Class Independence
계급독자성
The core Marxist principle that the working class must maintain political, organizational, and ideological independence from the capitalist class and its parties. Marx formulated it at the 1871 London Conference: "The workers' party must never be the tagtail of any bourgeois party; it must be independent and have its goal and its own policy." Lenin later developed it as a tactical cornerstone in debates over how revolutionaries should relate to liberal and labor parties. Class independence finds expression in refusing electoral support for capitalist parties but ultimately demands that the working class build its own political representation, organization, and program.
Sources
- Marxists Internet Archive Marx's 1871 London Conference speech: foundational formulation that the workers' party must be independent, not a tail of any bourgeois party
- communistusa.org Contemporary Marxist explanation: class independence defined as political, organizational, and ideological independence from the capitalist class
- tempestmag.org Debate between Tempest and Left Voice on class independence as the strategic dividing line in socialist strategy, including Lenin's approach to broad parties