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If you want to make sense of the current political moment, and why electoral politics under capitalism can never, and will never, serve anyone but the wealthy capitalists, look no further than the most influential political theorist of the 20th century: Vladimir Lenin. A thread.
If you are like me, you did not read Lenin in High School. You did not read him in college. You have never seen his ideas debated on TV. No politician has ever claimed to be inspired by him, or even mentioned his name. Strange, for someone so influential across the globe.
Why is it that in America, the supposed land of free speech, we cannot read or discuss someone who inspired millions of workers, and continues to inspire millions across the globe? The man whose ideology was the official State ideology of some of the largest countries on Earth.
Despite his immense influence, if you are a student at a top university studying politics, you will not read Lenin. You will not debate Lenin. Here are some examples of syllabuses at elite schools, I did not cherry pick, I could not find a single one that read even a pamphlet:
Harvard: Comparative Politics: https://canvas.harvard.edu/courses/4411/assignments/syllabus …. Yale: Comparative Politics: https://politicalscience.yale.edu/comparative-politics-reading-list … Political Theory: https://politicalscience.yale.edu/sites/default/files/political_theory-reading_list-2015.pdf … Berkeley: History of Political Philosophy: https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~ngkolodny/S07Phil114.htm … Political Theory: https://bcourses.berkeley.edu/courses/1467146/assignments/syllabus …
Princeton: Political Theory: https://registrar.princeton.edu/course-offerings/course-details?courseid=005277&term=1194 … Modern Political Theory: https://registrar.princeton.edu/course-offerings/course-details?term=1204&courseid=005287 … Radical Political Theory: https://registrar.princeton.edu/course-offerings/course-details?term=1204&courseid=011318 … Columbia: Political Theory I: https://polisci.columbia.edu/content/political-theory-i … University of Chicago: Political Theory: https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/voices.uchicago.edu/dist/f/847/files/2018/01/Intro-PT-Syllabus-2017-1qkmj7v.pdf …
Marx appears a couple times very briefly, but far less than, say, articles from The Economist. Harvard in particular seems to more or less openly base their courses on capitalist propaganda. So why can't we read or discuss Lenin? Even in an adversarial way?
The reason is simple. Lenin not only lucidly wrote about the contradictions in our own system, which go so deep that they cannot be resolved by minor alterations or incremental "progress", he also wrote about what to do. He wasn't a moralist or utopian trying to show his virtue.
What is dangerous about Lenin is that he talked about actually destroying the system in reality, not just theorizing about what is wrong with it. In other words, Lenin was serious. This kind of thing can't be tolerated. It can't even be discussed, apparently.
What would we say about the USSR if Adam Smith was never taught? Never discussed? Most Americans hate communism, but can't define it. What would we say if Soviet citizens hated capitalism without reading capitalist thinkers? We'd call it brainwashing, censorship, and propaganda.
In America, the supposed land of free speech, we cannot even debate whether or not we should change our own economic system. Anyone who wishes to get rid of capitalism is banned from every institution with any power over our ideas. We do not have academic freedom, or free speech.
In conclusion, if you believe in free speech you owe it to yourself to read what every powerful institution doesn't want you to read. And it isn't conservative hacks who bemoan censorship while getting book deals and TV interviews. It is Vladimir Lenin, the real threat to power.
Resources on Lenin: What Is To Be Done? https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/witbd/index.htm … Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism: https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/index.htm … State and Revolution: https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/index.htm …
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