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Lenin's Political Thought: Theory and Practice in the Democratic and Socialist Revolutions
Caricatured as a superhuman idol in the former Communist states, the Russian revolutionary socialist V. I. Lenin has long been reversely caricatured in the West as an authoritarian elitist. In this brilliant, carefully researched analysis, Neil Harding upends these traditional Cold War interpretations of Lenin's thought and activity. Harding shows how Lenin's flexible and continuously changing theoretical, strategic, and tactical insights were firmly grounded in the emancipatory potential for working-class revolution in Russia and around the world. Neil Harding is an internationally renowned scholar of Soviet history.
740 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 31, 2022
Of all the biographies and eulogies that you’d read of Lenin, Harding manages to get closest to the actual quintessence of the individual.
At a rather less complicated level, but possibly none the worse for that, there is the clarification that Lenin, like all politicians, sought power but that in him this penchant was raised to an anomalous, even grotesque, degree so that his actions and his thoughts were all directed towards his search for inclusive and overall dominance.
As Soviet interpretations see Lenin as God, this construal presents him as the Miltonic Satan of the current world.
In Harding’s narrative, Lenin is obstinately heroic, being flawed by awe-inspiring smugness and bent on universal destruction….
Let a take a moment and look at Milton.
Milton's introduction of Satan shows the reader how significant Satan is to Paradise Lost. He uses Satan's heroic qualities to his followers, and his ability to corrupt to show the thin line between good and evil. Satan was one of the highest angels in Heaven and was know as Lucifer, meaning, light bearer. This shows he was once a good angel. Milton makes the reader see him as a leader and a strong influence to all in his presence.
He best describes Satan's ways when stating, "His pride/ had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host. / Of rebel angels, by whose aspiring/ To set himself in glory above his peers" (Milton Book I). Satan's pride was the main reason that God banned him from heaven.
Satan always tried to be number one and a leader, instead of following in God's shadow. He would of lived a life in Paradise forever, but he had to follow his feelings as he states, "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven" (Milton 31). This shows how strongly he felt about not being above everybody else.
However, eventually in the later books, Satan is not as "bold" as he was in the first of the epic, but "he has sank to low cunning". Milton begins to show the reader these traits to acknowledge the truths of Satan. With these facts, one can see how Satan is not a hero, but only a character with so much "reliance on power" that he has many heroic qualities.
Satan can very well be described as a hero in the start of this great epic, but Milton changes the view of Satan drastically as the epic continues. Satan is really and egoistic coward that let his "pride lead to ingratitude towards God" from the beginning of the epic. Although Satan is a great warrior and can give wonderful speeches, he seems to be hypocritical of what he tells his followers he believes and what he really does.
An example of this is when we are first introduced to Satan. Satan and the other fallen angels are in hell and Satan tells the others to not be frightened, when he is frightened as well. The character of Satan "deteriorates" greatly through the epic. Satan is viewed as a great warrior and then as time passes, his own followers begin to doubt him.
In the same vein, Harding says, 'His (Lenin’s) fanaticism was only the outward form of demon-driven ego intent upon dominating the processes of destruction and of rebuilding.'
Lenin, it seems, made the Russian revolution, created the Communist International, directed all his policies with one aim in view, the elevation of Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov as the paragon of the revolutionary world.
Lenin, in this interpretation, was continually admiring his image in the mirror of the world revolutionary •movement.
His abiding flaw was narcissism and complete revolutionary vanity…
I was mesmerized by this book.
At a rather less complicated level, but possibly none the worse for that, there is the clarification that Lenin, like all politicians, sought power but that in him this penchant was raised to an anomalous, even grotesque, degree so that his actions and his thoughts were all directed towards his search for inclusive and overall dominance.
As Soviet interpretations see Lenin as God, this construal presents him as the Miltonic Satan of the current world.
In Harding’s narrative, Lenin is obstinately heroic, being flawed by awe-inspiring smugness and bent on universal destruction….
