A common idea held by those enamored by thoughts of beautiful communist utopias is that the Soviet Union unfortunately became, instead of a beautiful utopia, a totalitarian nightmare due to Stalin diverting it from the true path which the purist Lenin had set in motion. How true is this notion of Stalin corrupting the Marxist-Leninist path, once all human impediments had been removed, to social justice and everlasting bliss?
Well, I’ve started reading a biography of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the famously persecuted writer, and there’s a quote therein of Lenin’s which is pretty enlightening, I think. Just to fill in a little background first - after the October Revolution of 1917 where Lenin’s Bolsheviks seized power, Lenin showed his reassuring commitment to democratic ideals by allowing general elections to the Constituent Assembly the following month. The more moderate Socialist Revolutionaries won 41% of the vote, Lenin's Bolsheviks gained 23.5%. Lenin's response was to dissolve the assembly, and begin the "dictatorship of the proletariat", i.e. dictatorship under Lenin.
And now the quote about this rule by dictatorship by Lenin:
The dictatorship means - learn this once and for all - unrestrained power based on force, not on law.
And so now, looking at Stalin, what did Communist rule under him embody? A dictatorship of unrestrained power based on force. I don’t see a whole lot of parting of the ways there. Maybe I need to squint my eyes.
No comments:
Post a Comment