"The Party is the highest form of organisation of the proletariat. The Party is the principle guiding force within the class of the proletarians and among the organisations of that class. But it does not by any means follow from this that the Party can be regarded as an end in itself, as a self-sufficient force. The Party is not only the highest form of class association of the proletarians; it is at the same time an instrument in the hands of the proletariatfor achieving the dictatorship, when that has not yet been achieved and for consolidating and expanding the dictatorship when it has already been achieved. The Party could not have risen so high in importance and could not have exerted its influence over all other forms of organisations of the proletariat, if the latter had not been confronted with the question of power, if the conditions of imperialism, the inevitability of wars, and the existence of a crisis had not yet demanded the concentration of all the forces of the proletariat at one point, the gathering of all the threads of the revolutionary movement in one spot in order to overthrow the bourgeoisie and to achieve the dictatorship of the proletariat. The proletariat needs the Party first of all as its General Staff, which it must have for the successful seizure of power. It scarcely needs proof that without a party capable of rallying around itself the mass organisations of the proletariat, and of centralising the leadership of the entire movement during the progress of the struggle , the proletariat in Russia could not have established its revolutionary dictatorship."
More by Joseph Stalin
See allResonant Thoughts
"Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do. On the one …"
"These thirty years, and more, that I've spent among exotic, barbaric, indomitable gods and goddesses, nourished on myths, obsessed by symbols, nursed and bewitched by so many images which have come do…"
Explore Further
Related Quotes
"On March 22, at 5 pm stand on your doors and windows for 5 minutes and clap, ring a bell to salute people w…"
— Narendra Modi"As a non-Arsenal player I would say Ryan Giggs is my Premier League player of the decade because he has com…"
— Arsène Wenger"was influenced by the sounds of the ambiance .. ..was only musical, to the detriment of the volumes and the…"
— Gino Severini"What you have to watch out for are the theories that claim to be infallible. Because the only way their bel…"
— Robert X. Cringely"How you gonna win when you ain't right within?"
— Lauryn Hill"Eudoxus was perhaps the greatest of all Archimedes's predecessors, and it is his achievements, especially t…"
— Thomas Little Heath