Revolutionary prisoner Kevin "Rashid" Johnson breaks down the nature and necessity of a Marxist-Leninist vanguard organization, while responding to anarchist and anti-authoritarian critics. As he argues,
"In case you didn’t notice, it’s the wealthy minority who the entire political system and its parties serve in capitalist society, and it’s against the working class, poor and other marginalized groups that their laws, courts, police, military, prisons, etc. exert control. This is why you have no genuine ML parties (I should say MLM parties) operating legally in any capitalist country.
"The bourgeoisie everywhere is very class conscious; and remains vigilant in keeping the workers atomized; divided against each other along racial, gender, national, religious and other lines; and focused on immediate individual survival needs. To counter this, to awaken, unite, organize and coordinate the proletariat as a common class against bourgeois rule, requires a leading organization that is totally committed in theory and practice to, and is rooted in, the working class. This is what the MLM revolutionary vanguard party is all about and why it’s needed."
Rashid is the Minister of Defense of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party (Prison Chapter). More on his situation, and other of his writings, can be found on his website at rashidmod.com