How should a proletarian party be organised?
“A party which has set out to lead the fighting proletariat must not be a chance conglomeration of individuals, but a united centralised organisation, so that its activities can be directed according to a single plan.” (‘The proletarian class and the proletarian party’ by JV Stalin, 1905) Having stressed that the party must comprise the best elements of the working class, Lenin exposed the back-door methods that the opportunists of the day were using to try to turn the party into a loosely-organised club, open in membership to anyone who cared to sign themselves up. The argument of the opportunists was that party membership should be based solely on an acceptance of the party programme and on “rendering” the party “regular personal assistance”. Martov went so far as to say that “Every striker should have the right to proclaim himself a party member.” But this opportunist formulation opens the door for party membership that does not require submission to real party discipline. It is the
