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Vladimir Lenin's Conception Of The Vanguard Party

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Vladimir Lenin’s conception of the Vanguard [Communist] Party developed from his commitment to bring about a revolution of Communist ideals. Lenin thought that this Communist Party is the “organ of revolutionary consciousness” to keep the revolution in the eyes of the proletariat (COFI 1993). The Vanguard Party helps the proletariat carry out its goals of revolution by promoting class consciousness. According to Lenin, the concept of the Vanguard Party was quite simple. At the forefront of the Russian Revolution of October 1917, there was a need to establish political consciousness of the proletariat as a whole. The proletariat needed to understand its objectivity in economic society and the Vanguard Party was going to help achieve that goal. Because the party was a grassroots type organization, the proletariat would develop consciousness through a collective struggle of the masses. This collective struggle would later transform to be the basis of the party. This collective struggle was also necessary since the proletariats class consciousness and revolutionary outlook aren’t even distributed among the proletariat. Further, political consciousness would develop through a dialectical method of thought and action/transformation. This dialectical method would compel the proletariat to become conscious of the injustices they face and form a revolutionary party to carry out their ideals. The Vanguard Party will help transform this consciousness to revolutionary communism through

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