"The Vanguard [consists of] the most class-conscious and politically 'advanced' sections of the proletariat; forms organizations to draw the working class to revolutionary politics and serves as manifestations of proletarian political power opposed to the [status quo]."
"Lenin argued that Marxism's complexity and the hostility of the establishment required a close-knit group of individuals pulled from the working class Vanguard to safeguard the revolutionary ideology."
"The Vanguard would protect Marxism from outside corruption from other ideas as well as advance its concepts, and would educate the proletariat in order to cleanse them of their 'false individual consciousness' and instill the revolutionary 'class consciousness' in them."
"[The Vanguard] would belong to the party cadres as professional revolutionaries, and would be elected to leadership positions by the mass party membership."
"Once the proletariat gained class consciousness and thus was prepared to revolt against the ruling classes, the Vanguard would serve another purpose. The Vanguard would coordinate the proletariat through its revolution by acting as a military command hub of sorts."
"This is, according to Leninists, a vital function as mass revolutions can sometimes be easily crushed by the disciplined military of the ruling classes. The Vanguard would serve as commanders of the revolt, chosen to their positions by 'democratic natural selection'."
"In Lenin's view, after the revolution the working class would implement the dictatorship of the proletariat to rule the new worker's state. Here it can be said that the vanguard disappears, as all of society now consists of revolutionaries." 👀
"In the praxis of political science, the concept of the Vanguard, composed of professional revolutionaries, was first effected by the Bolshevik Party in the Russian Revolution of 1917."
"Lenin, the first leader of the Bolsheviks, coined the term 'vanguard party', and argued that such a party was necessary in order to provide the practical and political leadership that would impel the proletariat to achieve a communist revolution."
"Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx presented the concept of the Vanguard as solely qualified to politically lead the proletariat in revolution in The Communist Manifesto."
"The Communists, therefore, are, on the one hand, practically the most advanced and resolute section of the working-class parties of every country, that section which pushes forward all others..."
"...On the other hand, theoretically, they have over the great mass of the proletariat the advantage of clearly understanding the lines of march, the conditions, and the ultimate general results of the proletarian movement."
"The concept of a Vanguard was used by the Bolsheviks to justify their suppression of other parties. They took the line that since they were the vanguard of the proletariat, their right to rule could not be legitimately questioned."
"Communist-inspired constitutions enshrined this by giving the Communist parties a 'leading role'—a provision that was interpreted to either ban other parties altogether or force them to accept the Communists' guaranteed right to rule as a condition of being allowed to exist."
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