Leninism as an organizing form can be adopted apart from its Marxist content.

Evidence

The most fundamental difference between classical anarchism and this tradition is that anarchists reject this intermediate phase. But as an organizational philosophy, “Leninism” can be adopted by groups of diverse ideological stripes. Lenin argued for a small vanguard of professional revolutionaries, strictly disciplined and hierarchically organized. “Democratic centralism” meant that decisions were made democratically, but once the Party had made one, everyone would adopt that line and work toward it collectively. If you didn’t like it, that was fine, you didn’t have to be in the Party. — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 80

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies that ‘Leninism’ names both an ideology and a transferable organizational structure of democratic centralism.
• XREF: Connects to later chapters on mass protest movements borrowing Leninist organizing despite rejecting its ideology. — connects to: Movements differ from parties by making ideology an organizing principle — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 629; Organizational rupture with old socialism did not require ideological rupture too — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 95

Broader Connections

• Organizational rupture with old socialism did not require ideological rupture too #corroborates (0.85) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 95
• Movements differ from parties by making ideology an organizing principle #qualifies (0.72) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 629