Leninism

In this section of our course, I will focus on the emergence and later demise of the Leninist Nation-state, two of the most dramatic developments of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Just to make my personal view clear, here’s a point we can all agree upon:  The communist regimes of the past century frequently  pursued policies horrific policies; millions of people under Leninist rule. This is a fact. Still, if we want to make sense of this major historical development, we have to ask why these regimes lasted as long as they did.  After all, for much of the twentieth century there were as many Leninist Nation-states in the world as Liberal Democratic states.  The answer to this question is that Leninism represented the preeminent challenge to Liberal Democracy in the modern age.

Making sense of this historical period isn’t just a matter of appreciating a now deceased political identity. As I shall argue in this section, the legacy of Leninism helps us to understand the popularity and practices of leaders like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un today. Even more important, this period provides essential clues to understanding why people might support populist and dictatorial ideologies in our own part of the world–and why others might break away from these ideologies.  In other words, the past is present—and future.

I have written extensively on this issue.  If you like, feel free to read my new book, Vanguard of the Revolution. What the journal Foreign Affairs thinks: HERE

16. LECTURE: Monday, September 30

Reflections on Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto and its significance for the history of world communism.

Today’s Question: Why did so many smart, well-educated people become Marxists? My argument is that Marxism shared many of the same foundations as Liberalism, even though it represented a radical critique of Liberal thought.  It is essential to understand Marxism because it paved the way for a fundamentally different path to the Modern Nation-state.

In the contemporary world, it is equally important to ask why an intelligent person would support violent extremism.  The problem just won’t go away.

Assignment:  Read the Manifesto carefully–I suggest, at least three times.  It is one of the greatest and most influential publications of all time. Look beyond the details for Marx’s overarching argument. What kind of argument is he making against capitalism?  Why would it have been so appealing to many 19th and 20th century radicals?  Indeed, why might it even appeal to contemporary populist politicians, especially Bernie Sanders and, yes, even Donald Trump (but not to non-populist traditional politicians like Hillary Clinton and Paul Ryan). As you read the essay, pay close attention to what Marx says about the revolutionary character of the bourgeoisie.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels,  The Communist Manifesto, sections, 1, 2, and 4.

Read the following articles to get a sense for the environment in which Marx’s ideas thrived:

Friedrich Engels, “On the Condition of the Working Class in England”  PRINT AND READ

M. Faraday, July 7, 1855, “The Filth of the Thames”  PRINT AND READ

How could a Republican politician and and American hero, like John McCain, find anything to admire in a communist?  (In my personal view, McCain was an admirable human being. He thought for himself and epitomized the kind of decency and compassion we should expect from any democratic leader).

John McCain, “Salute to a Communist”  PRINT AND READ

17. LECTURE:  Wednesday, October 2

Reflections on the causes of the Bolshevik revolution and its roots in the unintended consequences of the tsars’ imperial ambitions.

Today’s Assumption:  Marx never expected that his proletarian revolution would take place in the East.  In fact, he predicted it would not.  So, how did the event happen?  One must consider the setting of the Bolshevik revolution of October 1917 in order to understand why this context was better suited to mass upheaval than the western industrial world.

In considering the Bolshevik revolution, I also seek to address the issue of historical and political change.  Since people use and overuse the word “revolution” all the time, I want you to think about how we should distinguish between truly  “revolutionary” events, on the one hand, and events that are only highly significant, on the other.  In my view, with which some observers would disagree, there haven’t been many revolutions in modern history.  Indeed, I am not totally convinced that the American Revolution was a “revolution,” at least not socially or economically.  Please feel free to disagree with me.

These two sources, one an article and the other, a video, are meant to provide you with a general background to the Bolshevik Revolution and its antecedents:

“Russian Revolution of 1917,” New World Encyclopedia READ

“The Russian Revolution,” DocumentaryTube.com (1:33.54)  WATCH  (Watch as much of this film as you can.  It’s fascinating and full of terrific footage)

18. DISCUSSION SECTION:  Friday, October 4

Discussion:  The Communist Manifesto was once banned across the United States.  Now you can read it and try to figure out what all the fuss was about. (Or was it simply dumb to ban it?  I am strongly opposed to the banning of books—see Fahrenheit 451, Catcher in the Rye, Ulysses, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, etc. After all, why should we be afraid of words?). Interestingly, Marx’s thinking was, in some ways, consonant with Liberal values.  Yet, he came to radically different conclusions about how Liberalism’s idealistic principles could be realized.  How can both of these claims be true?  Keep in mind that Marxism had to come from somewhere.  In fact, it had the same historical roots as Liberalism.

Assignment:  How might the essential aspects of Marx’s critique of capitalism appeal to contemporary populist politicians, especially Bernie Sanders and, yes, even Donald Trump (but not to non-populist traditional politicians like Hillary Clinton and Paul Ryan)?

19. NO CLASS:  Monday, October 7

I will be lecturing about my book on the communist party in Washington, D.C.

