Publication Details

Abstract

The light against bureaucratism belongs to one of the most important, yet less explored traditions of Marxism-Leninism. Bureaucratism is not the exclusively individual concern of this individual workers of an institution but it has a social substance and function of its own. In the first part of his work the author elucidates the essence and social function of bureaucratism in a by its class character antagonistic society. He demonstrates that the bureaucratic system and bureaucracy are the unavoidable products of society which is antagonistic owing to its class character. Bureaucratism in its totality of fetishized authoritative organs represents dehumanized, exterior forces, standing above the people and acting against the people. The author further demonstrates the way how „cults“ and „small cults“ of individual bureaucrats, secrecy and mystery do inevitably result from a bureaucratic system characterized by features of subordination. In a bureaucratic system it is not man controlling a function or bureau with his sense and feeling, but it is the function or bureau by which man is controlled. In the second part of the work the author shows that socialism is not immune against bureaucratism either which is proven first of all by the era of the personality cult where bureaucratic tendencies and phenomena were to be found in a particularly extended measure. The author discusses these tendencies and demontsrates the gnoseological and social roots of their existence. However, he also proves that bureaucratism is essentially strange to the socialistic system and is not accepted by it either as principle of life or as a system. Bureaucratism is the deformation of certain aspects of socialism; it is the shady side of socialism which in none of its stages can be reduced to bureaucratism. Socialism alone possesses force enough, capable to remove bureaucratism with all its consequences.