Description
This intellectually discomfiting, disturbingly provocative, yet still thoroughly scholarly Handbook reproduces the intellectual ferment that accompanied the Russian Revolution including the wholly polarising effect at that time of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. The Palgrave Handbook of Leninist Political Philosophy does not settle for one safe interpretation of the thought of this world-historic figure but rather revels in a clash of viewpoints. Most interestingly it presents a contrast between the Western editors who emphasise pure democracy and Marxian humanism with many of the contributing scholars who take a more sanguine view of the Leninist political project. Perhaps reflecting the current Western political crisis, some of the volume’s other European and North American scholars more closely align with their colleagues from the Global South.
Key Features:
· Places particular emphasis on the key elements of Lenin’s thought – the dictatorship of the proletariat (which is trenchantly defended), the nature of the dialectic and the New Economic Policy· Additional comprehensive coverage includes the theory of the party, Bolshevism, imperialism, and the class struggle in the countryside
· Examines the relation of Lenin’s thought to the ideas of his most influential contemporaries (including Luxemburg, Stalin and Trotsky) as well as the most eminent thinker to interpret Lenin since his death – György Lukács
This Handbook is essential reading for scholars, researchers and advanced students in political philosophy, political theory, the history of political ideas, economics, international relations and world history. It is also ideal for the general reader who wishes to understand some of the most powerful ideas that have shaped the modern world and that may yet shake the world again.Table of Contents
Introduction; Tom Rockmore and Norman Levine.- Part I. Lenin and Political Philosophy.- 1. Which Kind of Dialectician was Lenin?; Vesa Oittinen.- 2. Lenin’s Philosophy in Intellectual Context; Daniela Steila.- 3. Lenin and Philosophy; Marina Bykova.- Part II. Lenin and Individual Figures.- 4. Engels’ Cooption of Lenin; Norman Levine.- 5. Luxemburg and Lenin; Peter Hudis.- 6. Trotsky and Lenin; Michel Löwy and Paul Le Blanc.- 7. Stalin and Lenin; Vladislav Hedeler.- 8. Lukàcs and Lenin; Tom Rockmore.- Part III. Lenin and Problems.- 9. Lenin on Socialism and the Party; Neil Harding.- 10. Lenin and the Party; Natasha Gómez Vélazquez.- 11. Lenin and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat; An Qinian.- 12. Lenin and the Peasants; Alan Shandro.- 13. Lenin and Bolshevism; Lars Lih.- 14. Lenin and Imperialism; Alex Callinicos.- 15. Lenin and the NEP; Edward Rees. 16. Lenin, The NEP and the Bolshevik Seizure of Power; Paresh Chattopadhyay.- 17. Lenin’ s NEP and Deng Xiaoping’s Economic Reform; Wei Xiaoping - Index.
