This section will look at something very important in "Learning from Lenin".

It is sometimes said that "Marxism was proven wrong by the collapse of the Soviet Union. At the same time, the counterargument is made that "Marx is still not wrong because Soviet socialism is different from true Marxism.

It is true that the Bolsheviks who came to power after the Russian Revolution were corrupt. But I have to wonder if this is a slightly different dimension from the argument that "Marxism is inevitably so" or, conversely, "true Marxism should not be so".

I thought that this was not a question of principles or systems, but rather "a question of human beings themselves.

In the present passage, Lenin's view of the revolution is presented in a straightforward manner.

We, the exploited, are allowed to do whatever we want to the bourgeoisie.

Because for the first time in the world, we are not trying to subjugate or oppress anyone, but to yoke everyone.

Because it takes a sword to free you from the ....... Blood? Let blood be spilled, if only it can turn the gray-white-black banner of the piratical Old World into crimson."

However, it is true that Lenin's rise to power eventually led to corruption in the party leadership, starvation among the people to the extent that many people died of starvation despite his claims to equality, and the strengthening of inequality and oppression. And during the Stalin era, the system of oppression was further strengthened.

この記事ではレーニンが権力を奪取していく過程をお話ししていきます。

クーデターによって成立したボリシェヴィキ政権が長く生き残ることを当時の誰も想像していなかったというのは、どこかナチスのヒトラー政権の成立を思わせます。

It is said that the German people never imagined that Hitler would have so much power.

The scary thing about history is that we never expect it to happen." And there is a danger that it will repeat itself in different forms. We are no strangers to this.

なんと、レーニンの政治活動の背後にはドイツ政府の秘密資金があったのでした。しかもその金額が桁外れです。そうした資金があったからこそロシアでのメディア掌握が可能になったのでした。

そもそもロシア二月革命勃発時、スイスに亡命中だったレーニンを封印列車でロシアに送り届けたのもドイツです。

ドイツは戦争からの撤退を主張していたレーニンをロシアに送ることで、ロシア政府が対独戦争から手を引くことを狙っていたのでした。

ですのでドイツは帰国後もレーニンを秘密裏に支援していたのです。

レーニンが権力を掌握できたのもドイツの戦略があったからこそというのは私にとっても驚きでした。

今回の記事で読んでいく箇所は私にとってもかなりの驚きでした。

The fact that a group that so brazenly commits robbery and uses it as a source of funds is in the public eye as a political group.

And then there is the future Soviet dictator Stalin, who has been a shadowy gangster since this time.

Lenin argues the logic that since the capitalists were robbing the workers, it is only natural that they should be robbed by us. This is a perfect example of Lenin's idea that the ends justify the means.