“What better time than the day after the US election to join the discussion, and think through the continued relevance and legacy of one of the most influential figures on the global left?”
Labour Outlook’s, Sam Browse, previews an important discussion with the acclaimed historian and activist, Paul le Blanc.
Next Wednesday 6th November, activists will meet in London’s Marx Memorial Library in a discussion, led by Paul Le Blanc, entitled the ‘Logic of Lenin versus the Logic of Trump’. An activist and acclaimed American historian teaching at La Roche University, Pennsylvania, Le Blanc is the author of a multitude of books and articles, most recently Lenin. Responding to Catastrophe, Forging Revolution (2023, Pluto).
As the US Presidential election approaches, the result hangs in the balance between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump – a choice between an establishment Democrat serving as Vice President in an administration refusing to prevent a genocide in Gaza, even as thousands march in protest; and a far-right demagogue and past-President representing the worst of climate-crashing rentier capital, racism, and misogyny.
While the global financial crisis rumbles on, we rush towards climate catastrophe, and the doomsday clock ticks ever closer to midnight, never in recent history has politics felt so inadequate to the tasks set before it.
And yet, although the crises today have taken new forms, there is much to learn from the past. Lenin, too, acted in a time of war and profound social disintegration, as the far right – led by Kornilov – marched on Petrograd against a vacillating government, too weak to resolve the crises in its class favour and yet too embedded to be removed by the spontaneous uprising of workers alone.
It was perhaps Lenin more than any other that theorised the tumult and chaos of the era and – most importantly – linked that perspective to a programme for action and the demands for ‘peace, land, and bread’. There are lessons, then, in how the logic of Lenin won through, sweeping aside the cadaverous politics of the establishment and defeating an ascendant far right – both of which sought, in their different ways, to preserve the old class privileges.
As part of the Lenin100 series marking the centenary since the death of this revolutionary thinker and organiser, Le Blanc will draw out the logic of his approach and what it means for activists today in the fight against Trump and the international struggle for socialism.
What better time than the day after the US election to join the discussion, and think through the continued relevance and legacy of one of the most influential figures on the global left? We hope to see you there.
- ‘The Logic of Lenin Vs the Logic of Trump‘ takes place at the Marx Memorial Library in London, 37A Clerkenwell Green, EC1R 0DU. The event is hosted by Arise Festival and the Lenin 100 in Britain Series and will be lead by US Historian and Author Paul Le Blanc. Register and find out more here.
- You can follow the Lenin 100 Series in Britain on Twitter/X here.
- You can follow Arise on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter/X; see what events they have coming up here; and listen to the Arise Festival podcast on Spotify.
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