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In Defence of Lenin: Volume 2
John Reed, the author of Ten Days that Shook the World, once said that Lenin was the most loved and the most hated person alive. He was loved by tens of millions who wanted to change society, but hated by the ruling class and their apologists.
As the leader of the Russian Revolution, Lenin was a man who changed the world. A convinced Marxist, he created the Bolshevik Party, the most revolutionary party in history. Lenin translated the ideas of Marxism into reality.
It is now one hundred years since his death. The bourgeois historians continue to slander him and his ideas. The task of this book is to explain his real life and ideas, and to draw out the significance of Lenin. Given the ongoing capitalist crisis, his ideas are gaining an increasingly wide echo. In so many ways, Lenin is more relevant today than ever before.
Over two volumes, this book traces Lenin’s life and explains his ideas, drawing on the colossal heritage of what he actually wrote and did. This book also features an appendix of Krupskaya’s writings on Lenin, a chronology and over 250 images.
As the leader of the Russian Revolution, Lenin was a man who changed the world. A convinced Marxist, he created the Bolshevik Party, the most revolutionary party in history. Lenin translated the ideas of Marxism into reality.
It is now one hundred years since his death. The bourgeois historians continue to slander him and his ideas. The task of this book is to explain his real life and ideas, and to draw out the significance of Lenin. Given the ongoing capitalist crisis, his ideas are gaining an increasingly wide echo. In so many ways, Lenin is more relevant today than ever before.
Over two volumes, this book traces Lenin’s life and explains his ideas, drawing on the colossal heritage of what he actually wrote and did. This book also features an appendix of Krupskaya’s writings on Lenin, a chronology and over 250 images.
584 pages, Paperback
Published January 21, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 12, 2024
The second volume was fantastic. It covers the October Revolution, Lenin in power, the formation of the Communist International and Lenin's last struggle against the bureaucracy.
It is impossible to imagine how anyone with a shred of honsty could defend Stalin after reading this: his non-role, later falsified, up to October 1917; his intriguing against Trotsky through the Tsarytsin military opposition when the stakes were as high as they were in the Civil War; in the Georgian Affair; in isolating Lenin during his illness to better continue his intrigues; how he disgraced Lenin's memory even in the days after his death; how clearly socialism in one country stands out against the real Lenin, who is abundantly quoted throughout. A small man who played an outsized role thanks to circumstances of which he didn't have the breadth of vision to even nearly comprehend.
The last chapters on Lenins final illness are really very moving. The whole book is a great tribute to Lenin and a vital piece for the education of revolutionaries who hope to build on his legacy.
It is impossible to imagine how anyone with a shred of honsty could defend Stalin after reading this: his non-role, later falsified, up to October 1917; his intriguing against Trotsky through the Tsarytsin military opposition when the stakes were as high as they were in the Civil War; in the Georgian Affair; in isolating Lenin during his illness to better continue his intrigues; how he disgraced Lenin's memory even in the days after his death; how clearly socialism in one country stands out against the real Lenin, who is abundantly quoted throughout. A small man who played an outsized role thanks to circumstances of which he didn't have the breadth of vision to even nearly comprehend.
The last chapters on Lenins final illness are really very moving. The whole book is a great tribute to Lenin and a vital piece for the education of revolutionaries who hope to build on his legacy.
March 27, 2024
These two volumes have been a wonderfully personal approach to studying the ideas of Lenin. The plenitude of photographs of various events and people made it feel much less like a story and much more real life. Sometimes reading about these long, complex, intense historic events can cause one to regard them in a rather disconnected and abstract manner, but I found the approach in these volumes really concretized the theory of Lenin and connected it to him very intimately as a person. The amount of first hand sources from those closest to Lenin throughout the book bring it all together in a way that is irrefutable.
Lenin was very much so a product of revolutionary Russia, and if it weren't for his and Trotsky's leadership based on their political authority and acumen which had been built up through experience of Tzarist Russia and exile, the Bolsheviks wouldn't have launched the insurrection in October 1917.
Some wish today that Lenin could be air dropped from on high into the imperial core and lead the revolution for us, but these volumes demonstrate to what extent this logic is based in a fundamental idealistic philosophical misunderstanding of the role of the individual in history and ignorance of how the leadership of a party which formulates the revolutionary consciousness of a given country's working class is developed through historical events and the internal struggle required to properly assess and respond to such events.Lenin was shaped by the events of his life, and his theoretical method and political thought were directly in response to these events, and as they shaped him in the revolutionary school of tzarist Russia, so too was he able to shape the party that was to completely overthrow tzarist Russia.
