Vanguardism

Vanguardism, refers to a form of organization in which the "Vanguard", i.e the most class-conscious and politically advanced sections of the working class, organizes according to the principles of Democratic Centralism. The word vanguard means to lead the front of an army, to be at the forefront of a movement a struggle. In order to be at the forefront of this struggle, to lead it forward, the vanguard must have a direct and actionable tie to the working class struggle. As Lenin said, "A vanguard performs its task as vanguard only when it is able to avoid being isolated from the mass of the people it leads and is able really to lead the whole mass forward. Without an alliance with non-Communists in the most diverse spheres of activity there can be no question of any successful communist construction." [1]

Any organized contingent of Vanguard, such as a pre-party formation, newspaper, journal, etc. must prove itself through it's actions, it's praxis, to win over the masses of the Vanguard to the side of Marxism-Leninism, to build the Communist Party. To quote Lenin, "it is not enough to call ourselves the “vanguard”, the advanced contingent; we must act in such a way that all the other contingents recognize and are obliged to admit that we are marching in the vanguard." [2]

Theory is also of incredible importance to any organized contingent of the Vanguard, which has a duty and obligation to study theory so as to come to the correct line, to be prepared for the struggle ahead of us. While speaking on the political situation of Russia in 1902, lenin pointed out that, "We shall have occasion further on to deal with the political and organizational dues which the task of emancipation of the whole people from the yoke of autocracy imposes upon us. At this point, we wish to state only that the role of vanguard fighter can be fulfilled only by a party that is guided by the most advanced theory." [3]

References

[1] Lenin 1922, https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1922/mar/12.htm

[2] Lenin 1902, https://www.marxists.org/ebooks/lenin/what-is-to-be-done.pdf

[3] Lenin 1902, https://www.marxists.org/ebooks/lenin/what-is-to-be-done.pdf