Discovering Lenin in the 21st century

We’ve all seen—or been—people walking down the sidewalk, entering a class or marching in the streets wearing Che Guevara T-shirts. But Lenin?

Yes, V.I. Lenin—the leading figure of the 1917 Russian Revolution and foremost strategist of the modern communist movement—is showing up in interesting places these days: T-shirts, tattoos, Facebook and other social networking sites, and more.

Not surprisingly, you will be able to hear about Lenin’s contributions at the Nov. 17-18 Workers World Party Conference in New York City, where revolutionary Marxist activists from around the U.S. will gather to scrutinize the state of the class struggle and plan new actions and strategies for the year ahead.

But what about this: A book of essays recently published by Duke University Press entitled, “Lenin Reloaded: Toward a Politics of Truth.” This 340-page volume is part of a series assembled by Slovenian cultural critic Slavoj Zizek and written entirely by academics. Some reaffirm key Leninist concepts and some attempt to overwrite them, but the most remarkable thing is that such a book was published at all.

It wouldn’t have been published eight years ago, at the time of the Battle of Seattle, one of the first manifestations of what came to be known as the anti-globalization movement. At that time, in the wake of the USSR’s destruction, most academics and cultural commentators, no matter how “left” they claimed to be, wanted nothing to do with Lenin. Neither did the majority of those who identified with the anti-globalization struggle—even though their critique of the system had many similarities to Lenin’s Marxist analysis of imperialism.

But times—and the struggle—have changed. The perspectives of the anti-war movement, movements based in oppressed communities, immigrant workers and especially the youth movement are rapidly evolving under the hammer blows of increased state repression and economic decline. Pro-socialist upsurges in Venezuela and other Latin American countries as well as Nepal, along with revolutionary Cuba’s steadfastness, also play an important part.

The demand of oppressed nations for self-determination refuses to be ignored. Whether it is the struggle of the six Black students imprisoned in Jena, the jailed lesbians of color from Newark, or the armed resistance in Iraq, this is the cutting-edge issue in the movement. And it was Lenin who asserted that the working class could only emancipate society by making a principled alliance of solidarity with oppressed nations fighting for liberation from colonialism and imperialism.

Since the Battle of Seattle, a whole new generation of activists has emerged, forged in the shadow of post-9/11 repression, the war in Iraq, and the war at home against immigrants, hurricane survivors and youth.

Many are from working-class backgrounds, are oriented toward organizing workers and their communities, are immigrants, lesbian/gay/bi/trans or women. And many have found, or are learning, that Marxism and Leninism—and the 90-years-young Russian Revolution—provide invaluable tools and perspective for waging the struggle to end capitalist exploitation forever.

Some of these young people have united in formations like FIST—Fight Imperialism-Stand Together. FIST will be holding a national gathering in conjunction with the WWP conference, including a Youth Forum on “The Legacy of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara” in New York’s Washington Square Park on Friday, Nov. 16, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, visit FIST on the web at http://fistyouth.wordpress.com.

The WWP conference, “Fighting Racism and War—For a Socialist Future,” will be held in the school auditorium at 127 E. 22nd Street in Manhattan. Registration begins at 9 a.m. on Nov. 17 and the first panel will kick off at 10 a.m. On-site childcare is available. Registration and conference discussion documents are available online at www.workersworld.net. For more information, e-mail [email protected] or call 212-627-2994.