20. LECTURE: Wednesday, October 9 

Reflections on Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s transformation of elementary Marxism into a new political identity: Leninism (originally known as Bolshevism).

Today’s Assumption: Leninism had more to do with defining Marxism than the other way around.   Lenin was a mediocre philosopher but a great revolutionary.   He knew instinctively how to apply a western recipe for radical change to a backward country.  For this reason, one could argue that “Marx was archaeopteryx and Lenin was his bird.”  See HERE

Assignment:  The best way to understand the fully tragic implications of Leninism is to see how it was implemented at the height of the Soviet revolution under Josef Stalin.  To this end, I am asking you to read the Man himself.

Selections from Josef Stalin, Foundations of Leninism.  PRINT AND READ Section 4 (“Dictatorship of the Proletariat”) and Section 8  (“The Party”)  Get a general sense for Stalin’s argument; don’t worry about the details.

The rousing anthem, “The International,” became the hymn for communist and other radical working-class movements throughout the world.

Watch Pete Seeger sing the  The Internationale.  I sang it to my tour guides when I was in Pyongyang, North Korea and it drove them crazy.  How could they prevent me from paying tribute to one of their ideological forebears!  Yet the entire time I was in North Korea, I only saw one picture of Marx and Lenin.

More versions of the International:

The classic Soviet version WATCH

Also, from the movie ‘Reds’ starring Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton:   WATCH

Also, Chinese pop version WATCH

Also, Bill Murray’s puppet sings: WATCH

Also, Rage Against the Machine: WATCH

Also, listen to “Occupy Wall Street” protesters sing the Internationale WATCH  (I’m not sure that many actually knew the words, but it’s interesting that they sang it)

21. DISCUSSION SECTION:  Friday, October 11 

Paragraph assignment:  “If Marx was an archaeopteryx , would that make Lenin his bird?”

Discussion:  You have been assigned to start a revolution–a real one!–at Notre Dame. Based upon your reading of the the Communist Manifesto and the chapters from Stalin’s Foundations of Leninism, please exuberantly and passionately discuss the following two questions:  1) what would Lenin (and Stalin) advise you to do to foment this revolution? and 2) what challenges would you face in fomenting this revolution and then keeping it going?

To put the question more generally: Are all true revolutions inevitably destined to spiral into violence?

22. LECTURE:  Monday, October 14

Reflections on the transmogrification of Marxist and Leninist utopia into Stalinist terror.

Today’s Assumption: Stalin’s regime of terror was intrinsically, if not inevitably, rooted in the goals and institutions of Leninism.  Leninism also degenerated into horrific violence in other countries, especially China. In my book, Vanguard of the Revolution, I show why this degeneration occurred for different reasons and in different ways, but these regimes’ roots in the Stalinist experience had a lot to do with what happened.

Assignments:

“Purges and Hysteria in the Soviet Union”: READ  (all six pages)

Ode to Stalin:  READ

23. IN-CLASS FILM:  Wednesday, October 16 (A rearrangement of our original schedule)

“Journey to Russia,” PBS Frontline Series

As you watch this film, ask yourself:  Given the Horrors of Stalinism, how did the Soviet Union get to the point in the early 1980s when it seemed relatively stable and its citizens (at least most of those in the film) seemed comfortable with it?

24. Discussion Section:   Friday, October 18 

Discussion Topic:  In the 1980s, all of the experts, including yours truly, were skeptical about the idea that people living under communism could rise up spontaneously against their leaders.  Yet in the late 1970s, dissidents like the physicist Andrei Sakharov and the playwright Vaclav Havel,

Reflections on the Leninist challenge to Liberal Democracy.

Today’s Assumption: Leninism was initially a credible challenge to Liberal Democracy.  Its lasting appeal was reinforced by a variety of factors.  In the 1980s, I had the rather unusual experience of living in East Germany. I’ll attempt to give you a sense for these factors by sharing some of my experiences in the years before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

26. LECTURE: Wednesday, October 30

Reflections on the sudden and total collapse of the Leninist Nation-State.

Today’s Assumption:  No one predicted this explosive development (in the serious sense of  the word “prediction”).  By the same token, Leninism was not destined to collapse when it did.

Assignment:  Reflect upon Mikhail Gorbachev’s role in the fall of the Leninist Nation-State

Learn about Gorbachev’s concept of Leninist reform READ

Finish Reading Václav Havel, “Power of the Powerless,” in Open Letters: Selected Writings, 1965-1990.

Based upon what you have seen, could Leninism have been reformed in the way Gorbachev hoped?   How compatible were Gorbachev’s two primary reform concepts (below) with the Leninist political identity?

The concept of Perestroika  READ
The concept of Glasnost READ

Implications:  What lessons can we learn from the communist experience about the collapse of dictatorships in general? Is it enough to present people with the facts about a dictatorship’s failings to make them want to risk rebellion?

27. DISCUSSION  SECTION: Friday, November 1

 

28.  LECTURE:  Monday, November 4