@SovietReporter asked a really good question on c/askLemmygrad, and later on I stumbled on a text by Huey Newton that synthesises well the need for a vanguard party, so I decided to share it here for more visibility.
Choice quote from the text:
The relationship between the vanguard party and the masses is a secondary relationship. The relationship between the members of the vanguard party is a primary relationship. It is important that the members of the vanguard group maintain a face-to-face relationship with each other. This is important if the party machinery is to be effective. It is impossible to put together functional party machinery or programs without this direct relationship. The members of the vanguard group should be tested revolutionaries. This will minimize the danger of Uncle Tom informers and opportunists.
The main purpose of a vanguard group should be to raise the consciousness of the masses through educational programs and certain physical activities the party will participate in. The sleeping masses must be bombarded with the correct approach to struggle through the activities of the vanguard party. Therefore, the masses must know that the party exists. The party must use all means available to get this information across to the masses. If the masses do not have knowledge of the party, it will be impossible for the masses to follow the program of the party.
(It was a really good question, @SovietReporter@lemmygrad.ml.)
I was curious, so I went up a level to the Black Panthers section of Marxists.org: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/workers/black-panthers/
This is more information I’ve had about the Black Panthers than anything that was taught or explained to me in school. Even by this short overview of their history, it is clear to me just how tapped in the panthers were to their community, and how much of a threat to the establishment they were. If they were not such a threat, they wouldn’t have been so aggressively targeted.
I wholeheartedly recommend reading every single one of the texts archived at the MIA about the Black Panthers, specially for USians. They’re the most didactic and practical ountraslated English-language texts one can find on communist activity, with the added benefit of countering effortlessly the whitewashed narrative of the 60s to the 80s of the US most people learn in school (both in the USA and abroad).
You can also listen to interviews and speeches from Huey or Bobby Seale (sadly I couldn’t find much in audio from Fred Hampton).
I found YouTube links in your comment. Here are links to the same videos on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Link 1:
Link 2:
