The Vanguard of the Revolution

Why do we have to accept a Party as the Vanguard of the Proletariat? Can't the Proletarians govern themselves? How can we trust an Elite to bring us Communism?

Regarding the Party topic, I would like to point out here that it is necessary for a Vanguard of the Proletariat, and that is the Party. As how Lenin explained it, the Party is practically what moves the Proletariat, the one that guides it to the correct path and the one that supervises the establishment of Socialism and transition to Communism.

Frankly speaking, I do conclude that it is too idealistic to believe that the masses; a heterogeneous collective that is practically unbound by any direct relation; to be able to safeguards the gains of the Revolution and to draw the necessary line, by themselves, that needs to be followed in order to achieve Communism.

You mentioned above, rhetorically, if the proletarians cannot govern themselves. The answer to this is simple; they can govern themselves, and the Party is the actual method/way through which they govern themselves, for that the Party represents the Interests of the Proletariat. It is also incorrect to assume that the Party, as a whole, is something "distinct", "unbound" to the Proletarians, and that the Party monopolizes the Power and that the Workers have none. The Party is, in essence, the will of the Proletarians.

You have rhetorically forwarded the following question: "How can we trust an elite to bring us Communism?". This "elite", as how you named it, possesses class-consciousness and acknowledges the Marxist Theories, Principles, etc, and this "elite" is the one to posses the required "qualifications" in order to combat the threats that arise in the path of the Proletariat and its struggle for Communism; whether we talk about the Imperialist Threat, Economic Problems, and so on.

Comrade, I would like to invite you to an exercise of imagination. How can the Proletarians achieve the Power and maintain it, thus, govern themselves, if not by the Party of the Proletariat?

"The greatest contribution to the arsenal of Marxism since the death of Engels in 1895 was Lenin’s conception of the vanguard party as the organiser and director of the proletarian revolution." (The Revolutionary Party & Its Role in the Struggle for Socialism, James P. Cannon)