Marxism and the Party

The question of party organization has been a central concern of Marxists for more than a century. In this book, John Molyneux examines the contributions made by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg, Leon Trotsky and Antonio Gramsci. Molyneux takes as his central theme the concern of these revolutionaries with the relationship between the party and the working class. Following from this, he explores such questions as the independence of the party, spontaneity and class consciousness, democracy and centralism, drawing out the implications of these debates for the revolutionary socialist party today.