Substitutionism

Substitutionism is a term in Marxist theory which refers to the relationship between the revolutionary party and the working class, where the former's activity substitutes the latter's. It is seen as an inverse to classical Marxism, where the "emancipation of the working class must be the work of the working class itself". The term was coined by the Russian revolutionary, Leon Trotsky in 1904, as a warning against what he saw as a flaw inherent in Lenin's conception of the party.