What Is to Be Done?
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What Is to Be Done? (1902) is a seminal work by Vladimir Lenin that outlines his vision for a revolutionary Marxist party. Lenin argued that the proletariat, on its own, would only achieve "trade-union consciousness" and not revolutionary socialism. He proposed that a disciplined, centralized "vanguard party" composed of professional revolutionaries was necessary to infuse the working class with socialist consciousness and lead the revolution. This party would act as the mentor and guide for the proletariat, directing them toward their true class interests. Lenin's ideas, detailed in this pamphlet, were crucial in shaping the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party.123
- communism - Bolshevism : Lenin’s revolutionary communism
- Marxism - Lenin
- Marxism - The dictatorship of the proletariat
- Russian Provisional Government - Lenin ’s arrival in Petrograd
- Vladimir Lenin - Formation of the Third International
- Soviet Union - Lenin’s disillusionment
- Vladimir Lenin - Formation of a revolutionary party of Vladimir Lenin
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political philosophyLeninAlready in What Is to Be Done? (1902), Lenin had argued that an educated elite had to direct the proletarian revolution, and, when he came to power, he dissolved the constituent assembly and ruled through a “revolutionary and democratic dictatorship supported by the state power of the…
Read MoreAlready in What Is to Be Done? (1902), Lenin had argued that an educated elite had to direct the proletarian revolution, and, when he came to power, he dissolved the constituent assembly and ruled through a “revolutionary and democratic dictatorship supported by the state power of the…
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communismBolshevism: Lenin’s revolutionary communismThe first, set out in What Is to Be Done? (1902), was that revolution could not and should not be made spontaneously by the proletariat, as Marx had expected, but had to be made by workers and peasants led by an elite “vanguard” party composed of radicalized middle-class intellectuals like…
Read MoreThe first, set out in What Is to Be Done? (1902), was that revolution could not and should not be made spontaneously by the proletariat, as Marx had expected, but had to be made by workers and peasants led by an elite “vanguard” party composed of radicalized middle-class intellectuals like…
Read More- MarxismLenin
…his pamphlet Chto delat? (1902; What Is to Be Done?), he specified the theoretical principles and organization of a Marxist party as he thought it should be constituted. He took part in the second Congress of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers’ Party, which was held in Brussels and London (1903), and…
Read More…his pamphlet Chto delat? (1902; What Is to Be Done?), he specified the theoretical principles and organization of a Marxist party as he thought it should be constituted. He took part in the second Congress of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers’ Party, which was held in Brussels and London (1903), and…
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socialismRevisionism and revolution…of the proletariat, arguing in What Is to Be Done? (1902) that the workers, left to themselves, would fight only for better wages and working conditions; they therefore needed to be educated, enlightened, and led to revolution by a “vanguard” party of professional revolutionaries. Moreover, the authoritarian nature of the…
Read More…of the proletariat, arguing in What Is to Be Done? (1902) that the workers, left to themselves, would fight only for better wages and working conditions; they therefore needed to be educated, enlightened, and led to revolution by a “vanguard” party of professional revolutionaries. Moreover, the authoritarian nature of the…
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