View source for Rhetoric:Socialists Hate Democracy

{{Rhetoric}}
The notion that socialists, and in particular Marxist communists, hate democracy is common yet utterly false. While the views of certain currents on democracy diverges (e.g. Bordigists), the general consensus is that '''socialism is democratic''', albeit in a ''new'' way.

Marxists hold a ''dialectical'' viewpoint on democracy, one grounded in class analysis. We view democracy in its relationship to the greater society and class struggle. We understand that democracy and dictatorship can co-exist. In what way? Democracy for one class and dictatorship for the other.

No existing societal formation is wholly democratic. In ''dictatorships of the bourgeoisie'' (virtually all existing countries in the current age), democracy exists for a tiny minority of the population (bourgeoisie) which imposes dictatorship on the overwhelming majority (proletarians). 

In this respect, all existing societies prior to socialism have been ''minoritarian'' — ruled by a small grouping of the population.

In what way does socialism-communism diverge? It is ''majoritarian'' — ruled by the vast majority.

<blockquote>"[...] this period [the transition from capitalism to communism] inevitably is a period of an unprecedently violent class struggle in unprecedentedly acute forms, and, consequently, during this period the state must inevitably be a state that is democratic in a new way (for the proletariat and the propertyless in general) and dictatorial in a new way (against the bourgeoisie)." —Vladimir Lenin, 1917, ''The State and Revolution''</blockquote> 

'''In summary:''' Socialists advocate democracy, but understand that it can only be for a particular class, the proletariat. It is liberalism to call for democracy for "all" or a state which stands above classes for that matter.

[[Category:Rhetoric]]