Liebman and Leninism

Abstract

Marcel Liebman's Leninism Under Lenin is a serious and useful work. Based upon sound documentation and drawing upon an impressive quantity of facts and quotations, it is devoted to the systematic demolition of two myths-the myth of Lenin as an unscrupulous politician, greedy for power and the legitimate forerunner of Stalin's dictatorship, and the myth of Lenin as the "genius-leader" of the working-class movement who never made a mistake and never changed his line. The function of the first of these myths, dear to the bourgeoisie and petty-bourgeoisie (including the Social-Democratic ideologists) is to discredit Bolshevism and, therewith, the proletarian revolution, by means of Stalin's crimes. The second myth, dear to the bureaucracy, serves the function of making Lenin's prestige serve as apologia for the rulers of Moscow and Peking. Both of these myths strive to misrepresent the truth, and for this reason-though not only for this reason-constitute obstacles to raising the class-consciousness of the international proletariat and to the struggle for socialism. By dismantling these myths Liebman renders a service to the cause of historical truth, and, consequently, to the cause of the emancipation of the working people.