Lenin's fundamental lesson was that political slogans must be clear, uncomplicated, and unambiguous, so that they can launch and inspire widespread unified action. Aside from the injunction to cut off heads, has Zizek ever adhered to this precept? My impression, from Doug's excerpts, is that given the choice, Zizek invariably chooses obtuseness and obfuscation.
Lenin taught that the purpose of revolutionary theory is to guide action. A consequence of that belief is his specific concept of revolutionary organization. Not only are clear slogans required, which are not susceptible to conflicting interpretations, but also a single unified strategy is required to overthrow the bourgeoisie. To achieve this, the Marxist party, after considering various strategies proposed by members, agrees that minorities will subordinate their views in action, including agitation, to the strategy adopted by the majority. (This is caricatured by stupid Leninists as a doctrine of undemocratic obedience to central authority, but that is a different problem from Zizek's.) Can anyone provide evidence that these concepts of Leninist organization and strategy have ever influenced Zizek to adopt them?
A third element of Leninism is the concept that the bourgeois state cannot be reformed in any fundamental way, and that the declared aim of proletarian politics, whether within an electoral framework or in radical opposition to it (depending on specific times and conditions) must be its revolutionary abolition. I would guess that Zizek has written something that seems to echo this, but as far as I recall, nothing that has been posted here. This is the single aspect of Leninism that is most frequently wrenched out of context and blessed by writers who otherwise dance on Lenin's grave.
A fourth element of Lenin's doctrine is revolutionary defeatism, debated at length on this list between Leninists and our opponents several months ago. Again, where in Zizek can one find endorsement of this principle?
Finally, if elementary Leninism is difficult to discern in Zizek's writings as they have been presented to us here, may we suspect that whatever finally appears under that banner turns out to be, under close scrutiny, the very eclecticism that Lenin regarded as the worst sort of Marxist posturing?
Ken Lawrence