[lbo-talk] Good Books on Lenin and His Policies

[Carrol Cox]

First of all, only an  id iot would try to write an "objective" account of
Lenin. Books by unashamed foes or worshppers would be much preferable. Any
'objective" account would be a tissue of boring lies.

Lars Lih on witbe	 would be a good place to start.

Stalin & Trotsky fucked up our vision of Lenin by treating him as a
theorist. He was _not_ a theorist and it distorts his work to see him as
such. When Lenin labelled Kautsky a "renegade" he meant Kautsky was a
renegade to his (Kautsky's) own theory, and Lenin always regarded Kautsky as
THE interpreter of Marx.

Lenin was a great revolutionary in the context of Czarist Russia.

Carrol

-----Original Message-----
From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org]
On Behalf Of Ambrose Andrews
Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2016 10:33 PM
To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Good Books on Lenin and His Policies

"Leninism under Lenin" by Marcel Liebman is an interesting, well
written and generally positive assessment.

Victor Serge's "Year One of the Russian Revolution" might be
interesting, given Serge's anarchist leanings.

These might be too pro-Lenin for your liking, but they could form part
of a picture, with the combination of first-hand reporting of the
young revolution (Serge) and a more analytical retrospective overview
of Lenin's actual practice in the context of the times (Liebman).

'Objectivity' might be a tough ask on the subject of Lenin...

  -AA.

On 10 February 2016 at 15:03, Nick Manley <chessanarch at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'll state up front that I am already an anarchist skeptic of Lenin and
his
> policies. but I also view my knowledge on him/his policies as insufficient
> Could people recommend good truthful objective work that details his life,
> views, and policies as leader of the USSR? I am NOT (caps for emphasis)
> looking for uncritical worship stuff though. I am also not looking for
> unfair attacks or critiques of him either. And I am not trying to start a
> discussion about whether Lenin was a good guy or not. I may do so in the
> future, but I'd like to read more about his policies and views first.
>
> Best,
>
> Nick
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
___________________________________
http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk