A Century Without Lenin

 A century ago, Vladimir Ilych Ulyanov, better known as Lenin, died. Love him or hate him, it’s hard to argue against Lenin’s profound impact on the 20th century. In many ways the 20th century was Lenin’s century–he shaped it. Everyone else was just responding. But Lenin’s influence has significantly waned in the last 30 years. His life and thought barely registers in 21st century revolutions, radical movements, anti-imperialist struggles or even radical ethics and aesthetics. His present-day adherents amount to a handful of denizens scattered across the globe. Yet, the reverberations of Lenin’s actions and ideology are still with us. What does Lenin mean today? To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Lenin’s death, we turned to Christoper Read, a long-time scholar of Lenin and the Soviet Union, for his thoughts on Lenin’s legacy. Guest: Christopher Read has been studying Russia and the Soviet Union for over fifty years. He has written many books and articles especially on the social, cultural and political history of the period from 1900-1932. His most recent books are The Russian Intelligentsia: From the Monastery to the Mir Space Station and Lenin Lives? published by Oxford University Press. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/euraknot  Knotty News: https://eurasianknot.substack.com/ The Knot’s Nest: https://eurasian-knot.sellfy.store/  Website: https://euraknot.org/