"Lenin Rediscovered: 'What is to be Done?' in Context"

[Vanguard1917]

Has anyone here read this book by Lars T. Lih? It's quite expensive and a bit of a door-stopper at almost 900 pages, so I'd be interested in some opinions on it before I get a copy. Any links to good reviews would also be welcomed.

[Volcanicity]

I have'nt read it but it's a book that I'd love to get my hands on.You may want to take a look at these vids to get an angle on Lih's thoughts on Lenin,WITBD, April Theses etc.

http://www.cpgb.org.uk/home/videos/landing/categories?recent_tags=lars+t+lih

EDIT:This was the first piece that I read about Lih's book I hope you find it of interest.

http://links.org.au/node/1953

[Jimmie Higgins]

It's long and expensive, but very interesting too - I don't agree with everything he has to say, but even the disagreements are very thought-provoking. The new translation confirms/clarifies some of the long-standing debates/misconceptions about What is to be done.

[Hit The North]

This guy seems good on the history... but if anyone could summarise the lessons Lars T Lih's work has for revolutionaries today, what would it be?

[Q]

This guy seems good on the history... but if anyone could summarise the lessons Lars T Lih's work has for revolutionaries today, what would it be?

That is not really the task he set for himself. He studies the history of the Bolshevik movement at an academic level and this is where his value lies. He leaves contemporary conclusions to political groups and individuals.

Besides the useful link to the videos durdles posted, there are also quite a few articles he wrote for the Weekly Worker which you can find here (http://www.cpgb.org.uk/home/authors/lars-t-lih).

Note that this isn't a complete overview as the tagging process is still ongoing. In the mean time you can also use google of course (http://tiny.cc/z3rhhw).

[Serge's Fist]

It is definitely worth reading, it help expose some of the rubbish many of the left groups peddle about Lenin and the development of Bolshevism. Lenin Rediscovered goes through the struggle to forge a party in probably the most rigorous fashion to date.

The new translation with Lih's comments undoes the mistaken interpretation of what Lenin meant by "professional revolutionary/ revolutionary by trade" and also the merger of socialism with the worker movement.

The CPGB articles and videos are also really helpful to get where Lih is coming from. Would also suggest buying his biography of Lenin from the Critical Lives series.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

It is definitely a book I have been wanting to buy for some time. Expensive but maybe sometime later in the year when I have funds I will give it a buy. As the others have said it gives a new translation of What is to be Done and gives a intellectual heavy account of events leading to the revolution.

[Vanguard1917]

Thanks for the replies. Those articles and vids seem a good place to start. I'd seen his articles in the Weekly Worker for a while but hadn't given them much attention.

[Die Neue Zeit]

Has anyone here read this book by Lars T. Lih? It's quite expensive and a bit of a door-stopper at almost 900 pages, so I'd be interested in some opinions on it before I get a copy. Any links to good reviews would also be welcomed.

As I posted in the past, most of Chapter 1 and much of the rest of the book is available for preview on Google Books. I got my timely conclusions without having to order the whole book and read every single page.


This guy seems good on the history... but if anyone could summarise the lessons Lars T Lih's work has for revolutionaries today, what would it be?


That is not really the task he set for himself. He studies the history of the Bolshevik movement at an academic level and this is where his value lies. He leaves contemporary conclusions to political groups and individuals.

Vanguard and PAT: The lessons are better found in CPGB comrade Mike Macnair's Revolutionary Strategy: Marxism and the Challenge of Left Unity. There's a reason why there's a bit of a surge in discussions here on RL about Orthodox Marxism, Kautsky Revivalism, etc.

[Drosophila]

The paperback version is only $40 or something on Amazon. I just started reading it yesterday. It also has the full version of the original What is to be done? included in it.

[Binh]

Lih's biography is better if you are cash-strapped.

[Lucretia]

It's a good book, but beware of Kautskyite spin.

[Ostrinski]

It's a good book, but beware of Kautskyite spin.It's a good book, but disregard the whole book, in other words.

[el_chavista]

It is not only a matter of Traduttore, traditore! (translator, traitor!). In Spanish you cannot get the difference between "revolutsionarii po-professu" and "revolutionary by-trade" :unsure:

[Lucretia]

It's a good book, but disregard the whole book, in other words.

So the entire book us Kautskyite spin? Ouch. That is terribly harsh. I wonder how every Leninist I am aware of, including me sees much value in the book in spite of a couple of the questionable theses about Leninist party practice at the time. Maybe you can clarify for us, since you appear to be an expert on this topic.

[Die Neue Zeit]

Well, you don't subscribe to the merger formula so central ideologically and organizationally to the political activity of European Social Democracy before WWI.

[The Idler]

I just found this audio so I thought I would share in this topic
Lenin and the Marxist Left after #Occupy (http://archive.org/details/LeninAndTheMarxistLeftAfteroccupy)
as well as from Communist University fringe
Martov's Criticism of Bolshevism (http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/audio/martovs-criticism-bolshevism)

[Grenzer]

It seems to say quite a lot about the SPGB that they are putting out Martov's bile.

[The Idler]

That's pretty much unadulterated ad hominem.