[lbo-talk] Robert Frost Defends Robespierre, Lenin, Mao

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Sat Apr 25 11:55:34 PDT 2009


On Apr 25, 2009, at 1:26 PM, B. wrote:


> Noam Chomsky (as someone else alluded to) has a very good bit about
> 1) What Lenin and Trotsky were like when they were out of power and
> on the sidelines, outsiders looking in, vs. 2) What they were like
> when they were in power.
>
> Perhaps not surprisingly, there is a stark contrast! Trotsky and
> Lenin, while out of power, were almost libertarian socialist in
> their sentiments. ("State and Revolution.")

So maybe this has something to do with taking power, rather than their innate "jerkiness"?



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