This book gives a materialist account of the roots of the petty-bourgeois bureacratization of the Party near the end of his life as it was an expression of the state of the revolution in the context that it found itself, and the role Stalin played in it. Stalinists will label actual Bolsheviks as "liberals" for pointing to the role that Stalin played, falsely accusing us of adopting great-man theory, but in actuality elementary materialism demonstrates that when ideas become dominant, they are the reflection of a class. The petty-bourgeois careerist tendency within the party was a reflection of the state of the revolutions isolation. It wasn't inevitable that this tendency take over, nor was Stalin its creator, he simply used his strategic position and conniving character to make damn sure that it became the dominant character of the Party afterLenin's death.
All in all this book is well worth the read and is an incredibly valuable exposé of the life and ideas of Lenin.
Lenin was very much so a product of revolutionary Russia, and if it weren't for his and Trotsky's leadership based on their political authority and acumen which had been built up through experience of Tzarist Russia and exile, the Bolsheviks wouldn't have launched the insurrection in October 1917.
Some wish today that Lenin could be air dropped from on high into the imperial core and lead the revolution for us, but these volumes demonstrate to what extent this logic is based in a fundamental idealistic philosophical misunderstanding of the role of the individual in history and ignorance of how the leadership of a party which formulates the revolutionary consciousness of a given country's working class is developed through historical events and the internal struggle required to properly assess and respond to such events.Lenin was shaped by the events of his life, and his theoretical method and political thought were directly in response to these events, and as they shaped him in the revolutionary school of tzarist Russia, so too was he able to shape the party that was to completely overthrow tzarist Russia.
This book gives a materialist account of the roots of the petty-bourgeois bureacratization of the Party near the end of his life as it was an expression of the state of the revolution in the context that it found itself, and the role Stalin played in it. Stalinists will label actual Bolsheviks as "liberals" for pointing to the role that Stalin played, falsely accusing us of adopting great-man theory, but in actuality elementary materialism demonstrates that when ideas become dominant, they are the reflection of a class. The petty-bourgeois careerist tendency within the party was a reflection of the state of the revolutions isolation. It wasn't inevitable that this tendency take over, nor was Stalin its creator, he simply used his strategic position and conniving character to make damn sure that it became the dominant character of the Party afterLenin's death.
All in all this book is well worth the read and is an incredibly valuable exposé of the life and ideas of Lenin.
August 14, 2024
amazing biography, volume 2 was even better than volume 1 🦅🦅🦅🦅
December 22, 2024
Volume 2 picks up with the Russian Revolution & goes up through the time of Lenin’s death.
It dispels many myths in regard to what happened after the revolution, especially in regard to the Russian Civil War which the west & bourgeois governments in general leave out that 21 foreign countries attempted to invade Russia to overturn the Revolution but were defeated. But the book also does not shy away from the real material challenges that Russia faced, especially in light of what they thought or hoped was only the delay of the Revolution spreading to more advanced countries which unfortunately never came. This paved the way for retreats such as the New Economic Policy & challenges from the exhaustion of the working class, the dissatisfaction of the Peasants & the ever looming threat of reaction from the former Tsarist officials needed to help run the government & industry in light of Russia’s cultural backwardness educationally & not having certain basic skills like literacy. All this & more paved the way for the bureaucratic degeneration of the Russian Worker’s State with Stalin as the expression of the bureaucracy.
Then, there is Lenin the man, his temperament, the party he built & how it was run as well as his final fight uniting with Trotsky against Stalin & the bureaucracy. There are many myths in regard to Lenin some because of Stalin, some because of lies of bourgeois governments. Often painted as a Tyrant listing for power, his history going back to his child hood, destroys this myth. His attitude towards & treatment of his fellow comrades, which was attested to in so many ways speaks to his temperament. The democratic centralism he stressed for & built into the party where lively debate was encouraged for the sake of theoretical clarity as contrasted with the Bureaucratic Centralism of Stalinism which allows for no critique or dissent & through the show trials, separates Lenin from Stalinism with a river of blood as demonstrated in the text & by the history itself.
Lastly, there was the final fight for the future of the party amidst his health issues which there seems to be significant room for the possibility that these & therefore his death was not necessarily due to natural causes. Ultimately & unfortunately, his death sealed the party’s fate & was a significant boon for Stalin & the bureaucracy.
