Best Lenin biography?

  1. Questionable
    Questionable
    What is the best biography on Lenin available to purchase?

    I'd like something that portrays him in the most neutral light possible. Obviously I don't want to read an anti-communist ranting about how many millions he killed, nor do I want to read an old Soviet biography about how he was the most brilliant Marxist to ever live. I just want the facts.
  2. Paul Pott
    The group leader answered this question the other day:

    There is a detailed 1960's Soviet biography of Lenin which can be bought on Amazon for cheap: http://www.amazon.com/Vladimir-Ilyic.../dp/B000GLD05U (I have it but have not yet read it)

    There's a rather brief Stalin-era biography of Lenin online here: http://sovietlibrary.org/Library/Uni...0Institute.pdf

    There are a number of bourgeois biographies but I cannot comment on their quality, except to say that Robert Service's is probably to be avoided until you read others first, since his three biographies of Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky share the distinction of being denounced by everyone, and that Dimitri Volkogonov's is interesting due chiefly to his access to archival materials, since he is otherwise strongly anti-communist and attacks Lenin any chance he can.
  3. Ismail
    Ismail
    I'd honestly get the 1960's Soviet bio I mentioned to start with, since it does a good job explaining his life and work from an informed Marxist viewpoint. Then you can read other biographies.
  4. Comrade Thomas
    Comrade Thomas
    No! By Prof Robert Service, Superb Russian historian.
  5. Ismail
    Ismail
    Well would you dispute what I said about Service in the quoted post?