# LENIN HAD VERY CAREFULLY STUDIED THE
WRITINGS OF KARL MARX.

     # LENIN WAS AN INTELLECTUAL, A POLITICAL
THINKER, WRITER, LEADER, MAIN STRATEGIST OF THE
MARXIST REVOLUTION IN RUSSIA IN OCT. 1917.

     # DIED OF HEART ATTACK IN 1924.A STRUGGLE FOR
POWER ENSUED, WITH JOSEPH STALIN ULTIMATELY
EMERGING AS THE LEADER.

     # MARX HAD BELIEVED WORKING CLASS WOULD
DEVELOP A REVOLUTIONARY CONSCIOUSNESS AND A
STRATEGY OUT OF ITS EXPERIENCE IN CAPITALIST
SOCIETY. LENIN DOUBTED THIS.

     # SO, IN 1902, LENIN URGED THE ORGANIZING OF A
PARTY OF DEDICATED FULL-TIME REVOLUTIONARIES TO
LEAD THE MASSES, SEIZE POWER, AND BUILD A SOCIALIST
SOCIETY.

     # IN 1910, RUDOLPH HILFERDING [1877-1941], IN
FINANCE CAPITALISM, ARGUED THAT CAPITALISM HAD
EVOLVED INTO MONOPOLY CAPITALISM, WITH ECONOMY
DOMINATED BY A FEW GIANTS. THIS WAS FINAL STAGE OF
CAPITALISM,  WITH REVOLUTION IMMINENT. LENIN SEIZED
ON THESE IDEAS.

     # IN IMPERIALISM, THE HIGHEST STAGE OF
CAPITALISM [1916], LENIN ARGUED THAT WWI WAS AN
IMPERIALISTIC WAR FOR CONTROL OF INVESTMENT
OPPORTUNITIES IN UNDERDEVELOPED WORLD.
AS INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES DECLINED AT HOME,
CAPITALIST COUNTRIES NEEDED COLONIES AS OUTLET FOR
SURPLUS GOODS AND SURPLUS CAPITAL.EXPLOITATION OF
LABOR IN COLONIES INTENSIFIED AS UNIONS GREW AT
HOME.

 VLADIMIR LENIN I [1870-1924], LEADER OF
THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION [C]
 

     SUCH WAS LENIN'S ANSWER TO CRITICS OF MARXISM,
WHO HAD POINTED OUT THAT EXPLOITATION OF LABOR WAS
NOT INCREASING AND WORKING CLASS NOT BECOMING
INCREASINGLY IMMISERATED.

     # IN THE STATE AND REVOLUTION [1917], LENIN
SAID THAT THE REVOLUTION AGAINST CAPITALISM WOULD
LEAD TO THE "DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT" --
I.E. AUTHORITARIAN RULE BY A SMALL GP. OF
REVOLUTIONARIES ACTING FOR THE WORKING CLASS.

     # WITH LENIN, ORTHODOX MARXISM DEVELOPED INTO
AN ECONOMIC/POLITICAL IDEOLOGY THAT SERVED THE
NEEDS OF SOVIET AUTHORITARIANISM.

     # ENGEL'S EMPHASIS ON THE INEVITABLE BREAKDOWN
OF CAPITALISM, PLUS LENIN'S STRATEGY OF A
REVOLUTIONARY PARTY & THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE
PROLETARIAT, COMBINED WITH THE CONCEPT OF SOCIALISM
AS A LOWER STAGE OF COMMUNISM, PRODUCED A BRAND OF
MARXISM SUITED TO THE AUTHORITARIAN SOVIET REGIME.
 
 

 MARXISM BECAME AN IMPORTANT FORCE IN THE MODERN
WORLD FOR THESE REASONS:

     # IT EXPRESSED MORAL OUTRAGE AT CONDITION OF
          HUMANITY;

     # IT HELD UP A GRAND VISION OF WHAT THE WORLD
          COULD BE LIKE;

     # IT THEORIZED THAT MODERN CAPITALISM WOULD
          DESTROY ITSLEF;

     # IT SET FORTH A CLASS-ORIENTED VIEW OF
          SOCIETY;

     # IT PROVIDED AN IDEOLOGY AROUND WHICH DISSENT
          COULD RALLY;

     # IN BRIEF, MARXISM EXPRESSED BOTH OUTRAGE &
          HOPE, OFFERED A PATH TO SOMETHING BETTER.