Existential Comics

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.