On Strategy and Tactics Marxism and Electoral Politics

The rise of Syriza and Podemos alongside debates amongst Egyptian and other socialists about participation in parliamentary elections has reignited considerable interest across the international left about the issue of parliamentary elections. It is hard to imagine a more apt moment for the publication of August Nimtz’s study of Lenin’s practical and theoretical engagement with this subject. While praising Nimtz’s scholarship, this essay challenges his interpretation of the relationship between strategy and tactics in Lenin’s thought and the position of elections therein. It concludes with an attempt to unpick what is of general significance in Lenin’s engagement with electoral politics from more local details of interest only to scholars of Russian history.