vanguardism

[van-gahr-diz-uhm]

noun

1. the beliefs and activities of persons who consider themselves to be leaders in a particular field or school of thought.

Other Word Forms

• vanguardist noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of vanguardism¹

vanguard + -ism

Example Sentences

When Rufo described his role, and that of other right-wing intellectuals at the conference, as "providing intellectual guidance, a new vocabulary of subversion, and a narrative that can direct the emotions and energy of the public against the right targets," Harrington diagnosed that as an idea borrowed "from the Leninist idea of 'vanguardism': the idea that an elite whose consciousness has already attained greater revolutionary heights should lead and mobilize the masses in transforming the world for the better."

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The danger of this a priori politics is vanguardism, under which acolytes of an ideal believe that the ideal is more important than how they reach it.

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According to Mr. Walzer, the left’s vanguardism has put it in bed with dictators, fanatics and activists who reject reasoned debate as a means to democratic change.

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Their ultimate goal—a muddled vanguardism in which they imagined their actions would spark a general uprising—might have been preposterous, but after Hearst signed on to their mission, they planned and executed two bank robberies almost without a hitch, all while eluding the biggest manhunt in American history.

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He reminded us that a single artist could use vanguardism as mass culture’s minor seventh, that technical prowess was about dirtily programmed drum machines as much as it was about dazzling guitar fills.

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