Counter-idea of the 20th century: varieties of Leninism in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia
Counter-idea of the 20th century: varieties of Leninism in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia

Summary/Abstract: The present essay advances a typology of the Leninist phenomenon in 20th century Russia, starting with its creator and ending with the newest form Leninism embraced at the beginning of the third millennium. It follows its ideological proteanism and the variations of its revolutionary substance, trying to prove its unusual power of adaptation and self-regeneration. As a parricidal offspring of modernity, Leninism started its Soviet adventure from the left of the political specter and continued it after 1991 trough a residual form, ending today ideologically intertwined with the Neo-Eurasian movement and therefore assuming a right-wing orientation. As a constant and fanatical assault on “bourgeois” reality, Leninism attacks modernity on the basis of its unkept promise of liberty within social equality and tries to force Marx’s (social) revolution trough extreme political means, aiming to create an apolitical world trough hyper-political means. While ideas enrich knowledge and (should) serve scientific and therefore limited purposes, Leninism narrows knowledge subsuming it exclusively to its phantasmagorical revolutionary aim; by manipulating ideas in ways contrary to their scientific purpose, Leninism can be understood as a counter-idea. Distorting Marx and reproaching modernity something much beyond its power, the specter of Leninism will probably forever lurk in the shadow of modernity.

• Details
• Contents