Lenninism (n.) is a kind of precocious totalitarianism.

Neil Harding on Lenninism

Lenninism

is Lenin's version of Marxism, built around a disciplined vanguard party that leads the revolution and then rules.

Leninism is here presented as precocious totalitarianism and it is consequently to Lenin's early account of party organisation (written in 1902) that most commentators turn in their quest for the origins of Leninism.

is marxism of the era of imperialism and the proletarian revolution.

Leninism is Marxism of the era of imperialism and the proletarian revolution. Joseph Stalin

is responsible for adding a dimension of political action to marx, who formulated laws of history.

Marx might be regarded as formulating laws of history while Lenin concentrated on political action though he himself amended Marx's laws in the process. Lenin added a dimension of the theory of political action to Marxism.

is the creation of vanguard parties designed to seize power opportunistically rather than to wait.

For Zizek, Leninism (i.e. the creation of vanguard parties designed to seize power opportunistically rather than wait for the proletariat to rise on its own) is the appropriate response to the realization that communism is not as historically inevitable as Marx is said to have believed.

is a reaction to the World War I in which capitalism had finally and irrevocably forfeited its right to exist.

A central contention of this book is that Leninism, in its origins and content, is best understood as a reaction to world war. The capitalist economic and political civilization that had produced this access of carnage, had, in Lenin's eyes, finally and irrevocably forfeited its right to exist. All those who, with whatever reservations or caveats, supported their country's participation in the war, had similarly forfeited their right to be counted progressive, still less socialist. These were Lenin's instant and absolutist judgements at the outbreak of the First World War. They were the foundational propositions from which Leninism as an integrated critique of contemporary capitalism, and as a conviction that the world revolution for socialism was imminent and necessary, was to form itself rapidly in the years 1914-17.

is expressly confrontational. It sets out to polarize, not conciliate, and strives to assault the shared discourse of european politics.

Leninism, as we have seen, was directly and expressly confrontational in is style. It set out to polarise, not conciliate. Its object was precisely to assault the shared discourse of European politics.

is a set of organizational precepts and mobilizing devices presided over by a centralized and disciplined political party.

As with the man, so with the doctrine. As Lenin is presented as an adroit power-seeking opportunist, so Leninism is conceived of as an organisational code a set of organisational precepts and mobilising devices presided over by a centralised and disciplined political party.

censorship

Gulag

Soviet Union

anarchism

capitalism

liberalism

Russia

discipline

hammer and sickle

mausoleum

red flag

red star

Stalinism

academic marxism

base-superstructure

black marxism

promethean marxism

structural marxism

systems Marxism

vulgar Marxism

Bolshevik

communism

democratic centralism

dictatorship of the proletariat

imperialism

marxism

October Revolution

Trotskyism

vanguard party

What Is to Be Done?

base superstructure

is a reaction to imperialism that urges the destruction of the nation state which had finally demonstrated itself to be radically at odds with the goals of securing peace or freedom in the world.

It was, oddly enough, precisely the analysis of the threatening totalitarianism of the imperialist state that prompted Lenin, in 1917, to urge the destruction of the nation state, for the reason that it had finally demonstrated itself to be radically at odds with the goals of securing peace or freedom in the world.

is often thought to be concerned very little with theory and to be distinctive primarily because of its 'modern' grasp of the persuasive power of propaganda and the manipulative potential of front organizations to mobilize the masses.

There is, in many Western accounts, an over-determined description of the genesis of Leninism that distorts the historical record, ignores the bulk of Lenin's early writings or trivializes their content. In these conventional and undemanding interpretations, Leninism is not much concerned with theory but is distinctive because of its 'modern' grasp of the persuasive power of propaganda and the manipulative potential of front organisations to mobilise the masses.

is the first modern ideology to grasp the potential of how mass media could be skillfully manipulated by professional propagandist to mold, canalize and radicalize public grievances and public opinion.

Leninism was the first modem ideology to grasp the potential of new means of mass mobilization. Modem media of communication, skillfully manipulated by professional agitators and propagandist, were to mould and radicalize public opinion. The grievances of the most diverse groups, from national minorities to land-hungry peasants, were to be exploited and canalised by party-controlled front organisations. It is hardly surprising that this conception of Leninism neatly complements totalitarianism as the prevalent mode of understanding communist regimes and their ideology. Pride of place is again given to the control mechanisms made available to dogmatic party/states by modern technology, to mould the thoughts, mobilise, direct and police the activities of their citizens.

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