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While Marx surely thought his program was in the best interests of the proletariat, the dictatorship was a dictatorship not a democracy: "The most effective le

While Marx surely thought his program was in the best interests of the proletariat, the dictatorship was a dictatorship not a democracy: "The most effective lever for the achievement of this object is the conquest of political power. With its aid the proletariat can consciously carry out the transformation of a Capitalist into a Communist society. To this transformation, there also corresponds a political transition period, the state of which can be nothing else than a revolutionary Dictatorship of the Proletariat." — Marx, Letter to the German Social Democracy, 1875 The Khmer Rouge was that "political transition period" Marx spoke of.

handol 6y ago
Marx considered the Paris Commune to be a good example of what he had in mind. "The Commune itself–the government formed by the workers–was made up of representatives of the various wards of Paris, elected by the citizens and recallable from office at any time. The majority of its members were workers or acknowledged representatives of the working class. Rather than a parliamentary body (such as the Congress in the U.S.), the Commune both made decisions and carried them out." — https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-5/rcp-paris-commune.htm https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-5/rcp-paris-commun...
- dr_dshiv 6y ago
  But then he said this: "...to concentrate as much power as possible in the hands of the State. They need not be misled by democratic platitudes about the freedom of the Communes, self-determination, etc.”
  - handol 6y ago
    from: https://archive.org/stream/twospeechesbykar00marx/twospeechesbykar00marx_djvu.txt https://archive.org/stream/twospeechesbykar00marx/twospeeche... He's saying don't be fooled by people picking up our talking points, a revolution in Germany will be hard pressed to prevent the country from fragmenting. Federalization in Germany, a nation just forged from a patchwork of feudal estates, would invite an immediate return of society to a feudal configuration.

handol 6y ago

Marx considered the Paris Commune to be a good example of what he had in mind. "The Commune itself–the government formed by the workers–was made up of representatives of the various wards of Paris, elected by the citizens and recallable from office at any time. The majority of its members were workers or acknowledged representatives of the working class. Rather than a parliamentary body (such as the Congress in the U.S.), the Commune both made decisions and carried them out." — https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-5/rcp-paris-commune.htm https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-5/rcp-paris-commun...

dr_dshiv 6y ago
But then he said this: "...to concentrate as much power as possible in the hands of the State. They need not be misled by democratic platitudes about the freedom of the Communes, self-determination, etc.”
- handol 6y ago
  from: https://archive.org/stream/twospeechesbykar00marx/twospeechesbykar00marx_djvu.txt https://archive.org/stream/twospeechesbykar00marx/twospeeche... He's saying don't be fooled by people picking up our talking points, a revolution in Germany will be hard pressed to prevent the country from fragmenting. Federalization in Germany, a nation just forged from a patchwork of feudal estates, would invite an immediate return of society to a feudal configuration.