Volume 3,Issue 9
The Making of Bolshevik Organizational Theory: A Historical Overview, 1850–1924
The organizational theory of the Bolsheviks was a systematic doctrine gradually developed by Lenin through his practice of founding and leading the Russian proletarian party. Its core lay in constructing a highly centralized, disciplined, and operationally effective vanguard party through principles such as “democratic centralism.” From a historical perspective, this article focuses on the critical period from the late 19th to the early 20th century when this theory took shape. By examining the domestic and international context of the time, the polemics between Lenin and factions such as the “Economists” and the Mensheviks, and analyzing key texts like What Is To Be Done? and One Step Forward, Two Steps Back, this study aims to dynamically reconstruct the complex historical process through which Bolshevik organizational theory evolved from its inception and foundation to its eventual establishment.
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