Paul Le Blanc

'Brings out the practical activism, principled politics, and revolutionary patience crucial to organizing the oppressed on a rapidly over-heating planet' - Jodi Dean 'Crackling with intellectual life' - Lars T. Lih Vladimir Lenin lies in a tomb in Moscow's Red Square. History has not been kind to this Russian leader, his teachings reviled by modern mainstream politics. But in today's capitalist society, riven by class inequality and imperialist wars, perhaps it is worth returning to this communist icon's demand for 'Peace, Land and Bread', and his radical understanding of democracy. Lenin was wrestling with the question of 'what is to be done?' when facing the catastrophes of his own time. Against the odds, the Bolshevik party succeeded in rejecting both the corrupt and decaying Romanov dynasty, as well as the capitalist economic system which had started to take root in Russia. To understand how this happened, and what we can learn from him today, Paul Le Blanc takes us through Lenin's dynamic revolutionary thought, how he worked as part of a larger collective and how he centred the labor movement in Russia and beyond, uncovering a powerful form of democracy that could transform our activism today.

This book surveys revolutionary socialist ideas and engages a gallery of contentious political thinkers, offering an indispensable assessment of the place of revolutionary collectives in this radical tradition. Beginning with a broad and informative survey of scholarship on V.I. Lenin and “Leninism,” Le Blanc goes on to explore the multifaceted “collective” qualities of the Russian Bolshevik organization. He then turns his attention to several of its central figures as well as a rich variety of activist-intellectuals who in one way or another continued to engage with Lenin’s perspectives after his death, including Leon Trotsky, Alexander Bogdanov, Georg Lukács, Antonio Gramsci, Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Korsch, and Daniel Bensaïd. The volume concludes by considering related questions which have more recently posed problems within left-wing organizations, gesturing toward the dynamics and needs of future struggles.

This book surveys revolutionary socialist ideas and engages a gallery of contentious political thinkers, offering an indispensable assessment of the place of revolutionary collectives in this radical tradition. Beginning with a broad and informative survey of scholarship on V.I. Lenin and “Leninism,” Le Blanc goes on to explore the multifaceted “collective” qualities of the Russian Bolshevik organization. He then turns his attention to several of its central figures as well as a rich variety of activist-intellectuals who in one way or another continued to engage with Lenin’s perspectives after his death, including Leon Trotsky, Alexander Bogdanov, Georg Lukács, Antonio Gramsci, Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Korsch, and Daniel Bensaïd. The volume concludes by considering related questions which have more recently posed problems within left-wing organizations, gesturing toward the dynamics and needs of future struggles.

Rosa Luxemburg, brilliant early 20th century German revolutionary, comes alive in a rich set of essays on her life, ideas, and lasting influence. The essays deal not only with her remarkable contributions to political, social and economic theory, but also touch on her vibrant personality and intimate friendships. This collection, the fruit of more than four decades of involvement with Luxemburg's work, simultaneously showcases her penetratingly intellectual, political and deeply humanistic qualities.

Rosa Luxemburg, brilliant early 20th century German revolutionary, comes alive in a rich set of essays on her life, ideas, and lasting influence. The essays deal not only with her remarkable contributions to political, social and economic theory, but also touch on her vibrant personality and intimate friendships. This collection, the fruit of more than four decades of involvement with Luxemburg's work, simultaneously showcases her penetratingly intellectual, political and deeply humanistic qualities.

Revolutionary Studies explores the relevance of Marxism to emancipatory politics through a critical examination of core concepts and key twentieth-century revolutionary figures and movements. The first part of Revolutionary Studies explores definitions of the working class, social identities, democracy, capitalism, and socialism. The second applies these understandings to the Russian, Chinese, Nicaraguan, Indian, and South African revolutionary and post-revolutionary experiences. The third engages with the lives and the ideas of five important figures associated with Marxism.

