"convinced that the working people would never become a reliable force for revolutionary purposes, Lenin developed the 'vanguard' concept. A party of professional revolutionaries was essential to lead the people through any successful revolution" jstor.org/stable/1408333 
"in order for the proletariat to acquire revolutionary consciousness, such consciousness must be 'instilled' in them by the elitist Communist Party 'from the outside.' Russian workers and poor peasants cannot on their own 'spontaneously' develop such consciousness"
"As professional revolutionaries, party members must make their commitment to the Marxist socialist revolution their life’s primary activity above all other considerations, including undertaking illegal underground activity"
"Lenin also thought a newspaper was the main medium for influence over the minds of Russian workers..brought out of their parochialism by a press that brought national and international outlooks to their attention...preparing them for an eventual, timely assault on tsarism"
"the elitism of intellectuals proved to be a barrier...socialist intellectuals tended to betray their cultural background. For their elitism was, in effect, a variant of the disdain shown by traditional intellectuals to manual workers throughout the history of class society"
"For Lenin and Trotsky a socialist intellectual had an ‘advanced’ consciousness...they prioritised the role of the vanguard of socialist intellectuals over the masses...Marxism as a utopia that promised liberation but delivered a dictatorship." amzn.to/3gXypfo