As with Volume 1, there are many lessons to be learned from this text which more than justifies the need to read it.
It dispels many myths in regard to what happened after the revolution, especially in regard to the Russian Civil War which the west & bourgeois governments in general leave out that 21 foreign countries attempted to invade Russia to overturn the Revolution but were defeated. But the book also does not shy away from the real material challenges that Russia faced, especially in light of what they thought or hoped was only the delay of the Revolution spreading to more advanced countries which unfortunately never came. This paved the way for retreats such as the New Economic Policy & challenges from the exhaustion of the working class, the dissatisfaction of the Peasants & the ever looming threat of reaction from the former Tsarist officials needed to help run the government & industry in light of Russia’s cultural backwardness educationally & not having certain basic skills like literacy. All this & more paved the way for the bureaucratic degeneration of the Russian Worker’s State with Stalin as the expression of the bureaucracy.
Then, there is Lenin the man, his temperament, the party he built & how it was run as well as his final fight uniting with Trotsky against Stalin & the bureaucracy. There are many myths in regard to Lenin some because of Stalin, some because of lies of bourgeois governments. Often painted as a Tyrant listing for power, his history going back to his child hood, destroys this myth. His attitude towards & treatment of his fellow comrades, which was attested to in so many ways speaks to his temperament. The democratic centralism he stressed for & built into the party where lively debate was encouraged for the sake of theoretical clarity as contrasted with the Bureaucratic Centralism of Stalinism which allows for no critique or dissent & through the show trials, separates Lenin from Stalinism with a river of blood as demonstrated in the text & by the history itself.
Lastly, there was the final fight for the future of the party amidst his health issues which there seems to be significant room for the possibility that these & therefore his death was not necessarily due to natural causes. Ultimately & unfortunately, his death sealed the party’s fate & was a significant boon for Stalin & the bureaucracy.
As with Volume 1, there are many lessons to be learned from this text which more than justifies the need to read it.
February 20, 2025
Review of Vol 1&2
Long read but worth every second of it. The biography is not impartial, but an explicit guide to learning the methods of the Bolsheviks (inseparate from Lenin) so we can organize on a more solid foundation.
What I particularly found interesting is how Lenin's personality and poltical views are interconnected. His attitude towards the oppressed classes has no element of elitism. He was always considerate, respectful, never dogmatic, but also firm when necessary. He understood what being principled means and separated party politics from personal connections. This is radically different from Stalin's forceful and supressive actions as well as being very egotistical, placing his party interests ahead of the revolution.
This is a difficult book to review so I'll come back later after I've reread it to add more. I studied the Bolsheviks pre-1917 but after reading Vol2 I found post-1917 a lot more interests. The revolution was actually just the beginning.
Long read but worth every second of it. The biography is not impartial, but an explicit guide to learning the methods of the Bolsheviks (inseparate from Lenin) so we can organize on a more solid foundation.
What I particularly found interesting is how Lenin's personality and poltical views are interconnected. His attitude towards the oppressed classes has no element of elitism. He was always considerate, respectful, never dogmatic, but also firm when necessary. He understood what being principled means and separated party politics from personal connections. This is radically different from Stalin's forceful and supressive actions as well as being very egotistical, placing his party interests ahead of the revolution.
This is a difficult book to review so I'll come back later after I've reread it to add more. I studied the Bolsheviks pre-1917 but after reading Vol2 I found post-1917 a lot more interests. The revolution was actually just the beginning.
June 23, 2024
The second volume covers Lenin’s life, struggle and work from the revolution to his death. Integrally, this volume covers the heights of Octocer to the lows of the bureaucratic degeneration at the end of his life. In covering this portion of his life, Sewell and Woods allow us to gain a much greater sense of proportion and understanding of this period of Lenin’s life, the tendencies he faced and defined him. As well as being a biography all revolutionary communists should read this as a book on imperialism, the need for understanding the concrete, counter-revolution, degenerated workers states, left-wing communism, the national question and revolutionary optimism. Ultimately, this is an illustration of Lenin’s unwavering internationalism.
May 4, 2024
After reading the first volume I could not imagine that I could ever read a more appealing and interesting Biography... Well the second volume proofed me wrong since it is in my opinion even better. Thank you for this great work!
November 19, 2025
HELT ENASTÅENDE!!! Fantastisk läsning!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews