
Leninthink - chesterfield
https://newcriterion.com/issues/2019/10/leninthink
======
aWidebrant
Attention conservation notice: Lengthy somewhat tendentious history of Soviet
Leninism, followed by an assertion that the confusing twists of cancel culture
is down to the woke masses being in thrall to a Hiddden Lenin, and a rapid
exit.

~~~
hitekker
Correct. The author would be screaming "cultural marxism"[1] if that anti-
semitic conspiracy theory wasn't already discredited.

The facts of this piece are pretty specious here as well. Boris Chicherin, for
example, died in 1904, well before Lenin came to power.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankfurt_School#Cultural_Marx...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankfurt_School#Cultural_Marxism_conspiracy_theory)

~~~
patrec
Whilst I'm sympathetic to the overarching point the author is trying to make
(Lenin bad, more so than is generally appreciated), confusing Georgy Chicherin
with Boris Chicherin does not build confidence he is the best person to make
it (or in the editorial practices at New Criterion).

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crazydoggers
> the Soviet Constitution of 1936 guaranteed more rights than any other state
> in the world. I recall a Soviet citizen telling me that people in the USSR
> had absolute freedom of speech—so long as they did not lie

Actually I heard it as “The people of the USSR had complete and absolute
freedom of speech... but only once”. Lie or not, if the state didn’t like it,
you ended up in a concentration camp.

~~~
rdtsc
> The people of the USSR had complete and absolute freedom of speech... but
> only once

The version I like is “Soviet citizens have the freedom of speech, but
American citizens also have freedom after speech”

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tptacek
What ever else you think of this piece, it's worthwhile to know what The New
Criterion is and what it represents. Though I suppose "Avidly Pro-Trump
Literary Journal" is a concept that easily clears HN's bar for "intellectually
interesting".

~~~
crazydoggers
Thanks for the insight. I found this article discussing New Criterion which I
found interesting.

[https://thebaffler.com/latest/decline-of-the-new-
criterion-g...](https://thebaffler.com/latest/decline-of-the-new-criterion-
ganz)

Regarding the article, from what I know about Lenin, it’s spot on, and if you
ever talk to anyone who survived his dekulakization [1] you’ll understand the
violent nature of Leninism.

But I’m not a fan of a propaganda outfit that likes to hide behind the
occasional high intellect piece, so thanks again for the comment.

1\.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dekulakization](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dekulakization)

~~~
llamaz
We're right in the West to reject Leninist ideas, but it's important to
understand the historical context in which Leninism gained traction.

Russia was a backwards pre-capitalist third world monarchy with vast economic
inequality under one of the richest men in all of history, Nicholas Romanov
II. He rejected attempt after attempt to reform his monarchy into a democratic
constitutional monarchy, preferring to cling onto absolute power and
repeatedly losing wars. The story of the Russian revolution is one of a
transition from authoritarian rule to authoritarian rule.

Initially the revolution was widely praised by genuine revolutionaries, such
as Kropotkin, Emma Goldman, & Rosa Luxemburg. The country was ruled
democratically by a system of workers' councils (soviets), and workers were
encouraged to form committees to self manage the work place democratically.

Within the year, however, the Soviets were dissolved and commissars were sent
to the factories to take the place of the boss', effectively ending workers'
self management. This was widely condemned by mainstream Marxists, most
notably Rosa Luxembourg, who sent a historic admonitory letter to Lenin. This
is when the idea of "Marxism-Leninism" as opposed to simple "Marxism" began to
distinguish itself.

What Leninism has become now is a sort of paranoid ideology about "holding
onto the revolution" against "the forces of reaction." They point to examples
of successful workers' self management e.g. The Paris Commune, Anarchist
Catalonia (read "Homage to Catalonia" by George Orwell), and claim that these
revolutions were crushed because of a lack of "party discipline" and
organization.

------
arcadius
I'd hate to be either of the two students the author throws under the bus with
nary a sentence of context (the bus here being thousands of words describing
Lenin's atrocities). Just think, one moment you're unable to sufficiently
articulate your feelings on hate speech in front of a class to satisfy your
professor, the next moment you've been lumped in with a mass murderer!

~~~
ungamedplayer
To be fair modern activist groups like anyone who disagrees with them to
Hitler.. so the student is likely in good company.

~~~
arcadius
Seems to be a common game with ignorant right and ignorant left (I can think
of a million instances of ignorant right-wing people rambling on incessantly
about the "socialist" part of national socialist german workers' party). The
difference I suppose is that fascism is a far-right ideal and not a far-left
one. Also the fact that the far-right in the United States are in some cases
literal neonazis.

~~~
justsubmit
> fascism is a far-right ideal and not a far-left one.

That myth underlies much of the misunderstanding in contemporary political
discourse.

~~~
crazydoggers
I’m not sure how you justify this? If one is going to define politics along a
spectrum like left to right, fascism is going to be grouped with other
political systems that tend toward nationalism and nativist policies.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far-
right_politics](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far-right_politics)

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism)

~~~
stOneskull
I think left and right have no meaning in a one-party totalitarian state

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lidHanteyk
Leninthink erodes power differentials and power relations, which it portrays
as good to destroy, but also erodes the dual relations of responsibility. When
nobody has any responsibilities towards any other, then society is gone with
the wind like so much poor soil.

------
cobbzilla
Off-topic: Why does Lenin always seem to look like a villain from a James Bond
film? Yeah, it's definitely the beard.

Or perhaps those Bond villains were modeled after Lenin? Some western anti-
communist propaganda thing?

------
Pfhreak
The fuck is this doing on the front page of HN?

~~~
mirimir
No clue, except that it is.

Attempting to tar social justice movements as Leninist is sheer speculation.
And maybe Leninist, so to speak.

But damn, just ignore that part. It's always good to be reminded of just how
_insanely ruthless_ Lenin was. Also, recall that the Germans paid Lenin to
destabilize Russia, and keep it out of WWI. So maybe the whole thing was
basically a put-on.

~~~
Grue3
>Attempting to tar social justice movements as Leninist is sheer speculation.

When a lot of them readily use Soviet symbols like hammer and sickle to
represent themselves, it's not that far-fetched.

~~~
AnimalMuppet
I have not heard of them doing so (though I admit that I have not followed
them very closely). For those of us who haven't seen this, can you supply some
reference(s)?

But if they're going to call the alt-right Nazis (with justification, at least
for some of them), and they're going to fly the hammer and sickle... well, I
guess they earn being called communist, Stalinist, and Leninist.

