The Non-Marxist Origins of Lenin (History of Socialism in Russia)

Hey everyone, this video took a lot more time to research and edit than I was expecting. I really appreciate all the encouraging comments people have left on the previous videos and want to thank you all for your patience. I think the next video will be a less intensive and lighthearted one, so it should be finished a lot sooner.

Also if anyone has any questions about this video's topic, feel free to ask in the comments and I will try my best to answer. If there's something that a lot of people are asking about I can also make a follow up video.

Marx and the better Marxists are well worth reading. The claims of "scientific socialism" are a relic of 19th century positivism. These videos are good introductions for people willing to do their own homework. The soundtrack, however, is both repetitious and annoying.

Fake

After this one you've gone from having me as a subscriber to having notifications turned on.

Ok im just getting blasted with an 8bit version of around the world and straight facts about russian peasantry i love this

This is goated

Communism is a Zionist Trojan horse

Bakunin mentioned!

Lenin's communism failed the moment it lost the primary election and decided just to seize power for itself.

Oh my days, thank you so much! I have been looking for a good explanation of the narodniks for a history project, through a video bc I learn better that way, and got even more than I wanted, this is a fascinating topic and it is covered so well and thoroughly :)

Music ruins it

Thank you for your work. I discovered a lot.

Democratic centralism came from the Lassalle fanction of the german social Democratic party which competed with Marx's faction. Just thought it was worth noting. Great vid though

I was expecting a more annoying perspective but your critique is nuanced I liked it, good video.

This is one of the best videos i saw about Lenin. Straightforward, deep, academic and well cited and also very careful in its analysis not to become politically motivated for either side, thank you! I hope you will continue the development of Soviet leaderships ideology through the ages, with ever increase viewership and subscriber count!

People is "Ljudi" in Russian, Narod would be closer to the word "Folk".

This is very interesting given recent political developments on the right, which has fairly conclusively broken off into an elitist movement which sees populism as misguided.

All figures come from a certain context, it is not surprising that Lenin was influenced by this context, he probably would never have come to prominence if he had been unwilling to operate within the reality of the situation.

I am a monarchist and a Christian so I have no sympathy at all with the sons of Rousseau, but it is interesting to hear how exactly liberal theory developed in this case, especially given that we live under a managerial offshoot of the same system of thought.

While you talk about the repression of the Tsarist state it should be noted that it was not well organised or implemented, the right in Russia was largely a mess due to the state opposition to politics, it was patronized inconsistently and often based on the personal sympathies of administrators. The civil service of Russia and indeed the whole administrative state was miniscule, it was highly autonomous on the local level, and the only decisive force was the military, which would have it's institutional culture fundamentally changed by conscription, on top of this the state failed for an entire century to deal with liberals within the educational and legal system, and when such people were brought in to the service branches during war they proved both corrupt and politically hostile. Ironically Wrangel resolved corruption when he took power by putting notable aristocrats in such positions, because they were too proud to steal, and were brave and loyal men.

Russia during this period is tragic, as it was developing at rapid pace, I have read historians who postulate that by adopting a liberal model of reform based off of a fictionalized ideal of western development expounded by the Whigs they actually undermined ancient traditions and institutions rather than evolve them and thus created the instability in the system that lead to collapse. Certainly it is likely that Russia will never recover from the soviet period as it lost a link to functioning social systems and many of the valuable groups the state could drawn on were wiped out. It's certainly interesting to think about, and relevant as things in the west are coming to mirror soviet misgovernment.

Minor correction Marx did see Russian communes as a possibility to achieve socialism without the stageist notion of semi feudal to capitalist to socialist, in his letter to Vera Zasulich

Since Marx was a disciple of Hegel, and Hegel was inspired by Kant doesn’t that mean seeds of communism came from the 1700s???

Love your rigour in citation but it must be said Orlando Figes is not a good source and has been discredited

I'm starting to suspect that Marx was not a Marxist.

Marxism is not evil, it just can never happen, because Marxism is the perfect guide to a dictatorship even if the people implementing Marxisms do not want it to happen.

Great video overall.

