Mike Beggs wrote:
>
> On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 11:16 AM, shag carpet bomb <shag at cleandraws.com> wrote:
>
> > what the hell is that book all about?
>
> I'm not sure, but I hear it's very useful if you find yourself in
> turn-of-the-twentieth-century Russia.
>
> Mike Beggs
Lenin himself remarked just a few years later that it was already merely of historical interest. It does preserve some of the commonplaces of the Second Internatioanl (particularly from Kautsky's echos in it). It was the response of a determined mind to a partaicular (and never repeated) historical situation, as Mike suggests. Then it was turned into a Bible by the Bobbsy Twins Leon & Joe in their personal quarrel, and in general made Scripture for several generations of Communist Revolutionaries. When it was read by intelligent and determined people, it became meaningful for their situation. Otherwise, shag is far off.
One 2d-I commonplace nicely preserved and still I think worth using: the distinctions among agitation, propaganda, and theory. Do read the footnotes if you have the edition published by Progress Publihsers or republished by Foreighn Language Press. Some interesting history.
Carrol