Description
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS From Marx To Lenin : An Evaluation Of Marx'S Responsibility For Soviet Authoritarianism by David W. Lovell
This study is a contribution to the debate, begun just after the October Revolution, concerning the relationship between Marxs project and Soviet society. It focuses, however, only on the political aspects of the matter: to what extent was early Soviet authoritarianism the necessary outcome of Marxs works? Since Lenins practice and theory largely determined and justified the early political character of the Soviet state, we may ask whether Lenin was implementing Marxs project or a project of his own design. Lenin, influenced by debates within Social Democracy and by the experience of the Russian revolutionary tradition, used a one-sided interpretation of Marxs work to build and defend a transition which was fundamentally authoritarian. Marx was not causally responsible for the theoretical foundation of Soviet authoritarianism.show more