An earlier post here put the re-occurring question as to what if Trotsky became the General Secretary instead of Stalin. Let's bring some new blood into these hypotheticals. Forget Trotsky. What if Bogdanov wasn't hounded out of both his leadership position and subsequently the party by Lenin (for example Lenin dies in 1909)? Would we see a more democratic and more science based Soviet society emerge after the revolution without the superstitious excesses of anti-intellectual careerists, without the heavy handed approach of the military-originating cadres, without the cult of personality and rabid censorship of forward thinking schools of thought and individuals? Would, in essence, the Soviet Union have been able to wield authoritarianism and militancy necessary for its survival without the crippling paranoia wasting away its best and brightest and giving way to cynical careerism?
What's this, a well thought out post in my chapo?!
Seriously though you raise some great points. Especially the need for active participation in parliamentary politics, Lenin is electoralism done exactly right. And my view on this is actually very similar - the Soviet project needed Lenin's "boorishness" to get going because a less self-assured leader setting the course would probably not have been able to decisively exploit the chaotic situation to topple the state in the right way and navigate all subsequent perils but cooler heads post Civil War and a more collegial decision making at the top would have lead to a healthier and more sustainable society. If nothing else (and it was a lot of else), one thing Bogdanov got right: the ensuing society recreates the internal structure of the foundational organisation leading that society.
100% agree with this. I forget the name Bogdanov gave to that process, but when I read about it was like "uuuuuhhhhhhhhhh wow that's scary accurate."