Synopsis
From a highly distinguished author on the subject, this biography is an excellent scholarly introduction to one of the key figures of the Russian Revolution and post-Tsarist Russia. Not only does it make use of archive material made newly available in the glasnost and post-Soviet eras, it re-examines traditional sources as well, providing an original interpretation of Lenin's life and historical importance.
Focal points of this study are:
Lenin's revolutionary ascetic personality how he exploited culture, education and propaganda his relationship to Marxism his changing class analysis of Russia his 'populist' instincts.A prominent figure at the forefront of debates on the Russina revolution, Read makes sure that Lenin remains in his place as a highly influential and significant figure of the recent past.
About Christopher Read
See more books from this AuthorI'm reviewing my copy of Poor Lenin's Almanac - Perverse leftist proverbs for modern life by liberty writer Bruce Walker (Outskirts Press).
Dec 02 2010 | Read Full Review of Lenin: A Revolutionary Life (...The focus is upon the people of the village of Liven (the name, one gathers, is a multi-layered joke deriving from the ability of the Chinese character translated as "Liven" to mean many things), situated in the Balou mountains in Henan Province, Western China.
Mar 03 2013 | Read Full Review of Lenin: A Revolutionary Life (...Trotsky (before the Revolution) went a step further: in 1911 he casually observed that the whole dispute between Bolsheviks and Mensheviks was “a struggle for influence over the politically immature proletariat”—a struggle conducted by “Marxist intelligentsia.” This really went home, and the diat...
| Read Full Review of Lenin: A Revolutionary Life (...In autocratic Russia, on the other hand, Lenin’s Bolsheviks compensated for Social Democracy’s dwindling red consciousness by incarnating the specter of communism in their “party of a new type.” And between the two, the chief ideologue of Germanic Central Europe, Kautsky, clung to the formal trap...
Nov 01 2001 | Read Full Review of Lenin: A Revolutionary Life (...