Page:Michael Velli - Manual For Revolutionary Leaders - 2nd Ed.djvu/107

 so that its personnel can be sheltered from accidents, fluctuations or intrusions deriving from uncontrolled or unreliable elements.

''ut there exists yet another danger. The leadership of the socialist party may fall into the hands of persons whose practical tendencies are in opposition with the program of the working class, so that the labor movement will be utilized for the service of interests diametrically opposed to those of the proletariat. —How can we let the mass movement against imperialism fall under such elements? We can't. We won't. We will not place our fate in the hands of 'leaders' who ignore the mass of working people and who pursue a line guaranteed to exclude proletarian organizations and individuals from even participating, much less leading the anti-imperialist movement. We cannot follow 'leaders' who bend every effort toward preventing the development of that movement. —Every effort would be made to eliminate potentially 'disruptive' elements. The point is that they're independent of the group which is in control, and because they, too, may grow in strength, they could pose a long-term, even immediate threat. —A party is part of a class, its most advanced part. Several parties and, consequently, freedom for parties, can exist only in a society in which there are antagonistic classes whose interests are mutually hostile and irreconcilable. Here there are only two classes, workers and peasants, whose interests—far from being mutually hostile-are, on the contrary, friendly. Hence there is no ground for the existence of several parties, and, consequently, for freedom for these parties. —The offensive mounted by capitalism against Marxism-Leninism forms the backdrop for all the reasons commonly given for opposing a Marxist-Leninist party: —"We do not know the exact extent of the practical demands which the leader'' makes. But we do know that his doctrine is a dogma fundamental to all spiritual and temporal craving for power, a mystic veil which obscures all furtive, hypocritical pleasure-seeking, we know that it serves to extenuate any infamy and that it is the source of much mental derangement." ''—To say that this—anti-leadership neurosis—is counter-revolutionary is not enough, because we overuse those words. It is 'the enemy within,' a destructive, wrecking force within the movement that uses revolutionary phrases to confuse, misdirect and slander people working for causes that serve people's needs. To potential revolutionaries and radicals we say BEWARE!''