Lenin constantly recommended that people be shot “without pity” or “exterminated mercilessly” (Leszek Kołakowski wondered wryly what it would mean to exterminate people mercifully). “Exterminate” is a term used for vermin, and, long before the Nazis described Jews as Ungeziefer (vermin), Lenin routinely called for “the cleansing of Russia’s soil of all harmful insects, of scoundrels, fleas, bedbugs—the rich, and so on.”
Saturday, September 28, 2019
Not such a nice guy …
… once you get to know him: Leninthink by Gary Saul Morson | The New Criterion.
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About forty years ago, John Roche wrote a book suggesting that various persons used Leninist tactics. On inspection, this seemed to mean that they preferred to hire their friends, or at least those who agreed with them. The book was otherwise moderately interesting on student politics, or the politics of students, at CCNY circa 1940; but the ascription of Leninism (to those not at CCNY, and active long after 1940) didn't really convince.
ReplyDeleteBut I think that it would be well if Leninist were as strong a reproach as Fascist.