I’ll admit I’m not super knowledgeable on the inner workings and operations of groups like the Bolsheviks, but before revolutions how did the professional revolutionaries necessary to lead the party, whether it be Stalin or Deng Xiaoping, get money to live? Whether organizing within the country or living in exile, they still need to eat and pay for things. What financially allows professional revolutionaries to make revolution their profession, so they can devote their time and energy fully to the cause without having to work a day job? The necessity of such a day job is what typically stops many from being able to become professional revolutionaries, as there are no doubt many Lenins and Sankaras in the world who aren’t able to change the world due to their necessity to have to work a job in order to live and survive.

How can modern organizations and parties implement structures to facilite a class of professional revolutionaries?

  • HiImThomasPynchon [des/pair, it/its]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    I’m no expert on the lives of the revolutionaries, but to take an educated guess: publishing.

    There’s a lot of time to think when you’re in exile, and thinkers tend to write. They almost certainly struggled, as publishing isn’t the most stable source of income, but it’s something.