Essay on The Right Marxism
Now I want to share some of my understanding of Marxism and analyze what Bolsheviks misunderstand about it.
One mistake Lenin made is that he thought it’s possible to make a socialism society now. His judgment was based on Marx’s writing in 1859: “…it (stage of society) will always be found …when the material condition … or are at least in the process of formation.” He thought “vanguard-ism” was a solution to this, but that’s not accurate. Marx emphasized the words “material condition”, which (our still backward) Russia by no means has. How can a socialism society first occur in this poorly industrialized country when all the advanced countries are still capitalism countries?
I believe Marxism as a science. It claims that revolution will happen by its own, when all the condition (of economy, circumstance, ect.) is met (1). However, in Lenin’s theory, there must be a disciplined party: “The role of a vanguard fighter can be fulfilled only by a party that is guided by the most advanced theory.”(Lenin, What Is to Be Done, reader pp.40) He did not believe spontaneous workers’ struggle, and want the party member to “guide” the revolution to the right destination. He called workers’ consciousness “trade union