What dictatorship of the proletariat meant to
Marx and
Engels (someone may argue that at least in their flourishes and
festival orations..)?
Engels told us to look at the Paris Commune -- according to him that was exactly dictatorship of the proletariat what was practised there. And what it practically meant?
- There wasn't special army troops but everyone bore a weapon i.e. free arming of the people.
- No representative nor official got more salary than an average worker.
- All the representatives were changeable at any time. There wasn't a certain period of time for leaders to remain in the power but there was a sort of continual election.
But after all, there's no point anymore to masturbate with the theoretical meaning of the term. The catastrophical expirement of the Soviet Union wiped out all other meanings of the term. It should be clear that dictatorship of the proletariat means nothing but the right for the state bureaucracy to exploit proletariat in the name of the proletariat. You're a class enemy, you should be punished.
But afterall, I heard that a couple of years ago when hard core communists in Russia found a new party they chose to name it The Party of Dictatorship of The Proletariat. When asked, they said that the term socialism doesn't get any sympathy in Russia but this term is much more positive. Well, we have seen some people carrying the placards of Stalin (Iosif Vissionaryevich Djugashvili), so...