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As long as the bourgeois parliament remains a means of duping the workers, and phrases about 'democracy' are used to cover up financial swindling and every kind of bribery (the particularly 'subtle' brand of bribery the bourgeoisie practise with regard to writers, N.P.s, lawyers, and others is nowhere to be seen on so wide a scale as in the bourgeois parliament), we Communists are in duty bound to be in this very institution (which is supposed to express the people's will but actually covers up the deception of the people by the wealthy) to untiringly expose this deception, and expose each and every case of the Renners and Co.'s desertion to the capitalists, against the workers

Vladimir Lenin#38

PoliticsCorruptionActivismParliament

About this quote

What does it mean?
Lenin urges Communists to stay in bourgeois parliaments to expose deception and financial bribery that hides workers’ exploitation.
In plain terms
He says activists should infiltrate institutions to reveal corruption.
What can you take from it?
Engage within existing systems to uncover and fight exploitation.

Where it applies

  • political strategy
  • anti‑corruption work

Putting it to work

  • monitor legislative actions
  • publicly expose bribery

Questions to consider

  • Can infiltration achieve lasting change?
  • What risks do activists face inside such institutions?

Another view

Working inside a corrupt system may legitimize it.

More from Vladimir Lenin

  1. The 'democratisation' of the ownership of shares, from which the bourgeois sophists and opportunist so-called 'Social-Democrats' expect (or say that they expec…

    Permalink to quote #37
  2. And, indeed, there could not be any other grouping among our students, because they are the most responsive section of the intelligentsia, and the intelligents…

    Permalink to quote #39
  3. The bourgeoisie are today evading taxation by bribery and through their connections; we must close all loopholes.

    Permalink to quote #36

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