What Is to Be Done? (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781025484280)

In "What Is to Be Done?", V.I. Lenin presents a foundational argument for the formation of a vanguard party to lead the working class toward revolution. This influential political treatise addresses the organizational challenges facing the Russian social-democratic movement at the turn of the 20th century. Lenin critiques the prevailing trends of "economism," which prioritized immediate labor reforms over broader political struggle, arguing instead for a highly disciplined and centralized organization of professional revolutionaries.

The work explores the crucial distinction between trade-union consciousness and revolutionary consciousness, asserting that the latter must be brought to the proletariat from without by a dedicated intelligentsia. By outlining the necessity of a clandestine, well-structured party and a centralized newspaper to coordinate efforts, Lenin provides a blueprint that would eventually shape the Bolshevik party and the course of the Russian Revolution. "What Is to Be Done?" remains an essential text for understanding Marxist-Leninist theory, the history of political organization, and the development of 20th-century revolutionary movements. This rigorous analysis of strategy and tactics continues to be studied for its insights into political mobilization and the dynamics of ideological struggle.

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