In order to understand what Lenin meant by the dictatorship of proletariat, we have to understand the circumstances of Lenin's writing. to say that Lenin diverted from Marx or aimed at "socialism in one country" is not enough. As Gramsci once pointed out that a political program of action (philosophy of praxis) requires political foresight first and taking advantage of the situation second in order to transcend the historical boundaries imposed on us. revolutionary strategy is a strategy of using the "conjunctural" conditions available to us (not necessarily mechanistically determined conditions) in the making of politics. Accordingly, what Gramsci had in mind was a critique of economism, which he associated with free trade ideology of liberals on the one hand and theoretical syndicalism of some leftists on the other (anarcho-syndicalism). Gramsci thought struggling for "immediate" economic interests detracted workers from larger goals, class consciousness and revolutionary strategy.
first, Lenin's observations of social democracy in Germany almost resonates the same critique. Lenin opposed to economic determinism and _mass spontaneity_ of Luxembourg the theory of vanguard party which would unite intellectuals, workers and peasants. as an intelligent strategist, Lenin aimed at abridging the gap between theory and praxis, working class struggle and intellectuals: he said in _What is to be done_ " the fundamental political tendency of Economism--let the workers carry the economic struggle (it would be more correct to say the trade unionist struggle, because the latter also embraces specifically working class politics) and then let the Marxist intelligentsia merge with the liberals for the political struggle". it was precisely this alienation of intellectuals from spontaneous activity Lenin was criticizing. Lenin saw its elitist consequences, and wanted to unite popular forces with intelligentsia under an organization called vanguard party. he strategically calculated the circumstances to bring about a more successful revolution. in my view, he did not divert from Marx. In this connection, Marx's statement too should be recalled where he says in the Poverty of Philosophy that " an important phase in the development of a social class is that in which the individual components of a tade union no longer struggle solely from their own economic inrests , but for the defense and development of the organization itself" (Gramsci, _Prison Notebooks, International Publications, p.162)
second, Lenin had political foresight. he knew that the working class did not constitute the majority of labor force in Russia. the labor force was largely dominated by peasants. Russia's economy was somewhere between agrarian capitalism and industrial capitalism. Thus, he rejected Luxembourg's critique that capitalism was almost irrelevant in Russia. Although the objective economic contradictions were not fully there for a revolution to take place , they were almost already there due to Russia's integration into world economy and "development of underdevelopment". When Lenin saw the situation, he realized that you can not make a revolution without support of the peasantry in an underdeveloped county like Russia. thus, he added to Marx's definition of proletariat "peasantry", particularly the "rural laborers" exploited by landlords in the country side. Lenin was realistic. Instead of waiting for capitalism to take place for years and years, Lenin took advantage of the opportunity by integrating the peasants into revolutionary process. it is natural that he was concerned with the immediate needs concerning Russia at that time. what can we expect? global miracle? in the 1917 when the IWW was still continuing?. let's be reasonable. Lenin did what needed to be done given the circumstances available to him. However, his strategy was also a model for underdeveloped countries in the periphery. It did not only have nation-wide implications but also global implications.
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Mine Aysen Doyran
PhD Student
Department of Political Science
SUNY at Albany
Nelson A. Rockefeller College
135 Western Ave.; Milne 102
Albany, NY 12222