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 --- from list marxism-international-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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