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Lenin #3
Lenin 1917-1923: The Revolution Besieged
When Vladimir Lenin and the Bolshevik party led the first successful workers revolution in history, they were under no illusions that their work was finished with the overthrow of capitalism in Russia. As the fledgling workers' state was gripped by a civil war, the revolution's leaders remained steadfast in their commitment to spreading their successes across all of Europe.
Tony Cliff (1917–2000) spent his life developing revolutionary Marxism against Stalinism. From his early days as a revolutionary in British-occupied Palestine to the high points of struggle in post-war Britain, Cliff worked to restore lost ideas and traditions and fan the flames of resistance.
Tony Cliff (1917–2000) spent his life developing revolutionary Marxism against Stalinism. From his early days as a revolutionary in British-occupied Palestine to the high points of struggle in post-war Britain, Cliff worked to restore lost ideas and traditions and fan the flames of resistance.
400 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1978
About the author
Tony Cliff
70 books64 followersBorn in Palestine to Zionist parents in 1917, Ygael Gluckstein became a Trotskyist during the 1930s and played a leading role in the attempt to forge a movement uniting Arab and Jewish workers. At the end of of the Second World war, seeing that the victory of the Zionists was more and more inevitable, he moved to Britain and adopted the pseudonym Tony Cliff.
In the late 1940s he developed the theory that Russia wasn’t a workers’ state but a form of bureaucratic state capitalism, a theory which has characterised the tendency with which he was associated for the remaining five decades of his life. Although he broke from “orthodox Trotskyism” after being bureaucratically excluded from the Fourth International in 1950, he always considered himself to be a Trotskyist although he was also open to other influences within the Marxist tradition.
In the late 1940s he developed the theory that Russia wasn’t a workers’ state but a form of bureaucratic state capitalism, a theory which has characterised the tendency with which he was associated for the remaining five decades of his life. Although he broke from “orthodox Trotskyism” after being bureaucratically excluded from the Fourth International in 1950, he always considered himself to be a Trotskyist although he was also open to other influences within the Marxist tradition.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 29, 2025
finallylyly done i cried
July 11, 2007
Tony "Lenin is Never Wrong" Cliff lives up to his name in this one. Instead of ever taking an incorrect position during the Civil War and the War Communism Period or NEP, Cliff insists that Lenin merely "bent the stick". By the end of this book I was actually starting to feel quite bad for all of poor sticks. Instead of being the leader of the Bolshevik party, Cliff makes Lenin out to be some sort of 'roid-raging bodybuilder with a penchant for showing off his sharply defined pects by mangling steel rods.
To his credit, Cliff does provide an in-depth account (using extensive quotations) of the economic, social, and political conditions that Russia faced during and after the civil war - specifically from Lenin's vantage point. In addition, one cannot forget the political climate in which Cliff was writing this book (the 80's were to leftist politics what my parked black car with rolled up windows in 95 degree heat is to my pet ferret named Godzilla ). I am pretty sure one of Cliff's main goals was to reclaim Lenin's legacy for anti-stalinist marxists at a time (1987) when the Soviet Union was on the verge of falling and Stalin and his bastardization of true socialism were seen by many as the natural heirs of Lenin and the Revolution of 1917 in the marxist tradition - certainly a necessary endeavor. It is actually Cliff, then, who is bending the proverbial stick on Lenin. That does not, however, mean that Lenin never made mistakes.
This is Cliff's last book in the three book set on Lenin.
To his credit, Cliff does provide an in-depth account (using extensive quotations) of the economic, social, and political conditions that Russia faced during and after the civil war - specifically from Lenin's vantage point. In addition, one cannot forget the political climate in which Cliff was writing this book (the 80's were to leftist politics what my parked black car with rolled up windows in 95 degree heat is to my pet ferret named Godzilla ). I am pretty sure one of Cliff's main goals was to reclaim Lenin's legacy for anti-stalinist marxists at a time (1987) when the Soviet Union was on the verge of falling and Stalin and his bastardization of true socialism were seen by many as the natural heirs of Lenin and the Revolution of 1917 in the marxist tradition - certainly a necessary endeavor. It is actually Cliff, then, who is bending the proverbial stick on Lenin. That does not, however, mean that Lenin never made mistakes.
This is Cliff's last book in the three book set on Lenin.
May 4, 2026
I've read a couple of books on the 1917 revolution itself and the incredible triumph of the workers revolution led by the Bolsheviks. However, it left me curious as to how and why it ultimately failed.
This book outlines that fantastically, describing in detail the struggles that Russia faced between 1917-1923 during civil war with the white army, interference from foreign powers, and lack of a worldwide socialist revolution which led to increasingly drastic measures to prevent counter-revolution. This led to an increasingly bureaucratic government that ultimately gave rise to authoritarian Stalinism.
Lenin’s dedication to the workers’ revolution is evident throughout. His decisions are consistently framed in terms of what he believed would preserve the revolution in the long term, even when those decisions were harsh or contradictory.
Cliff is critical of Lenin, but in a measured way that avoids the kind of simplistic condemnation found in much of the literature. He does a fantastic job of explaining the logic behind Lenin’s actions and the structural pressures facing the early Soviet state.
Overall, this is a thoughtful and accessible account of a crucial and often misunderstood period. It’s particularly useful for readers trying to bridge the gap between the optimism of 1917 and the authoritarianism that followed, showing how the latter emerged not simply from ideology, but from isolation, war, and material conditions.
This book outlines that fantastically, describing in detail the struggles that Russia faced between 1917-1923 during civil war with the white army, interference from foreign powers, and lack of a worldwide socialist revolution which led to increasingly drastic measures to prevent counter-revolution. This led to an increasingly bureaucratic government that ultimately gave rise to authoritarian Stalinism.
Lenin’s dedication to the workers’ revolution is evident throughout. His decisions are consistently framed in terms of what he believed would preserve the revolution in the long term, even when those decisions were harsh or contradictory.
Cliff is critical of Lenin, but in a measured way that avoids the kind of simplistic condemnation found in much of the literature. He does a fantastic job of explaining the logic behind Lenin’s actions and the structural pressures facing the early Soviet state.
Overall, this is a thoughtful and accessible account of a crucial and often misunderstood period. It’s particularly useful for readers trying to bridge the gap between the optimism of 1917 and the authoritarianism that followed, showing how the latter emerged not simply from ideology, but from isolation, war, and material conditions.
May 9, 2026
Oh lenin... how sad in the end.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews