Revolutionaries are those who stand up for what they believe in and fight for their political rights and beliefs. They must be held to complete secrecy. This secrecy allows for further planning and for ideas to progress without prevention. While reading What is to be Done, 1902 by Lenin, He establishes that revolutionaries are an essential part of forming the revolution. During this, he greatly discusses how he disagrees in every aspect with the economist’s perspective. Lenin believed that there are a list of standards that must be met in order for there to be a true revolution. These rules and standards enforce structure as well as leaders guidance. These leaders will help set the rules and regulations. Lenin believed that these revolutionaries should be giving their full attention to this revolution. This revolution should be their profession. He believed in no distractions.Lenin wanted as many organizations as possible to get involved but not to confuse the idea of a revolution with other illegal activities such as readings that were not supposed to be read. Lenin explains that those who are not willing to put in the effort and fight for what they believe in are not revolutionaries.
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In regards to Lenin and his piece, I agree with everything that you have written for it is clear and concise. However, after reading Lenin I am left questioning why Lenin wants these revolutionaries to be secret? You say in the first line that “Revolutionaries are those who stand up for what they believe in and fight for their political rights and beliefs,” which I agree with. But if revolutionaries “stand up for what they believe in,” how are they able to do so while being secret at the same time? Ultimately, this is the part of Lenin which confuses me and that I have been struggling with.
It seems to me that Lenin was contradicting himself for his own gain. He wanted people who were professional revolutionaries to form a central revolutionary group–a group that he would presumably be a member of. His want for such groups to be secretive makes sense then, as he would not want too many non-professional revolutionaries to interfere with the revolutionary work.
Lenin discusses in his piece the necessities of being a revolutionary, and the steps needed to ensure that its distinctions are met. Breaking down barriers between people seem to be a key aspect i.e the worker vs. the intellectual, if one was to be deemed a “revolutionary”. Mentioned in the comment above and more along your piece as well, I have some concern as to how revolutionary activities must be engaged with as a profession, but also kept completely secret as possible to outside parties. Those two things cannot coexist in a “general living” sense. He calls for the largest number of these organizations but not to confuse them with revolutionary parties as people must train themselves to Social Democratic activity and to become professional revolutionaries.