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“For more than a century Lenin has been a constant source of inspiration for
workers and revolutionaries striving to shape democratic and equitable soci-
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eties throughout the world. Unfinished Leninism is a powerful and stimulating M n
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guide to Lenin’s political thought and abiding legacy that is essential reading l
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for students and activists who are striving to realize an ethical and revolu- S e
tionary democratic society today.” L
—Immanuel Ness, author, Ours to Master and to Ownand NI ul
Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest a
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“Illuminating much misunderstood aspects of Lenin’s legacy with flair and orig- N M
inality, Paul Le Blanc breathes new vigor into a century-old approach to social
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transformation. A major addition to our understanding of twenty-first-century S
socialism.” —John Riddell, editor, Toward the United Front L
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“One doesn’t have to be a Leninist to read and appreciate Paul Le Blanc’s brilliant
essays. This is indeed an outstanding study of Lenin’s ideas, his relation to Trotsky I
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and Luxemburg, as well as his unfinished democratic revolutionary legacy.”
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—Michael Löwy, author, On Changing the World E
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“Paul Le Blanc... finds eloquent comments from a century’s worth of activists
and historians, and engages with them passionately. He lets us have our own I
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voice... and yet weaves all the quotations into a searchingly individual view
of what it means to be a leftist and a self-proclaimed Leninist in the twenty- I E
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first century.... To read his book is to join in his questing interrogation of
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past, present, and future.” —Lars Lih, author, Lenin Rediscovered N
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Lenin was perhaps the greatest revolutionary of the N
twentieth century, leader of the Russian Revolution
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of 1917, and the central founder of modern Commu-
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nism. These clearly written essays offer a succinct n
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account of his life and times and a stimulating en- Bl U
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ISBN: 978-1-60846-366-4 $18 R
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www.haymarketbooks.org
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Unfinished Leninism
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Unfinished Leninism
The Rise and Return of a Revolutionary Doctrine
Paul Le Blanc
Haymarket Books
Chicago, IL
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First published by Haymarket Books in 2014
© 2014 Paul Le Blanc
Haymarket Books
PO Box 180165
Chicago, IL 60618
773-583-7884
[email protected]
www.haymarketbooks.org
ISBN: 978-1-60846-366-4
Trade distribution:
In the US through Consortium Book Sales and Distribution, www.cbsd.com
In the UK, Turnaround Publisher Services, www.turnaround-psl.com
All other countries, Publishers Group Worldwide, www.pgw.com
Special discounts are available for bulk purchases by organizations and
institutions. Please contact Haymarket Books for more information at
773-583-7884 or [email protected].
This book was published with the generous support of Lannan Foundation and
the Wallace Action Fund.
Cover design by Rachel Cohen. Text design by Eric Kerl.
Printed in Canada by union labor.
Library of Congress CIP data is available.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
One Lenin’s Return 7
Two One for the Encyclopedias 25
Three Travesties, Statues, and Laughter 41
Four Still Kicking: Lenin and His Biographers 53
Five Lenin and Revolutionary Democracy 77
Six The Great Lenin Debate of 2012 95
Seven Enduring Legacy 115
Eight Luxemburg and Lenin
Through Each Other’s Eyes 129
Nine Caution: Activists Using Lenin 139
Ten Leninism Is Unfinished 159
Eleven Leninism for Dangerous Times 173
Twelve Organizing for Twenty-First-Century Socialism:
The History and Future of Leninism 185
Notes 207
Index 227
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To those, now gone, who taught me about Leninism,
to those, very much here, who might make
good use of it, and to those yet to come . . .
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Among those whom I must thank, for various kinds of supportive-
ness around my engagement with the ideas (and the sharing of their
own ideas) reflected in these essays, over the past several years, are:
Anthony Arnove, Sebastian Budgen, Tom Bias, Sandra Bloodworth,
Roland Boer, Peter Boyle, David Castle, Kunal Chattopadhyay, Luke
Cooper, Ted Crawford, Paul D’Amato, Neil Davidson, Alexy Gusev,
Shaun Harkin, Jonathan Harris, He Ping, Brian Jones, Geoffroy de
Laforcade, Li Dianlai, Lars Lih, Michael Löwy, Soma Marik, Kevin
Murphy, Manny Ness, Benjamin Opratko, John Rees, John Riddell,
Pierre Rousset, Helen Scott, Ahmed Shawki, George Shriver, Ashley
Smith, Debbie Smith, Michael Smith, Sharon Smith, Hillel Ticktin,
Terry Townsend, Tom Twiss, Nat Weinstein, Suzanne Weiss, Susan
Weissman, Wu Xinwei, Xiong Min, Michael Yates, and Dave Zirin.
Special thanks for the thoughtful and helpful editorial work by Dao
Tran. (Apologies for the incompleteness of this list.)
I have been sustained in many important ways, as I have labored
over these writings, by my friend Nancy Ferrari, my sisters Patty and
Nora Le Blanc, my sons Gabriel Le Blanc and Jonah McAllister-
Erickson, and activist comrades of six continents who are too nu-
merous to name.
These essays have accumulated, mostly over a six-year period,
in ways indicated below.
“Lenin’s Return” appeared in Working USA: The Journal of Labor
and Society10, no. 3, September 2007.
“One for the Encyclopedias” was first published in the now de-
funct Colliers Encyclopediain 1995, and a refurbished version appeared
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