I think reality is that Marx was just wrong about pretty much everything. His understanding of history was completely and utterly flawed and had little to no bases in reality. And his theory of social system were at best incredibly reduction and most usually just completely wrong and utterly incapable of understanding the real world to any degree. No actual actor that actually does more then sit on his ass and read Marx will ever be 'Marxist', as soon as you act in the real world, you have to discard Marxism. Literally nobody successful will ever be a pure Marxist.

So yeah, Lenin was basically a Russian revolutionary who was successful for 3 reasons, luck is the biggest factor (ww1 and so and so on), ruthless and willingness to cooperate with Germany. Marxism didn't really have much to do with anything in a practical sense.

banger

would've loved to hear you speak without the bgm, it was honestly very distracting.

Lenin is fascinating

Good video except for one little detail: the majority of citizens of the russian empire were not serfs. At least not in the 19th century.

Socialists always start out as populists and enthusiastic friends of the poor, until they realize that the people they are trying to patronize dont want to be ordered around by urbanites. When they were disappointed by european peasantry, they called them kulaks and switched to the european workers. When they were disappointed by european workers, they called them fascists and switched to migrants and gays. And it will never stop until they run out of depths to sink to.

Lol Marx a worker lol

The video is awesome but the music is horrible, loud and distracting

More like a Blanquist.

Well what we do now ?

It's crazy that the Marxists were more oppressive than the monarchy was regarding political dissidents. The monarchy imprisoned and commonly banished dissidents. The Marxists imprisoned and commonly killed dissidents and their families. This isn't debatable, as Lenin and many more dissidents were hiding abroad at the time of the start of the revolution. If the monarchy had been half as ruthless as the Marxists, the revolution may have been avoided for gradual reform.

Cool hearing again, Lenin seeking revenge for his brother death from the tsar. That some interesting lore on Russia history

What a great demagogy composed of small truths in a big lie.
No word about 20.000.000 of USD for Trocki - Bronstein, he got in New York for revotution also no word of 32.000.000 Marks Lenin got in Swiss all for so cold revolutionaries.

Ленин чорт.

This has been very informative on the pre-revolutionary Russia's intelectual debates, thanks

Lavader got it wrong lol
(It is some commentary guy who is a marxist who used to make dish soap)

Seems that both Hegel and Marx had a great deal of truth to their perspectives. We must analyze the conditions society's are birthed from while also understanding that Great Men arise from these environment and tend to push history forward via organized efforts and influence.

super well researched video! amazing

"Let the German Government Socialists cry that the rule of the Bolsheviks in Russia is a distorted expression of the dictatorship of the proletariat. If it was or is such, that is only because it is a product of the behavior of the German proletariat, in itself a distorted expression of the socialist class struggle. All of us are subject to the laws of history, and it is only internationally that the socialist order of society can be realized. The Bolsheviks have shown that they are capable of everything that a genuine revolutionary party can contribute within the limits of historical possibilities. They are not supposed to perform miracles. For a model and faultless proletarian revolution in an isolated land, exhausted by world war, strangled by imperialism, betrayed by the international proletariat, would be a miracle.

What is in order is to distinguish the essential from the non-essential, the kernel from the accidental excrescencies in the politics of the Bolsheviks. In the present period, when we face decisive final struggles in all the world, the most important problem of socialism was and is the burning question of our time. It is not a matter of this or that secondary question of tactics, but of the capacity for action of the proletariat, the strength to act, the will to power of socialism as such. In this, Lenin and Trotsky and their friends were the first, those who went ahead as an example to the proletariat of the world; they are still the only ones up to now who can cry with Hutten: “I have dared!”

This is the essential and enduring in Bolshevik policy. In this sense theirs is the immortal historical service of having marched at the head of the international proletariat with the conquest of political power and the practical placing of the problem of the realization of socialism, and of having advanced mightily the settlement of the score between capital and labor in the entire world. In Russia, the problem could only be posed. It could not be solved in Russia. And in this sense, the future everywhere belongs to “Bolshevism.”

Rosa Luxemburg
The Russian Revolution 1918

"What do you mean the man who advocated for patriotism and statism isn't actually an Orthodox Marxist?"

Wow, amazing content, thank you!

How exactly did the various groups and factions come up with their names? I am writing a story and that information is going to be essential to know