Let a take a moment and look at Milton.
Milton's introduction of Satan shows the reader how significant Satan is to Paradise Lost. He uses Satan's heroic qualities to his followers, and his ability to corrupt to show the thin line between good and evil. Satan was one of the highest angels in Heaven and was know as Lucifer, meaning, light bearer. This shows he was once a good angel. Milton makes the reader see him as a leader and a strong influence to all in his presence.
He best describes Satan's ways when stating, "His pride/ had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host. / Of rebel angels, by whose aspiring/ To set himself in glory above his peers" (Milton Book I). Satan's pride was the main reason that God banned him from heaven.
Satan always tried to be number one and a leader, instead of following in God's shadow. He would of lived a life in Paradise forever, but he had to follow his feelings as he states, "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven" (Milton 31). This shows how strongly he felt about not being above everybody else.
However, eventually in the later books, Satan is not as "bold" as he was in the first of the epic, but "he has sank to low cunning". Milton begins to show the reader these traits to acknowledge the truths of Satan. With these facts, one can see how Satan is not a hero, but only a character with so much "reliance on power" that he has many heroic qualities.
Satan can very well be described as a hero in the start of this great epic, but Milton changes the view of Satan drastically as the epic continues. Satan is really and egoistic coward that let his "pride lead to ingratitude towards God" from the beginning of the epic. Although Satan is a great warrior and can give wonderful speeches, he seems to be hypocritical of what he tells his followers he believes and what he really does.
An example of this is when we are first introduced to Satan. Satan and the other fallen angels are in hell and Satan tells the others to not be frightened, when he is frightened as well. The character of Satan "deteriorates" greatly through the epic. Satan is viewed as a great warrior and then as time passes, his own followers begin to doubt him.
In the same vein, Harding says, 'His (Lenin’s) fanaticism was only the outward form of demon-driven ego intent upon dominating the processes of destruction and of rebuilding.'
Lenin, it seems, made the Russian revolution, created the Communist International, directed all his policies with one aim in view, the elevation of Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov as the paragon of the revolutionary world.
Lenin, in this interpretation, was continually admiring his image in the mirror of the world revolutionary •movement.
His abiding flaw was narcissism and complete revolutionary vanity…
I was mesmerized by this book.
December 22, 2023
Masterful review of the theory behind Lenin's practice throughout his life from 1890s onward. By taking Lenin's actual writings seriously on their own terms (something Stalin's "leninists" carefully avoid, and liberal historians carelessly avoid) Harding shows what Lenin thought he was doing at different points in his political practice. Harding isolates the assumptions behind Lenin's theories, the commonalities with other Russian and international Marxists and their influence on his outlook. Ultimately this book will give readers both: 1) a clear picture of Lenin's actual orthodox marxist politics before 1914, a fully lost tradition, buried by so called Leninism, and recently exhumed in isolated pockets of the socialist movement. and 2) lucid understanding of the assumptions not just behind the 1917 revolution but the various steps in the degeneration of the socialist project in Russia towards Stalinist consolidation of "Leninism" and the leninist model of state and party power. You come away with an idea of what, exactly, went wrong in the soviet revolution, something that I didn't think I'd ever sort out! Highly recommend this one if you can slog through long dry books haha
May 21, 2017
Excellent work, gives proper context for Lenin's political thought and its development. Combats simplistic narratives and onesided exegesis, whether from a point of view hostile or sympathetic to Lenin's thought.
September 26, 2014
Labours the point a little in places, but a fascinating work. I was particularly intrigued by the arguments regarding the Marxist theory (theories) of the state and the relationship between them and Lenin's work The State and Revolution.
September 12, 2023
Probably the best overall introduction to Lenin. In various ways it has been improved on by others (Lih, Krausz, and Shandro all stand out) and is not exhaustive. But particularly effective in articulating his thinking and practice in general.
July 26, 2014
Explores the political thinking of Lenin and how he implemented what he believed in. A good addition for the library of those invested in political theory.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews