File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1997/97-02-25.170, message 89


Date: Mon, 24 Feb 1997 23:55:10 +0000
From: Mark Jones <majones-AT-netcomuk.co.uk>
Subject: M-I: Lenin's cannibalism


Matt and Sid properly take me to task. I gave a far too colourful and
wildly inaccurate picture of Lenin's nightlife. Thank you for pointing
it out. 
I am going to say the following on this subject and nothing more:

1.Lenin was not a libertine or an adventurer and I was wrong to imply
that he was. He did not have time to be, apart from anything else. But
he was completely serious and devoted to the cause as few of us are.
2. Matt asked about my sources. They are various, and include people who
knew Lenin personally, of whom I have met several. All of them had only
positive things to say of him and extremely vivid memories of him, as a
truly exceptional man.
3. Lenin had an honest, healthy and open attitude to women. He was not
an
exploiter of women, but he was a full-blooded revolutionary living in
dramatic and dangerous times.
4. He did nothing shameful with anyone with whom he was involved.
The warmth and tenderness towards him which Krupskaya
shows in 'Memories of Lenin' speaks for itself.
5.Lenin belongs to us, not to our enemies. We can celebrate this great
leader in all his human qualities and attributes, and we don't have to
make him what he was not. There is nothing to excuse. He was a man of
great personal charm and simplicity, with modest tastes and no personal
ambitions.
6. Lenin was the greatest working class leader this century, a political
genius, a totally selfless man of profound personal humility and
absolute commitment to the cause he passionately believed in and served
with all his strength. He always treated those around him with
unstinting respect.At the same time he was a man of his age and was not
blighted with bourgeois hang-ups.Clear political vision and strength of
will were not enough to attract the following he had.
It needed the warmth, honesty, and openness which were among his
greatest attributes. 
Lenin was great because he was human, not in spite of it. 

Cherish his memory the more.

-- 
Regards,
Mark Jones
website: http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~majones/index.htm
email: mailto:majones-AT-netcomuk.co.uk




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