Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) was the Bolshevik leader and first head of the Soviet government. His defence of power unrestricted by law raises a concrete question: what protects an individual against a government claiming to act on behalf of their class?
German assistance and the agency allegation
In a 2017 opinion essay in The New York Times, historian Sean McMeekin argues that German assistance to Lenin formed part of Berlin’s wartime policy of encouraging revolution in enemy states. He cites Lenin’s German-assisted return to Russia, financial support, his policy of “revolutionary defeatism” and his offer of a cease-fire after taking power as evidence that Lenin’s actions served Germany’s war aims.[1]
McMeekin acknowledges that Lenin could regard his tactics as serving communism. He argues that Lenin’s own revolutionary aims did not erase German assistance or the benefits Berlin derived from his actions, culminating in the peace of Brest-Litovsk. German support and aligned wartime interests remain distinct from the stronger claim of a formal agency relationship: the essay does not reproduce an agency agreement establishing Lenin as a German agent.[1]
Power unrestricted by law
In his 1918 polemic "The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky", Lenin defined dictatorship:
“Dictatorship is rule based directly upon force and unrestricted by any laws.”
«Диктатура есть власть, опирающаяся непосредственно на насилие, не связанная никакими законами».
The problem is not settled by calling the rulers proletarian. Someone still decides who belongs to the class being suppressed and what counts as opposition. Claiming to represent workers supplies no protection for an actual worker who disagrees. The distinction between legislation and Natural Law concerns precisely these limits on power.
Terror as an instruction
In a telegram to Penza communists dated 11 August 1918, Lenin ordered the public hanging of at least 100 people classified as kulaks, rich people and bloodsuckers, the publication of their names, seizure of their grain and the taking of hostages. He wanted the surrounding population to see and fear the example. This is an instruction to use terror, rather than merely a later allegation about his intentions. The document alone does not establish how many people were actually executed.[3]
The first instruction reads:
“Hang (without fail, so that the people can see) at least 100 known kulaks, rich men and bloodsuckers.”
Russian original:
«Повесить (непременно повесить, дабы народ видел) не меньше 100 заведомых кулаков, богатеев, кровопийцев.»
On 17 May 1922, in a letter to Justice Commissar Dmitry Kursky accompanying a draft addition to the Criminal Code, Lenin specified the role he assigned to the courts:
“Courts must not abolish terror—promising this would mean self-deception or deception—but must justify it and establish it in law as a principle, plainly, without falsehood or embellishment.”
Russian original:
«Суд должен не устранить террор; обещать это было бы самообманом или обманом, а обосновать и узаконить его принципиально, ясно, без фальши и без прикрас.»
Swiss socialist connections
Lenin joined the Zurich Social Democratic Party during his Swiss exile. Participation did not mean agreement: he sought supporters for revolution and opposed the party’s more moderate currents.[6]
Zurich’s Eintracht workers’ club hosted paid lectures by Lenin and other socialist exiles, including Plekhanov, Trotsky, Martov and Radek.[7]
In 1982, Helmut Hubacher invoked Lenin’s Swiss party membership during a Swiss Socialist delegation’s meeting with East German leader Erich Honecker. Christoph Blocher’s account in "Freedom not Socialism" also records a later dispute over commitments concerning Swiss credit to East Germany.[8]
Ukraine and famine
The Holodomor Museum connects Lenin’s policies and continuing food removals from Ukraine with the famine of 1921–1923. This must be distinguished from the Holodomor of 1932–1933, which occurred after Lenin’s death.[9]
On 18 May 1921, Lenin wrote to Mikhail Frunze:
“The principal question for all Soviet power now, a question of life and death for us, is to collect 200–300 million poods from Ukraine.”
Russian original:
«Теперь главный вопрос всей Советской власти, вопрос жизни и смерти для нас, — собрать с Украины 200—300 миллионов пудов.»
This was a collection target, not a statement of the quantity actually obtained. The letter also ordered military control of salt extraction to support the operation.
In a confidential letter to Molotov and the Politburo on 19 March 1922, following resistance to church seizures in Shuya, Russia, Lenin presented famine as an opportunity to confiscate church valuables and suppress resistance. He called for the operation to proceed with extreme ferocity and ruthlessness and advocated shootings to prevent future opposition.[11]
Dominique Colas’s study of Lenin and Ukraine examines the tension between proclaimed national self-determination and the priority Lenin gave to Bolshevik power. Calling Lenin Ukraine’s creator does not settle whether Ukrainians could freely reject that power.[12]
Lenin’s factories and the workers of Plzeň
In 1953, the former Škoda works in Plzeň bore Lenin’s name. Workers from the plant participated in the protests against the monetary reform. A revolutionary name protected neither their savings nor their freedom to protest.[13]
Sources and further reading
- The War against the 'Kulaks'
- “So that you all do not think that we are all Nazis here in Ukraine and therefore hate communists, I will give you some Lenin quotes. ” (thread) (pdf)
- Lenin's Hanging Order
- Holodomor#Holodovka_1921-1923
- Natural Law
- Czechoslovak monetary reform of 1953
- Plzeň protests of 1953
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sean McMeekin, “Was Lenin a German Agent?”, The New York Times, Opinion / Red Century, 19 June 2017.
- ↑ V. I. Lenin, The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky, 1918, published English translation; Russian original, Полное собрание сочинений, vol. 37, p. 245.
- ↑ Russian original, letter of 11 August 1918, document 137; V. I. Lenin, Telegram to Comrades Kuraev, Bosh, Minkin, and other Penza communists, 11 August 1918; Richard B. Day’s translation, with links to the Library of Congress document images.
- ↑ 11.VIII.1918, № 137. Original manuscript, Library of Congress: page 1; page 2. Library of Congress, English translation.
- ↑ Letter to D. I. Kursky, 17 May 1922; Russian collected works, vol. 45, p. 190. Collected Works, vol. 33, pp. 358–359, Marxists Internet Archive.
- ↑ SWI swissinfo.ch, Lenin and the Swiss non-revolution.
- ↑ Jean-François Fayet, Les révolutionnaires russes et polonais installés en Suisse pendant la Première Guerre mondiale, p. 393.
- ↑ Christoph Blocher, Freedom not Socialism, April 2000, p. 16, English translation; German original, Freiheit statt Sozialismus, pp. 13–14.
- ↑ National Museum of the Holodomor, Famine of 21–23, exhibition of 2018.
- ↑ Letter to M. V. Frunze, 18 May 1921; Russian collected works, vol. 52, pp. 196–197. Collected Works, vol. 45, pp. 145–146, Marxists Internet Archive.
- ↑ Lenin, letter of 19 March 1922, archival document and English translation, Library of Congress.
- ↑ Dominique Colas, Lénine est-il « l’auteur et l’architecte » de l’Ukraine comme le dit Poutine ?, Sciences Po CERI, April 2022.
- ↑ Jakub Šlouf, Justiční procesy s účastníky plzeňské revolty 1. června 1953, Paginae historiae 24/2, 2016, pp. 214–216 and 221–225.
