On Sun, Nov 30, 2025 at 10:59 PM, Mark Baugher wrote: > > As others have pointed out, democratic centralism does not originate with > Lenin. It is a natural way for people to organize ourselves when we need > to (1) come to an agreement as peers before taking action and (2) > committing to joint action and not to undermine it.
It's true that the Leninist organizational form shares with other political tendencies a commitment to disciplined action on the basis of prior shared agreement, but what is distinctive about it is its selectivity. Membership is not open to all who apply but only in theory to the most politically conscious and dedicated activists, representing the working class"vanguard" who benefits from the party's attention to furthering their political education and organizing skills and directing and sustaining their mass activity. I'm indebted to the training I received when I belonged to such groups early in my political development and for this reason would not discourage young radicals from joining them though I would warn them to expect sectarian and undemocratic deformations resulting from their political isolation in a down period far removed from the revolutionary and militantly reformist class struggles of the past. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#39569): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/39569 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/116549413/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
