Re: [OPE] Post on the German and Russian working class movements

[Post wrote:]
> Lenin
> did not claim or develop an original 'theory of the party,'

THis is, at best, partially correct. Lenin may not have
thought that his conception of party organization was entirely
original, but he bears some responsibility for attempting to
have other socialists outside of the Bolsheviks agree to a
similar conception. This happened with the passage in 1920
of the 21 point conditions (which Lenin championed) by the Second
Congress of the communist International
http://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/2nd-congress/ch07.htm

While there were historical reasons for why Lenin advocated the
21 point conditions (mostly related to the view by the Bolshevik
leadership on alleged 'sabotage' of the Hungarian Soviet Republic
by leaders of the Hungarian Social Democratic Party and complicity
by Social Democratic ministers in Germany in repression and attacks
on workers' organizations), the effect was profound on other
political parties outside of the Soviet Republic who wished to
identify with the Communist International and on subsequent
generations of communists.

While the 21 points weren't exactly a "sincerometer" (Serrati),
their consequence was to push a particular conception of party
organization ('democratic centralism' is #13 of the 21 conditions)
and take away some level of autonomy of affiliated parties.

In solidarity, Jerry
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Received on Sun Jan 9 09:33:15 2011