Lenin silenced opposition by branding all dissent as counter-revolutionary

Evidence

To Lenin, the party was the possessor of true historical consciousness, and was the true instrument of history. The party was Marxist theory in practice. It did what it did because the proletariat had demonstrated that it was insufficiently class-conscious. It followed, then, for Lenin, that opposition to the tasks defined for itself by the party could only come from two sources: the reactionary bourgeoisie on the right, and the pseudo-Marxist, petit bourgeoisie “intellectual” opportunists on the left. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1035

Categorization

• XREF: Relates to ‘The Defeat of the Spanish Armada’ and Frankfurt School accounts of Leninism as vanguard ideology; also connects to the party-as-vanguard concept given elsewhere in Black Marxism.