The Dictatorship of the Proletariat

[Kamerat Voldstad]

Yo, Comrades.

I post this half as a discussion, half as an educational question:
The dictatorship of the proletariat (the first phase of Communism, Socialism) is central to the slow step from Capitalism to Communism. But what does it mean on the concrete level when the Proletariat instead of the Capitalists become the leading class? What does this look like? I know, especially this question has to be settled according to the actual situation. What would it look like in Marx' time (the Paris Commune gives us a clue)? In Lenin's time? We know from Marx it should be a democracy, but what kind of democracy? Should it always be a democracy (Lenin didn't seem to think so - was it not valid for his situation?)? What do you think about these questions and the related ones, and which writers have adressed this task?

[Amusing Scrotum]

What does this look like?

It is incredibly difficult to predict what a post-Capitalist society would look like. All we can offer are vague pictures based on the little evidence we have.

In times where the working class has seized power, we have seen small ultra-democratic workers councils. Like the Soviets in Russia from 1917 to 1918. However these examples are few and far between.


What would it look like in Marx' time (the Paris Commune gives us a clue)?

I think the Paris Commune is the very least we should be striving for. Personally I think more democracy and more direct control is what we should try to achieve straight after the revolution.

Indeed if the Spanish Civil War is used as an example, we can expect councils and such to be set up during the revolutionary situation. I wouldn't rule that out from happening.


We know from Marx it should be a democracy, but what kind of democracy?

Direct democracy.


which writers have adressed this task?

I haven't got round to reading much of it yet, but a lot of Council Communist and Anarchist writers have outlined what a post-Capitalist society could look like.
______

You can if you wish, browse through this thread -- The principle of proletarian dictatorship, how do you think about it? (http://www.revolutionaryleft.com/index.php?showtopic=42974) -- however the thread did then move on a completely different course, but there will be some answers there for you.

[Amusing Scrotum]

Of course you can read Redstars site -- http://www.redstar2000papers.com -- and the relevant papers, to gain a perspective of what a post-Capitalist society could look like. Including the interesting idea of "demarchy" as the form of democracy.

[JKP]

Some of us advocate a direct transition to Communism.

[More Fire for the People]

But what does it mean on the concrete level when the Proletariat instead of the Capitalists become the leading class?
In two ways the working class will become the ruling class:
1. All representatives are to be workers, paid an average wage, directly elected, and recallable.
2. By directly participating in voluntary groups to aid development and demarchic institutions — like the police and local assemblies.


What does this look like?
I imageine a socialist state being a federation of communes. Like the Soviet Union but without centralised authority and bureaucracy.


I know, especially this question has to be settled according to the actual situation. What would it look like in Marx' time (the Paris Commune gives us a clue)?
Engels thought the Paris Commune was the ideal form of the dictatorship of the proletariat.


In Lenin's time?
Lenin had never experienced a proletariat revolution. He did not know what to do and using what he knew of Russian society, he tried to create a revolutionary movement and a socialist state. This resulted in a society that paradoxically half-democratic and half-centralized.


We know from Marx it should be a democracy, but what kind of democracy? Should it always be a democracy (Lenin didn't seem to think so - was it not valid for his situation?)?
I picture a socialist society as a decentralized representative democracy with widespread use of referendum and recall as well as demarchic institutions. Lenin thought that for a socialist state to survive, it would have to be in part centralized into a figurehead. Well, he was wrong wasn't he!