: The idea that Marxist revolution shall spontaneously arise from the atomized members of the working class---or the trade unions---is sheer bunk. A vanguard is necessary to lead the revolution. To repudiate the idea of a revolutionary party is to repudiate the idea of revolution.I agree. Nikolai Bukharin rightly pointed out that if a class were inwardly unified, the formation of a party would be superfluous. My concern is that Lenin's concept of party organization (though it presupposes the fact - the actuality - of the revolution) leads to the eventual subordination of the proletarian movement to the central committee. As Rosa Luxemburg reminded us in 1904:
Let us speak plainly. Historically, the errors committed by a truly revolutionary movement are infinitely more fruitful than the infallibility of the cleverest Central Committee (Leninism or Marxism, p. 108, The University of Michigan Press, 1976).
