Three fronts of the class struggle

Submitted by Anon on 5 March, 2006 - 11:18

In What is to be Done? (1902) Lenin quoted Engels from the Peasant War in Germany (1874) on the significance of theory in the Marxist movement.

Lenin wrote: "the role of vanguard fighter can be fulfilled only by a party that is guided by the most advanced theory Engels recognised, not two forms of the great struggle of Social Democracy (political and economic), but three, placing the theoretical struggle on a par with the first two."

Engels wrote: "It must be said to the credit of the German workers that they have utilised the advantages of their situation with rare understanding. For the first time in the history of the labour movement the struggle is being so conducted that its three sides, the theoretical, the political and the practical economical (opposition to the capitalists), form one harmonious and well-planned entity. In this concentric attack lies the strength and invincibility of the German movement...

"It is the specific duty of the leaders to gain an ever clearer understanding of the theoretical problems, to free themselves more and more from the influence of traditional phrases inherited from the old conception of the world, and constantly to keep in mind that Socialism, having become a science, demands the same treatment as every other science - it must be studied."

The AWL places much more emphasis on Marxist self-education than do most left-wing groups.

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