--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: On the contrary, history generally…" description: "\"On the contrary, history generally confirms that the more conscious and the better you are organized in vanguard organizations, the more constructively..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/101/ernest-mandel-20715_class_on-the-contrary-history-generally-confir_2513830.jpg" --- # On the contrary, history generally confirms that the more… ![“On the contrary, history generally confirms that the more conscious and the better you are organized in vanguard organizations, the more constructively you operate in the mass organizations of the working class.” quote by Ernest Mandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/101/ernest-mandel-20715_class_on-the-contrary-history-generally-confir_2513830.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/101/ernest-mandel-20715_class_on-the-contrary-history-generally-confir_2513830.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/101/ernest-mandel-20715_class_on-the-contrary-history-generally-confir_2513830.jpg) > “On the contrary, history generally confirms that the more conscious and the better you are organized in vanguard organizations, the more constructively you operate in the mass organizations of the working class.” [Ernest Mandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-mandel/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. In leading-edge groups, high awareness and organization boost constructive impact on broader mass movements. **In simple terms:** Being organized and aware helps influence larger groups. Key Takeaway Leverage organization to benefit the masses. Themes leadership organization mass movements Mood analytical critical Type theoretical political When to use this quote - labor unions - political parties - community organizing Key Concepts Marxist theory collective action Questions to Reflect On - How can elite groups stay grounded? - What limits their impact on mass movements? A Different Perspective Effective influence also depends on external conditions and receptivity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Class](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/class/) [Conscious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conscious/) [Contrary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contrary/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Mass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mass/) [Mass Organizations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mass-organizations-1182940/) [Organization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organization/) [Organizations Constructively](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organizations-constructively-1182941/) [Organized](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organized/) [Organized Vanguard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organized-vanguard-1182938/) [Vanguard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vanguard/) [Vanguard Organizations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vanguard-organizations-1182939/) [Working class](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/working-class/) ## Related quotes > [Furthermore, there is absolutely no contradiction between the separate organizations of revolutionary vanguard militants and their participation in the mass organizations of the working…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-mandel/furthermore-there-is-absolutely-no-contradiction-between-the-separate/) [Ernest Mandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-mandel/) > [“Ultimately everything depends on the quality of the individual, but our fatally short-sighted age thinks only in terms of large numbers and mass organizations...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-g-jung/ultimately-everything-depends-on-the-quality-of-the-individual-but/) [C.G. Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-g-jung/) > [You need a vanguard organization in order to overcome the dangerous potential brought about by the uneven development of class militancy and class consciousness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-mandel/you-need-a-vanguard-organization-in-order-to-overcome-the-dangerous/) [Ernest Mandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-mandel/) > [The only conclusion you can draw from the real historical movement is that by and large, in day-to-day life, what Lenin called trade union…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-mandel/the-only-conclusion-you-can-draw-from-the-real-historical-movement-is/) [Ernest Mandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-mandel/) > [The Tea Party is a rear guard, not a vanguard.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-schumer/the-tea-party-is-a-rear-guard-not-a-vanguard/) [Chuck Schumer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-schumer/) > [At any point in the world's history most architecture is going to be bad but I think there's been a collective mentality since the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-meades/at-any-point-in-the-world-s-history-most-architecture-is-going-to-be/) [Jonathan Meades](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-meades/) > [The difficult and risky task of meeting and mastering the new . . . is not undertaken by the vanguard of society but by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hoffer/the-difficult-and-risky-task-of-meeting-and-mastering-the-new-is-not/) [Eric Hoffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hoffer/) > [You can't please everyone, especially if you're doing very radical things at the vanguard of cooking. That's life; it's a polemic I've lived with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferran-adria/you-can-t-please-everyone-especially-if-you-re-doing-very-radical/) [Ferran Adria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ferran-adria/) > [No one expects a Broadway musical comedy to be in the vanguard of what is bohemian, raunchy, folkloric, academic or aggressively experimental. That is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margo-jefferson/no-one-expects-a-broadway-musical-comedy-to-be-in-the-vanguard-of/) [Margo Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margo-jefferson/) > [The exemplary vanguard role of the Communists is of vital importance. Communists in the Eighth Route and New Fourth Armies should set an example…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mao-zedong/the-exemplary-vanguard-role-of-the-communists-is-of-vital-importance/) [Mao Zedong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mao-zedong/) > [I had met a young lady who wanted to be in the theater. It was Judy Holliday. She had somehow fallen down the steps…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolph-green/i-had-met-a-young-lady-who-wanted-to-be-in-the-theater-it-was-judy/) [Adolph Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolph-green/) > [The Vanguard Experiment was designed to prove that mutual funds could operate independently, and do so in a manner that would directly benefit their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-c-bogle/the-vanguard-experiment-was-designed-to-prove-that-mutual-funds-could/) [John C. Bogle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-c-bogle/) > [I love Vanguard. Sony was great too, but it was a different animal, it was so big. It's hard to get the big monster…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shawn-mullins/i-love-vanguard-sony-was-great-too-but-it-was-a-different-animal-it/) [Shawn