One hundred years after the
Russian Revolution, Žižek shows why Lenin’s thought is still important today
by Slavoj Žižek
Lenin’s originality and
importance as a revolutionary leader is most often associated with the seizure
of power in 1917.
But, Žižek argues in this new study
and collection of original texts, Lenin’s true greatness can be better grasped
in the very last couple of years of his political life.
Russia had survived foreign
invasion, embargo and a terrifying civil war, as well as internal revolts such
as at Kronstadt in 1921. But the new state was exhausted, isolated and
disorientated in the face of the world revolution that seemed to be receding.
New paths had to be sought,
almost from scratch, for the Soviet state to survive and imagine some
alternative route to the future.
With his characteristic brio
and provocative insight, Žižek suggests that Lenin’s courage as a thinker can
be found in his willingness to face this reality of retreat lucidly and
frontally.
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