Abstract

This is an entirely new collection of Lenin's writing. For the first time it brings together crucial shorter works, to show that Lenin held a life-long commitment to freedom and democracy. Le Blanc has written a comprehensive introduction, which gives an accessible overview of Lenin's life and work, and explains his relevance to political thought today.

Lenin has been much maligned in the mainstream, accused of viewing 'man as modeling clay' and of 'social engineering of the most radical kind.' However, in contrast to today's world leaders, who happily turn to violence to achieve their objectives, Lenin believed it impossible to reach his goals 'by any other path than that of political democracy.'
'A reminder that what is, need not be, and that what has, seemingly, failed, can be reconstituted anew'
Professor Bryan Palmer, Trent University, author of E. P. Thompson: Objections and Oppositions and James P. Cannon and the Origins of the American Revolutionary Left