The Dictatorship of the Proletariat: what does it mean?

Paris Commune 1871 -- the first workers state

by John Maryon

The qualitative transfer of society from obsolete capitalism to progressive socialism is the historical mission of the working class. Karl Marx, Frederick Engels and Vladimir Lenin developed an essential and powerful ideological theory to achieve scientific communism.  A cornerstone of Marxism-Leninism is the need for a revolutionary change to bring about the dictatorship of the proletariat.  Those opposed to Marxism-Leninism are at pains to deny this essential process and foster an illusion of gradual transformation using the bourgeois state apparatus. In effect tinkering with a collapsing system and incorrectly assuming that the working class will grow in terms of knowledge and understanding. In practice the power of the bourgeoisie needs to be challenged by the united efforts of all sections of the working class.
To fully understand the dictatorship of the proletariat it is important to be aware that it does not imply the use of force or threats against others. In Marx and Engel’s days the term "dictatorship" didn’t mean autocratic one-man rule in the way we understand it today. They used the term to mean class rule. In the capitalist era we live under the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. The dictatorship of the proletariat means the working class taking power to establish a new type of democracy.  To organise the economy to benefit the former exploited classes.  To raise political and social awareness of the masses.  And to stimulate progressive cultural developments. This would see an end to identity politics, elevation of trivial diversions above matters of substance, the greed and corruption of lobby groups and the politics of hate, blame and exclusion that we experience in Britain today. The Paris Commune gave a first glimpse of the dictatorship of the proletariat in action. Tinkering with the bourgeois machinery of the state will achieve nothing. It must be replaced with a new management apparatus as an essential prerequisite for building true sustainable socialism. 
The basis of the dictatorship of the proletariat lies in the creative organisational activity in leading the masses towards building a new form of society. Lenin emphasised that it is the rule of the working class through strength of organisation and discipline using all the achievements of culture, science and technology.  Also to develop proletarian affinity with all working people to develop prestige and respect.  It may take different forms and methods depending on the nature of the socialist revolution, the existing social structure, the level of economic development and cultural background.  Proletarian democracy systemically creates a state of the whole people with the working class playing the leading role.
 Lenin said that capitalism condemns the masses to a downtrodden, crushed, anxious existence. A gigantic apparatus of falsehood and deception hoodwinks the workers sowing confusion, fostering ignorance and stultifying their minds. We see this in Britain today. It is obvious that we have reached a great watershed in our political system. As the capitalist crisis has developed the establishment is no longer able to govern in in the traditional manner.  There is an increasing risk of neo-fascists gaining power and influence. Today the population of Britain is largely politically ignorant, is incapable of critical or analytical thinking and has sadly becoming brainwashed by continuing propaganda.  Multiple colour leaflets issued by Reform reflected the politics of blame and hostility but ignored austerity, affordable housing, crumbling infrastructure, a collapsing health service or job security. 
So what political forces are there left in Britain today that can defend workers rights, educate and enthuse the masses for something better? The Labour party has for the past century been the main political party for workers in Britain forming an essential component of the labour movement.  Sadly it has always been dominated by its right wing with affinity to social democracy. It has a long history of betrayal.  Ramsay Macdonald, the first Labour prime minister, started progressively by recognising the Soviet Union shortly after Lenin's death and by opposing imperialist wars but was to later betray the party by forming a National Government with the Conservatives. The tremendous social progress made immediately following the Second World War was implemented only because of the pressure of the people who demanded change. Sadly the party has gone downhill since those halcyon times. With the abandonment of clause four and the establishment of New Labour the Labour Party abandoned any pretence of socialism.
We have always gritted our teeth and supported Labour because of its link to the trade unions. Today we face unprecedented changes which may forge new alliances in a totally different political landscape. If they can get their act together Your Party may play an important role for the left in Britain but will be limited in what it can achieve if it becomes just another hopeless social- democratic institution. Keir Starmer is on the way out but will his successor be any different? I very much doubt it.
One thing becomes immediately obvious. The urgent need is to build unity among all progressive forces to put forward the case for socialism. This is where a vanguard party like the New Communist Party of Britain has an important role to play.  We must grow to be more effective in motivation of the working class.  Don't delay join us today and help put Britain on the road to socialism. 

Marx through the eyes of his daughter

Review

by Ben Soton

Eleanor Marx: A Life by Rachel Holmes. Bloomsbury Publishing, London.
(2014) Hardback: 528pp; £22.50; (2015) Paperback: 528pp;

This is part of the history of the Marx family covering contemporary events through the eyes of his youngest daughter and contains plenty of useful information about the 19th Century. It goes into detail about both the Marx and the Westphalen (her mother’s maiden name) families, her parents’ courtship and her father’s friendship with Engels.

Eleanor Marx was born in Soho in 1855; by then her family had settled in London after having fled numerous European cities. From 1848, the Marx family faced permanent exile from Continental Europe after fleeing Paris that year; ironically only a few months earlier they had been welcomed back to the French capital after the overthrow of the King.

Growing up in romantic poverty, the Marx family on the one hand owned a piano (the home entertainment system of its day) whilst having trouble paying household bills. Her father, who briefly worked as a journalist for the New York Herald, was often forced to borrow money to settle his debts.

