Unfinished Leninism

Praise for Paul Le Blanc's Lenin and the Revolutionary Party: "A work of unusual strength and coherence, inspired not by academic neutrality but by the deep conviction that there is much to learn from the actual ideas and experiences of Lenin." —Michael Löwy As a leader of the Russian Revolution, Vladimir Lenin was perhaps the greatest revolutionary of the twentieth century. These clearly written essays offer an account of his life and times, a lively view of his personality, and a stimulating engagement with his ideas. Paul Le Blanc is a professor of history at La Roche College and has written widely on radical movements.

There are few more divisive names in history than the Soviet communist Leon Trotsky. To some, he was a betrayer, a hypocrite, and a totalitarian, and yet to many others he was a revolutionary of high esteem, who battled an outdated, oppressive dynasty and helped to usher in a new political era, and whose name became a political moniker: trotskyist. Whether colored by disdain or admiration, one thing is certain: Trotsky was one of the most important figures of the twentieth century. In Leon Trotsky, Paul Le Blanc delves deep into Trotsky’s life and relationships to reveal and make sense of his complex character and decisive actions. Interweaving dramatic historical events with examinations of Trotsky’s multi-faceted personality, he offers incisive views of the key facets of Trotsky’s life: his involvement with Soviet bureaucracy, the Spanish Civil War, and the rise of Hitler in the years before World War II. Illuminating Trotsky’s personal and political struggles and achievements, this balanced portrait will be invaluable to history students or anyone interested in the extraordinary lives that made up the twentieth century.

A winner of the Isaac Deutscher Prize Liebmann highlights democratic dimensions in Lenin's thinking as it developed over 25 years.

Lenin's most important and controversial theoretical text Lenin’s booklet The State and Revolution struck the world of Marxist theory like a lightning bolt. Written in the months running up to the October Revolution of 1917, Lenin turned the traditional socialist concept of the state on its head, arguing for the need to smash the organs of the bourgeois state to create a ‘semi-state’ of soviets, or workers’ councils, in which ordinary people would take on the functions of the state machine in a new and radically democratic manner. This new edition includes a substantial introduction by renowned theorist Antonio Negri, who argues for the continued relevance of these ideas.

Marxism has been the most pervasive and widespread ideological phenomenon of our times, but seldom, if ever, has it been found in its form. Whenever the Marxist ideology has been historically significant, it has been so as a beneficiary and associate of another set of political beliefs and passions. As a contender for power it seeks to express the dreams and yearnings of societies caught in the painful process of modernization and industrialization. In power it tends to pay lip service to its lofty goals, but associates them with old-fashioned nationalism. Practice does not reflect theory. Ruling elites and parties surpass traditional capitalism in their dedication to political centralization and industrialism at all costs. This revised edition of Adam Ulam's standard work retains the author's summary and critique of Marx's historical, economic, and political arguments. Ulam then examines the relationship of Marxism to other schools of contemporary socialism and to other radical and revolutionary theories. He traces the development of Marxian thought, explains why it has been the potent force in certain societies–while in other societies its influence has been insignificant–and analyzes how Marxism and Leninism have affected the shaping of Russian Communism. Finally Ulam looks at Marxism in the future: the role it will play in the development of the Soviet Union, and how it will affect the contemporary crisis of liberal institutions in the West.