Amadeo Bordiga’s Critique of Democracy: A Revolutionary Perspective

Amadeo Bordiga had no time for democracy.

He wasn’t one of those guys who would smile and nod, hoping that this time, the system would work out.

No, Bordiga knew the score. His critique of democracy wasn’t some late-night rant at a bar after too many drinks, but a well-thought-out, revolutionary philosophy.

He didn’t just want to change the system; he wanted to shatter it, and rebuild it from the ground up.

You can’t reform something that’s already a rotten carcass.

And democracy? It was the grease that kept the machine of capitalism running smoothly. He saw it, and he wasn’t fooled.

A Little About the Man Behind the Theory

Before diving into the critique, let’s know the man himself.

Amadeo Bordiga (1900–1970) was an Italian Marxist revolutionary, political theorist, and one of the founding members of the Communist Party of Italy (PCd’I).

His early political activism began in the 1910s, and by 1921, he was already shaping the direction of Italian communism.

Bordiga’s views put him at odds with many reformists and the Soviet model later on, especially under Stalin’s reign.

He was a critic of bourgeois democracy and firmly believed that any form of cooperation with capitalist structures—like parliamentary democracy—was a betrayal of the proletariat’s true revolutionary potential.

Bordiga’s revolutionary ideas led him to challenge both the capitalist state and the bureaucratic degeneration of the Soviet system.

He was against the belief that communism could coexist with bourgeois democracy or capitalism.

His contributions would shape the left-communist movement, and though his strict positions often left him on the fringes, they also kept his message clear and undiluted.

Now, let’s get back to that message.

1. Democracy as Capitalism’s Best Friend

Bordiga wasn’t just ranting for the sake of it. He was sharp, and his message was clear: bourgeois democracy isn’t about the people.

It’s about keeping the rich rich. The system wants consultation with the masses, but it already knows the answer.

The majority will always vote to protect the privileged class, and in turn, that class will keep governing.

The idea that democracy allows people to shape their destiny?

Bordiga would laugh at that. You’re not voting for freedom; you’re voting to keep your chains well-oiled.

2. Democracy: The Ultimate Illusion

Bordiga wasn’t anti-democracy for no reason. He was anti-bourgeois democracy.

And that’s an important distinction. In his view, democracy was a tool for the capitalist class to maintain its dominance, a smoke-and-mirrors act.

“Bourgeois democracy” wasn’t democracy at all.

It was a polished facade hiding the dictatorship of the capitalist class.

No one tells you that when you vote, you’re giving the ruling class the power to keep exploiting you, right? It’s all an illusion.

3. Proletarian Democracy vs. Bourgeois Democracy

You might think, “Hey, Bordiga sounds like a guy who just hates democracy. What’s he advocating for, then?”

Here’s where it gets interesting. Bordiga believed in “proletarian dictatorship,” but not in the way you’d think.

He wasn’t calling for a totalitarian regime; he was calling for a new form of democracy—one that actually liberated people.

Proletarian democracy, according to Bordiga, meant breaking the chains of capitalism and letting the proletariat take control.

It wasn’t about giving power back to the masses as they are now, but empowering them in a way that didn’t maintain the current class structures.

It wasn’t “democracy” as we know it—it was the death of bourgeois democracy, a truly revolutionary version.

4. Democracy Is a Trojan Horse for Reformism

Bordiga was no stranger to the dangers of reformism. For him, the call for democracy within the communist movement wasn’t just naive—it was counterproductive.

Why? Because it allowed revolutionaries to buy into the system’s legitimacy.

Once you start believing that democracy is the answer, you’re no longer focused on a full revolution.

You’re playing the game by the rules of your oppressors. For Bordiga, it wasn’t about tweaking the system; it was about dismantling it entirely.

5. The Myth of Majority Rule

One of Bordiga’s favorite targets was the belief in the “wisdom of the masses.”

Democracy’s so-called virtue was that the majority opinion would guide society, but Bordiga saw this as another myth.

For him, the majority could be dead wrong, and their vote would always be skewed by capitalist interests.

It’s not about “what the people want” in a democracy—it’s about what the system needs to keep functioning.

Bordiga didn’t think the majority was always right; in fact, he saw them as victims of the very system that told them they had a voice.

6. The Russian Revolution and the Dispersal of Revolutionaries

Bordiga’s critique of democracy was also rooted in history. Take the Russian Revolution, for example.

After the revolutionaries fought hard to overthrow the tsarist regime, they brought democracy back into the fold, and Bordiga believed that this was their undoing.

The reintroduction of democracy in Russia didn’t empower the working class; it dispersed the revolutionary movement.

Democracy, in his eyes, was the poison that diluted the purity of the revolutionary cause and turned it into something manageable by the ruling elite.

7. Bordiga’s Defense of Democracy—Sort Of

Before you label Bordiga as an all-out anti-democratic zealot, hold up.

He didn’t completely write off democracy. He recognized that while bourgeois democracy was a tool of oppression, proletarian democracy could serve a revolutionary function.

His criticism was not of democracy itself, but of the kind of democracy that reinforced capitalism.

True democracy, in Bordiga’s view, would involve the masses, the proletariat, in the struggle against capitalist oppression, but not in the way the bourgeois democracy pretended to.

It wasn’t about representation; it was about revolution.

Table Summary:

Point #	Key Concept	Bordiga’s Critique
1	Bourgeois Democracy as Capitalism’s Ally	Democracy serves to maintain capitalist power.
2	Illusion of Democracy	Democracy under capitalism is a facade for capitalist dictatorship.
3	Proletarian Democracy	Bordiga advocates for a new form of democracy under proletarian control.
4	Democracy as Reformism	Democracy within communism is counterproductive reformism.
5	Majority Rule Myth	The majority isn’t always right; democracy manipulates the masses.
6	The Russian Revolution	Democracy’s return diluted the revolutionary spirit in Russia.
7	Defense of Proletarian Democracy	Bordiga defends a form of democracy for the proletariat, not the bourgeoisie.

Conclusion:

Bordiga’s didn’t just hate democracy; he saw through it like cheap plastic.

For Bordiga, democracy was the trick the capitalist system used to keep you believing you had a say.

But Bordiga wasn’t against the idea of democracy entirely. He was against the version that propped up the very system that crushed people.