Jacobinism (n.) is associated with a tightly-organized band of co-believers forcing the pace of history which refuses to accept such limitations to political strategy as the level of industrial development, class formation, culture and consciousness.
Jacobinism (n.) is concerned with a self-selected elite who anticipates and acts on the yet-unrecognized will of the masses on their behalf.
Jacobinism (n.) is grounded in the claim that to wait for transformation would be cowardly and counter-productive, and what is needed is a cohesive organization of dedicated men who would lead a coup, seize state power, and utilize it to inaugurate the socialist transformation of Russia.
Jacobinism (n.) is the idea that a self-selected elite, by dint of their knowledge, dedication and selflessness, had a surer grasp of the needs of the ordinary people than the people themselves could possess.
Jacobinism (n.) is the idea that the path to secure the support of the people lay through the prior seizure of state power: Not through a majority to state power, but through state power to a majority.
Jacobinism (n.) is the idea that, given the state's control of education, the church and the army, it was illusory to expect widespread revolutionary consciousness before the revolution.