Holmes has carried out painstaking and detailed research in to the life of the Marx family; although at times I did find the level of detail somewhat intense.

Possibly history’s most famous childminder, her two elder sisters Laura and Jenny both had large families.

The author believes that “Karl Marx was the theory. Eleanor Marx was the practice”. She certainly was a political activist in her own right. She campaigned for Irish freedom, amnesty for the Paris Communards and against British imperialism’s involvement in the Sudan.  Eleanor Marx played a leading role in the British left’s first split when she joined the Socialist League when it broke with the Social Democratic Federation.

The book charts the ups and downs of Eleanor’s personal life. She was initially involved with the Communard Prosper-Olivier Lissagaray and later the prominent secularist Edward Aveling. It was her involvement with Aveling that led, on discovering his marriage to an actress, to her tragic suicide at the age of 43. The book reminds us that Eleanor Marx should be remembered as one of the great women of socialism. Her name belongs with the great women of socialism such as Rosa Luxembourg and Dolores Ibárruri rather than as a character in a cheap Victorian tragedy.

First published in 2014, this book was recently presented to me as a gift. It’s still readily available and well worth a read.

Red Salute to Marx in China

By New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks took part in an international seminar titled “Marxism in the 21st Century and the Future of Socialism in the World” that was held in People’s China last week. Over 100 leaders and representatives of 75 communist parties from 50 countries from around the world met in China’s innovative hub of Shenzhen to mark the 200^th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx.

Forty years ago Shenzhen was just a small fishing village on the border with the then British colony of Hong Kong. Now it is a hi-tech megacity with over 12 million citizens which some believe will eventually merge with Hong Kong to form the biggest city in the world.

Over 60 Chinese communist activists and scholars also took part in the conference which opened with the Internationale on Monday 28^th May. This was followed by a congratulatory message from Chinese President Xi Jinping, the leader of the Communist Party of China (CPC), in which he said that the CPC was willing to have more dialogues, deepen exchanges and cooperate with various political parties and organisations in the world, including communist parties, to promote the construction of a community with a shared future for humanity and a better world.

In terms of the nature of science and truth, influence and spreading scope, there is no thought or theory that can attain the height of Marxism, nor is there a theory that has had such a tremendous impact on the world in the human history of thought, Xi said.

“Chinese communists have been persistently adapting Marxism to the times and advancing its sinicisation and popularisation, scoring a series of achievements in theoretical innovation, promoting socialism with Chinese characteristics to enter a new era, and displaying the vigour and vitality of scientific socialism in the 21st century,” Xi said.

Song Tao, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China who opened the conference said that as China develops in the new era, it continues in the spirit of Marxism. He also said that the CPC will work and update the application of Marxism in building a shared community.

“Our ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’ is people centred. It is a theory and a practice for the people's self-emancipation,” Song said. “It is the people who will judge whether the CPC is doing a good job, unleashing their creativity and making them the masters of the nation”.

Senior communist representatives from Cuba, the Czech Republic, Russia, South Africa and Vietnam also spoke during the opening session.

            In his speech, Andy Brooks said: “In the opening words of the Communist Manifesto in 1848 Marx and Engels said ‘A spectre is haunting Europe - the spectre of communism’. That spectre is still there, despite all the twists and turns of the past 150 years. Now it haunts the entire globe because socialism is still charting the future in Asia, in Democratic Korea, People’s China, Vietnam and Laos and the Caribbean island of Cuba.

“While millions of people scrabble to earn a living just to keep a roof over their heads a tiny elite live lives beyond the reach and often beyond the imagination of most workers. Only socialism can end this. Only through socialism can the will of the masses, the overwhelming majority of the people, be carried out. Only socialism and mass democracy - not the sham democracy of the bourgeoisie or the myths of the social democrats, can end the class system and free working people from their slavery”.

Down House: A unique place in the history of science and evolution

by Carole Barclay

The works of Charles Darwin and Karl Marx shook and shocked Victorian Britain. Although they lived less than 20 miles apart from each other they never met. But Marx genuinely admired Darwin's On The Origin of the Species despite its “crude English style” and even sent Darwin a personally inscribed copy of the recently published second edition of Das Kapital in 1873.

            Down House was Darwin’s home for 40 years until his death in 1882. Darwin and his wife Emma remodelled the house and its extensive gardens, which Darwin used as an open-air laboratory. Here Darwin worked on his theory of evolution that was first published in 1859.

In Darwin’s day the house was in the village of Downe, a parish in Kent. It later became a girls’ school and the home of the Darwin Museum. Now part of Bromley in Greater London, the house, gardens and grounds is run by English Heritage and open to the public throughout the year.

            There’s plenty to see. Anyone interested in the life and times of Darwin will be fascinated by the gardens and the exhibits in the museum as well as rooms that have been restored to appear as they would have looked in Darwin’s day. There’s the inevitable visitors’ shop for books and souvenirs, and a very welcome café in the courtyard.

But beware – plan your journey unless you’re driving because it’s not easily served by public transport. Although you can get trains from central London to Bromley South or Orpington you’ve then got to get a bus for the rest of the journey.

Down House is in Luxted Road, Downe, Kent, BR6 7JT. The house, garden and grounds are open to the public at the usual English Heritage rates. There’s free parking and Down House opens daily from April to the end of October, and on weekends only from November until the end of March.