this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2023
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Let's be honest. Lenin is the problem. Karl Marx was a philosopher who spoke with a lot of figurative language. Which Lenin treated as all literal dogma. And I am here to tell you taking figurative work literally is one of the worst decisions you can make. Just like evangelicals who take the bible literally. When it isn't even a coherent work of fiction. Let alone a solid system of rule and law.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. As can be clearly seen in every major country that has tried Lenin's blind ideology. (Cuba had some special circumstances that kept it from spiraling as fast as the others. Plus Venezuela is still a bit early to call. But likely will get there) Or pretty much every major capitalist nation as well. With Lenin as the lynchpin consistently making bad decisions. (Stalin) I think it's probably safe to say he had good intentions. But was far out of his depth and it showed.
And I'm not some liberal, or fascist critiquing from the right. Just a pro social democracy slightly libertarian leaning socialist.
He wasn't the coolest or nicest person, but definitely better than the Tzars, under him Russia had its best years.
Perhaps if you only look at that small segment. But his legacy involves much more than only the best years. (And that's being generous) While I'm not going to say that he was a net negative. I think it's a lot harder to make the argument that he was a net positive. I think he did do some good for Russia. But it is inarguable that his ideology hurt a lot of people and help others hurt a lot of people as well. And it's not something that can be hand wave away as the fault of capitalists. And certainly not someone to emulate or acolyte for in this day and age.