A panoramic account of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and its aftermath animated by the lives, ideas and experiences of workers, peasants, intellectuals, artists, and revolutionaries of diverse persuasions - October Song vividly narrates the triumphs of those who struggled for a new society and created a revolutionary workers state. Yet despite profoundly democratic and humanistic aspirations, the revolution is eventually defeated by violence and authoritarianism. October Song highlights both positive and negative lessons of this historic struggle for human liberation.

Analysing intersections of race, class and gender alongside primary texts, this unique volume explores racism and anti-racism in the US. Considering the connections between class and racial oppression, and the often marginalised role of the Left in anti-racist struggles, Le Blanc skilfully introduces key texts from crucial figures in African American radicalism. The combination of rich analytical understanding with key primary texts makes Black Liberation and the American Dream an invaluable resource for those engaged in contemporary struggles. Crucial for activists and scholars alike.

From the Marxist-tinged anarchism of the Haymarket martyrs to the Occupy Wall Street movement, these essays give a vibrant sense of the central role of the Left in social movements and struggles of the past and present, and highlights some of the amazing individuals, whose unstoppable energies generated remarkable transformations. Left Americana considers both the limitations and successes of Christian socialists, Communists, Maoists, Trotskyists and the 'New Left' activists of the '60s and '70s in creating profound social and political change.

A comprehensive primer on the key figures of the Marxist tradition. The readings collected here - of Marx, Engels, Luxemburg, Lenin, Trotsky and Gramsci - reflect the experience of the labour, socialist and communist movements that did so much to shape modern history. From Marx to Gramsci aims to serve as a basic introduction through to the pimary sources containing revolutionary ideas of these influential thinkers.

In a blend of economic, social, and political history, Paul Le Blanc shows how important labour issues have been, and continue to be, in the forging of America's history. Within a broad analytical framework, he highlights issues of class, gender, race and ethnicity, and includes the views of key figures of United States labour.

Lenin's political and organisational ideas confront the reality of the labour movement and the revolutionary process. This study of Vladimir Lenin's conception of the revolutionary party, and its place in Marxist thought, gives a vibrant sense of the historical context - both Russian and international - in which Lenin's views were shaped and upon which they had such a profound impact.

There are few more divisive names in modern history than that of the diehard revolutionary Leon Trotsky. To some he was a hypocritical totalitarian, while to many others he was a revolutionary liberator, an idealist determined to crush an outdated, oppressive dynasty in order to replace it with a proletarian socialist commonwealth. But one thing is agreed: his impact as a leader in the Russian Revolution and his widely read polemical books and articles make Trotsky one of the most influential political figures of the twentieth century.In this book, Paul Le Blanc delves deep into Trotsky’s life and his social, sexual and political relationships to both criticize and defend the distinctive actions and opinions this complex character generated. He shows how the hero leader of the Red Army in the Revolution found himself in a losing struggle in the 1920s in his efforts to revitalize the revolutionary wing of the labour movement. Gradually marginalized by ideological opponents within the Soviet bureaucracy, notably Stalin, Trotsky was exiled to Central Asia in 1928. The following year he was banished from the USSR. What followed was a series of makeshift homes with his family circle, first on an island near Istanbul, then in France, then Norway until in 1937 Trotsky, his family and his close supporters settled in Mexico, where he was murdered by a Stalinist agent three years later.Drawing from a rich array of sources, Le Blanc offers a balanced portrait of Trotsky in a historical context that will be invaluable for students, scholars or anyone with an interest in political history and extraordinary lives.

This is the first comprehensive examination of Leon Trotsky's view on revolutionary organisational principles and the dynamic interplay of democratic initiative and principled centralism. Mostly in his own words, these writings are grounded in Trotsky's experience in Russia's revolutionary movement, as a leader of the International Left Opposition and Fourth International.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was perhaps the greatest revolutionary of the 20th century. As stated by historian J. Arch Getty, 'Lenin deserves a lot of credit for the notion that the meek can inherit the earth, that there can be a political movement based on social justice and equality.' Putting this belief into practice, Leninism was the application of Marxist ideas that led the 1917 fight for liberation and political independence among the working classes in Russia. Now Paul Le Blanc weighs in on the fierce controversy surrounding Lenin's life, personality and ideas.