professor Emeritus after 22 years of teaching economics and related subjects at Siena Heights University. He can be reached at milliken.charles@gmail.com.