Adventurism

Adventurism is the emphasis on spontaneous action which can be undertaken by either individuals or organizations, usually political organizations such as political parties.

For example, anarchists are usually proponents of individual actions as a basis for collective actions, which means that any action that undermines the state in any capacity, however insignificant, is desirable. Acts such as tagging a wall with symbols is, in their practice, a way of raising individual consciousness for anarchism (and once enough people are convinced of anarchism, then they can start a collective anarchist revolution). It can be done by a single person at any time, without prior planning or organizing, but ultimately only results in making the city pay to send a worker to clean up the graffiti.

For Marxist-Leninists, adventurism is undesirable as it indicates a lack of discipline and a lack of understanding theory. It is also important for a communist party to be united against onslaughts from the bourgeoisie and as such members are encouraged not to deviate from the party line and act by themselves, as these acts can be unpredictable for the party. Marxist-Leninists also understand change in society comes through the class struggle and it is of the utmost importance to rally the proletariat behind a strong party that is able to answer their material needs. Adventurist acts such as the assassination of a politician, no matter how far to the right they may be, do not essentially raise class consciousness or start the premises for the revolution (as the politician will be replaced by another of their class).

History

Anarchists Mikhail Bakunin and Louis Blanqui promoted adventurism and propaganda of the deed in the 19th century.

Further Reading

• Vladimir Lenin (1914). Adventurism. [MIA]