Skip to content

The Good Vanguard, Bad Vanguard Strategy

November 9, 2026 · 19 min

Show notes

New Discourses Bullets, Ep. 193 Radical movements often tend to advance themselves by means of a vanguard approach in which a radical front pushes the issues and agenda forward while the bulk of the movement comes behind. The Communist dictator Vladimir Lenin was famous tor using this approach to conquer Russia and establish the Soviet Union. The thing is, a more sophisticated strategy doesn't use just one vanguard, but at least two, or maybe more. A "bad vanguard" pushes things too far while a "good vanguard" advances the real agenda, like a game of "good cop, bad cop" but for radical movement politics. In this episode of New Discourses Bullets, host James Lindsay explains this more sophisticated technique of radical advancement and exposes the strategy. Join him to understand what is happening around you even now, as we speak. Support New Discourses: https://newdiscourses.com/support Follow New Discourses on other platforms: https://newdiscourses.com/subscribe Follow James Lindsay: https://linktr.ee/conceptualjames © 2026 New Discourses. All rights reserved. #NewDiscourses #JamesLindsay #vanguard

All episodes of New Discourses

Settings

Display

Language

Decides which stations you see first on the home page.

History

Recently played stations and episodes and your latest searches are only stored in this browser.

Notifications

A short notice when a podcast you follow has a new episode. Turn off single podcasts with the bell on their page.

Account

Save favorites – in the app and on the website.

Keyboard shortcuts

/
Open search
Space
Play or pause
← →
In the player: back 15 s, forward 30 s (episodes) · in a row: next tile
↑ ↓
In a row: target within the tile
Home / End
In a row: first or last tile
Esc
Close window or menu
?
This overview
Now playing

Go to station page

Play next

    Add episodes with “Play next” – they play after the current episode.