Entryism

Entryism (or entrism or enterism) is a political tactic by which an organisation encourages members to infiltrate another organisation in an attempt to gain recruits, or take over entirely.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In situations where the larger organization is hostile to entryism, the entryists may engage in a degree of subterfuge to hide the fact that they are, in fact, an organization in their own right. In the case of the Militant Tendency, this was done by claiming that the tendency was in fact simply a newspaper, Militant, its editorial board and readers. Militant was open about its support for Trotskyism and revolutionary socialism. Other entryist groups have gone to the extent of hiding their political views as well as their organisational existence.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

An important thing to note is that entryism does not involve dissolving the small organisation into the larger one. Entryism is generally (but not always) done secretly and often in organisations run on democratic centralist lines. Entryism is a logical conclusion from Leninist political theory which postulates that a "revolutionary vanguard" can successfully foment a revolution within a larger capitalist society, but according to some the strategy of entryism is as old as politics itself.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Entryism is not an exclusively left-wing phenomenon; it is also found in the far-right entering mainstream right-wing groups. e.g. National Front infiltration of National Council of Civil Liberties in U.K, British National Party members joining the UK Independence Party.In the US the John Birch Society, and other groups were accused of entryism in relation to the surprise selection of Barry Goldwater as the Republican candidate for US President in the 1964 election.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Militant Tendency: The Militant Tendency was a Trotskyist faction within the Labour Party in the United Kingdom, accused of entryist tactics. They were most powerful during the 1970s and 1980s....

Trotskyism: Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself a Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party. He considered himself an advocate of orthodox Marxism. His politics differed in many respects from those of Stalin or Mao, most importantly i...

Socialism: Socialism is an ideology with the core belief that a society should exist in which popular collectives control the means of power, and therefore the means of production. In application, however, the de facto meaning of socialism has changed with time. Although it is a politically loaded term, it rem...