The fundamental idea we hold is that the State exists to concentrate power and that concentrated power always corrupts the holders of it. “Corrupt” in this case meaning that human beings cannot resist the temptation to use power for self-serving ends.
Would you be interested to learn that Marxists also hold a version of this as one of their most central ideas? States are instruments by means of which one class dominates another, they exist for no other reason. The point of Marxism is not that we can have Good Kings who will pursue altruistic justice, but that by having the working class, the majority, in power by means of proletarian democracy, the majority will use its power for its own selfish interests.
The success of these projects is another issue, as both Lenin and Stalin recognized some of the bureaucratic issues in the Soviet Union and Mao literally started a second civil war against the bureaucrats (that he resoundingly lost), but that’s not really the point in question.
So the workers will rise up and collectively self-actualize but then who will lead them into this? If spontaneous collective action was going to arise, then it would have. Historically, it seems like revolutions mostly require leaders and and up operating in microcosm to the system they are rebelling against.
This is also basic Marxism, though it’s worth noting of course that spontaneous collective insurgencies do happen pretty often historically. Regardless, this issue of the fact that we can’t just rely on spontaneous mass action is central especially to Lenin’s theories regarding the “vanguard” and discussions about how to bridge this apparent gap between masses and vanguard are some of Mao’s most important contributions as well.
Would you be interested to learn that Marxists also hold a version of this as one of their most central ideas? States are instruments by means of which one class dominates another, they exist for no other reason. The point of Marxism is not that we can have Good Kings who will pursue altruistic justice, but that by having the working class, the majority, in power by means of proletarian democracy, the majority will use its power for its own selfish interests.
The success of these projects is another issue, as both Lenin and Stalin recognized some of the bureaucratic issues in the Soviet Union and Mao literally started a second civil war against the bureaucrats (that he resoundingly lost), but that’s not really the point in question.
This is also basic Marxism, though it’s worth noting of course that spontaneous collective insurgencies do happen pretty often historically. Regardless, this issue of the fact that we can’t just rely on spontaneous mass action is central especially to Lenin’s theories regarding the “vanguard” and discussions about how to bridge this apparent gap between masses and vanguard are some of Mao’s most important contributions as well.