: Every now and then I print some of these posts and bring them in to work to see what my co-workers think. The usual responses are "This stuff is for leaders" or "Just a bunch of frustrated intellectuals with a lot of time on their hands." Yep, no vanguard here. Keep up the good work. : --
: McSpotlight: WW, it's called "empowering the individual"; to the point where someone can decide how they want to make the choices that shape their life. Freedom starts in your head; vanguards have no place there. It doesn't matter what you have in physical terms; without that freedom, you are a slave, pure and simple.
That's all fine and well... "Freedom starts in your head; vanguards have no place there." It's simple enough that even a child of 6 years can remember it and chant it. Anytime there is talk of actually organizing a movement where :::Heaven and Saints Forbid::: we may not agree with every single bit of personal dogma, some variation of just such a slogan is mouthed to the stormy applause of the 'Champions of Freedom.'As I recall, the ideas of the 'vanguard' as put forth by Lenin had these essential components:
- No revolutionary movement can be durable without a stable organisation of leaders which preserves continuity
- The broader the mass which is spontaneously drawn into the struggle, the more urgent is the need for such an organisation
- That such an organisation must consist mainly of people for whom revolution is their profession
- Any organisation of full-time professional revolutionaries must eradicate any distinction between workers and intellectuals
- In no way will the professionals be aiming to "think for everyone..." because professional revolutionaries will come from the masses in ever increasing numbers as the revolution broadens
Now I'm open to discussing any possible refutations to this Leninist formulation but beware... I have no patience for strawmen defenses and non sequiturs.
"Philosophy is to life as masterbation is to sex." --Marx
