Audio's Daniel Bensaïd

In this part of lecture, Bensaïd talks about the "Leninist revolution" on organisational question. He continues discussing the involvement of workers, such as professional revolutionaries, or selection, or democratic centralism, which implies that the party will act as a single body through a discipline which submits minority to majority decisions in action. All these points may look technical or administrative, but are geared towards the same goal: to distinguish the party from the class, and to protect the party from the dissolving influence of the bourgeoisie in the daily struggle of the class itself. Establishing a borderline between the party and the class corresponds to a new concept of strategy. The break comes with Lukács, who underlines consciousness and the revolution becomes a strategy. For proletariat, the strategical goal is taking power and destroying the bourgeois state; and only the party can build conscious project and plan to solve this question of power. Leninist concept of party is intertwined with the concept of strategy, of taking power. Bensaïd sets out positions of the Mensheviks and Bolsheviks with respect to their conjectural differences. He then starts talking about the context of German Revolution as well as the problems of organisational conception and struggle for power, with references to Rosa Luxemburg, Trotsky and Lenin. The difference between Lenin and Trotsky when they entered the process of Russian Revolution: Trotsky had a clearer view of the dynamics of the revolution, but he didn't have the organisational tool for that. Lenin, although he had a more confused view at the beginning, had the organisational  mediation to correct his position and to put it into practice.

Lastly, Bensaïd talks about some polemical aspects of the Leninist theory of organisation. Bensaïd discusses the debates between Second International and Lenin. Theoretical and definitive clarifications on the concepts of party, soviet, trade union. Sovereignty of the Soviets above the party as a vanguard organisation. Bensaïd then talks about the question of programme. He underlines that the two following distinctions should be maintained and well understood to avoid complexities: party and class; system and principles. The distinction between party and class implies democratic centralisation, selection and concept of professional revolutionaries.

Bensaïd begins his lecture with a survey of the general conditions of building a revolutionary proletarian party. Under this heading, he sets out the differences between the proletarian revolution and the bourgeois revolution. The conditions of the exploitation of the proletariat reproduce the conditions of class and an alienated relation with the goals of production. Bensaïd relates these points to the party question, where workers need to organise themselves to take power. Bensaïd then discusses several points from Marx, Engels and the party question regarding building a proletarian conscious party. He underlines that the concept of the party in Marx and Engels was different from the concept of party in Lenin. The two meanings of party: historical party, and the conjunctural party. In Engels, revolution was a natural process and the party is not an active agent of the revolution. Bensaïd then moves onto the Leninist theory of the party, which is mainly taken as a technical process of organisation. The concept of "class party". However the key point is not the technical aspect, it's not the degree of centralisation or discipline; it is the delimitation of the party from the class.

In this part of lecture, Bensaïd talks about the "Leninist revolution" on organisational question. He continues discussing the involvement of workers, such as professional revolutionaries, and democratic centralism, which implies that the party will act as a single body through a discipline which submits minority to majority decisions in action. All these points may look technical or administrative, but are geared towards the same goal: to distinguish the party from the class, and to protect the party from the dissolving influence of the bourgeoisie in the daily struggle of the class itself. Establishing a border between the party and the class corresponds to a new concept of strategy. The break comes with Lukacs, who underlines consciousness. For the proletariat, the strategical goal is taking power and destroying the bourgeois state; and only the party can build the conscious project and plan to solve this question of power. The Leninist concept of the party is intertwined with the concept of strategy, of taking power. Bensaïd sets out positions of the Mensheviks and Bolsheviks with respect to their conjectural differences. He then starts talking about the context of German Revolution as well as the problems of organisational conception and struggle for power, with references to Rosa Luxemburg, Trotsky and Lenin. The differences between Lenin and Trotsky when they entered the process of Russian Revolution are discussed: Trotsky had a clearer view of the dynamics of the revolution, but he didn't have the organisational tool for that. Lenin, although he had a more confused view at the beginning, had the organisational mediation to correct his position and to put it into practice. Lastly, Bensaïd talks about some polemical aspects of the Leninist theory of organisation. Lenin's theory of organisation represents a very specific moment in the history of working class. Bensaïd mentions the debates between the Second International and Lenin and talks about the question of programme. He underlines that the two following distinctions should be maintained and well understood to avoid complexities: party and class; system and principles. The distinction between party and class implies democratic centralisation, selection and concept of professional revolutionaries.