They point out that he wrote during a time of raw industrialism, an era of robber barons and the fourteen-hour work day. According to his critics, this prediction has proven wrong. “Marx believed that as wealth becomes more concentrated, poverty will become more widespread and the plight of working people evermore desperate. To be sure, the working class, like any mass group, needed organization and leadership to wage a successful revolutionary struggle, which was the role of a vanguard party, but that did not mean the proletarian revolution could be fought and won by putschists or terrorists.”īlackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism He advocated whatever diverse means were needed to advance the class struggle, including participation in parliamentary elections and existing trade unions. Far from being the totalitarian, tight-circled conspirator, Lenin urged the building of broad coalitions and mass organizations, encompassing people who were at different levels of political development.

He polemicized against isolated terrorist acts which do nothing but create terror among the populace, invite repression, and isolate the revolutionary movement from the masses. In fact, his statement was disapproving of terrorism. media commentators have repeatedly quoted Lenin in that misleading manner. “At the time of the 1 996 terror bombing in Oklahoma City, I heard a radio commentator announce: 'Lenin said that the purpose of terror is to terrorize.' U.S.

Inventing reality by michael parenti