Unfinished Leninism
The Rise and Return of a Revolutionary Doctrine
Description
Praise for Paul Le Blanc's Lenin and the Revolutionary Party:
"A work of unusual strength and coherence, inspired not by academic neutrality but by the deep conviction that there is much to learn from the actual ideas and experiences of Lenin." Michael Löwy
As a leader of the Russian Revolution, Vladimir Lenin was perhaps the greatest revolutionary of the twentieth century. These clearly written essays offer an account of his life and times, a lively view of his personality, and a stimulating engagement with his ideas.
Paul Le Blanc is a professor of history at La Roche College and has written widely on radical movements.
Author Bios
Paul Le Blanc, long-time activist and Professor of History at La Roche College, is the author of a number of widely-read studies, including Lenin and the Revolutionary Party, From Marx to Gramsci, and Marx, Lenin and the Revolutionary Experience. With Michael Yates he has written the widely-acclaimed A Freedom Budget for All Americans and has co-edited a selection of Leon Trotsky’s Writings in Exile.
More Info
Publication date: June 17, 2014
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Lenin’s Return - introduces Lenin as someone whose relevance for our own time is becoming evident
2. One for the Encyclopedias - offers a succinct account of his life
3. Travesties, Statues and Laughter - focuses more on his personality
4. Still Kicking: Lenin and His Biographers - how biographers of our century have dealt with him
5. Revolutionary Democracy - offers a sustained look at what I believe is the revolutionary-democratic thrust of his thinking and of what he attempted – contrasted to the horrific dictatorship that congealed after his death under Joseph Stalin
6. The Great Lenin Debate of 2012 - focuses on recent controversies (in which I was a participant) about how Lenin did and did not go about trying to build a revolutionary party – and it also has something to say about the art and craft of writing history
7. Enduring Legacy - takes up some differences with a prominent U.S. Marxist analyst, Charles Post, on how (and how not) to understand “Leninism”
8. Luxemburg and Lenin Through Each Other’s Eyes – explores relationship, common ground, and differences between Luxemburg and Lenin
9. Caution: Activists Using Lenin - suggests how Lenin’s approach might be useful to activists in the United States in the early twenty-first century
10. Leninism is Unfinished - discusses the open and necessarily unfinished nature of Leninism – reflecting the nature of social reality itself
11. The History and Future of Leninism – distinguishes between accurate and inaccurate depictions of the theory and practice of Lenin and his comrades, indicating how this can be utilized and further developed in the twenty-first century.