Mullins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shawn-mullins/) > [I went down to the prison in Menard, thinking we were the vanguard, but down there, I got down on my knees and listened…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-hampton/i-went-down-to-the-prison-in-menard-thinking-we-were-the-vanguard-but/) [Fred Hampton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fred-hampton/) > [All black people who are even minimally conscious, black people who have ever experienced Europe's technological power crusading in the vanguard of a civilizing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-nkosi/all-black-people-who-are-even-minimally-conscious-black-people-who/) [Lewis Nkosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-nkosi/) ## More by Ernest Mandel > [For Marx, 'pure' economic theory, that is economic theory which abstracts from a specific social structure, is impossible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-mandel/for-marx-pure-economic-theory-that-is-economic-theory-which-abstracts/) [Ernest Mandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-mandel/) > [The only conclusion you can draw from the real historical movement is that by and large, in day-to-day life, what Lenin called trade union…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-mandel/the-only-conclusion-you-can-draw-from-the-real-historical-movement-is/) [Ernest Mandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-mandel/) > [Socialist democracy is not, a luxury and its need is not limited to the most advanced industrial countries.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-mandel/socialist-democracy-is-not-a-luxury-and-its-need-is-not-limited-to/) [Ernest Mandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-mandel/) > [And you cannot have a socialist revolution commandeered from the top, ordered around by some omniscient leader or group of leaders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-mandel/and-you-cannot-have-a-socialist-revolution-commandeered-from-the-top/) [Ernest Mandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-mandel/) > [Periodically, the workers do revolt against bourgeois society, not by a hundred, five hundred, or a thousand, but by the millions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-mandel/periodically-the-workers-do-revolt-against-bourgeois-society-not-by-a/) [Ernest Mandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-mandel/) > [Furthermore, there is absolutely no contradiction between the separate organizations of revolutionary vanguard militants and their participation in the mass organizations of the working…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-mandel/furthermore-there-is-absolutely-no-contradiction-between-the-separate/) [Ernest Mandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-mandel/) > [We do not believe that the Marxist program, which embodies the continuity of the experience of the actual class struggle and real revolutions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-mandel/we-do-not-believe-that-the-marxist-program-which-embodies-the/) [Ernest Mandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-mandel/) > [You can have relatively high levels of class consciousness with a lower level of class militancy than one would have expected.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-mandel/you-can-have-relatively-high-levels-of-class-consciousness-with-a/) [Ernest Mandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-mandel/) > [Socialist democracy is not a luxury but an absolute, essential necessity for overthrowing capitalism and building socialism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-mandel/socialist-democracy-is-not-a-luxury-but-an-absolute-essential/) [Ernest Mandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-mandel/) > [Revolution is not a goal in itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-mandel/revolution-is-not-a-goal-in-itself/) [Ernest Mandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-mandel/) > [Otherwise we get off the track and we do not fulfil the historical role which we want to fulfil: to help the masses, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-mandel/otherwise-we-get-off-the-track-and-we-do-not-fulfil-the-historical/) [Ernest Mandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-mandel/) > [For us, Marxism is always open because there are always new xperiences, there are always new facts, including facts about the past, which have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-mandel/for-us-marxism-is-always-open-because-there-are-always-new-xperiences/) [Ernest Mandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-mandel/) > [Factions are a sign of illness in a party.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-mandel/factions-are-a-sign-of-illness-in-a-party/) [Ernest Mandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-mandel/) > [For us, Marxism is always open because there are always new experiences, there are always new facts, including facts about the past, which have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-mandel/for-us-marxism-is-always-open-because-there-are-always-new/) [Ernest Mandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-mandel/) > [There has been hardly a single year since 1917, and in a certain sense since 1905, without a revolution somewhere in the world in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-mandel/there-has-been-hardly-a-single-year-since-1917-and-in-a-certain-sense/) [Ernest Mandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-mandel/) [Explore all 30 Ernest Mandel quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-mandel/) ## More Class quotes > [Where I grew up, learning was a collective activity. 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Wherefore, the law ought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-leo-xiii/it-must-be-assumed-and-established-as-a-principle-that-the-right-of/) [Pope Leo XIII](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-leo-xiii/) > [The rich people are apparently leaving America. They're giving up their citizenship. These great lovers of America who made their money in this country-when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernie-sanders/the-rich-people-are-apparently-leaving-america-they-re-giving-up/) [Bernie Sanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernie-sanders/) > [I certainly don't think that the heirs of the American Revolution were a particularly noble class.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-w-brands/i-certainly-don-t-think-that-the-heirs-of-the-american-revolution/) [H. W. 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It doesn't mean that race doesn't matter,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bell-hooks/right-now-for-many-americans-class-is-being-foregrounded-like-never/) [Bell Hooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bell-hooks/) > [But I don't think the Democratic Party is at eye level with the middle class.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/but-i-don-t-think-the-democratic-party-is-at-eye-level-with-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'm not a dancer. Never took a dance class.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chrishell-stause/i-m-not-a-dancer-never-took-a-dance-class/) [Chrishell Stause](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chrishell-stause/) > [Most startups are not just built for the person who is using them. 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