Lenin Reloaded

Toward a Politics of Truth, sic vii

David Fernbach translator Slavoj Zizek editor Sebastian Budgen editor Stathis Kouvelakis editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Duke University Press

Published:11th Jun '07

Should be back in stock very soon

Lenin Reloaded cover

Argues that Lenin demonstrates the inseparability of truth and partisanship (the taking of sides), an argument liberal leftists must hear now

Explains that it was Lenin who made Karl Marx's thought explicitly political, who extended it beyond the confines of Europe, who put it into practice. This title demonstrates that truth and partisanship are not mutually exclusive as is often suggested.Lenin Reloaded is a rallying call by some of the world’s leading Marxist intellectuals for renewed attention to the significance of Vladimir Lenin. The volume’s editors explain that it was Lenin who made Karl Marx’s thought explicitly political, who extended it beyond the confines of Europe, who put it into practice. They contend that a focus on Lenin is urgently needed now, when global capitalism appears to be the only game in town, the liberal-democratic system seems to have been settled on as the optimal political organization of society, and it has become easier to imagine the end of the world than a modest change in the mode of production. Lenin retooled Marx’s thought for specific historical conditions in 1914, and Lenin Reloaded urges a reinvention of the revolutionary project for the present. Such a project would be Leninist in its commitment to action based on truth and its acceptance of the consequences that follow from action.

These essays, some of which are appearing in English for the first time, bring Lenin face-to-face with the problems of today, including war, imperialism, the imperative to build an intelligentsia of wage earners, the need to embrace the achievements of bourgeois society and modernity, and the widespread failure of social democracy. Lenin Reloaded demonstrates that truth and partisanship are not mutually exclusive as is often suggested. Quite the opposite—in the present, truth can be articulated only from a thoroughly partisan position.

Contributors. Kevin B. Anderson, Alain Badiou, Etienne Balibar, Daniel Bensaïd, Sebastian Budgen, Alex Callinicos, Terry Eagleton, Fredric Jameson, Stathis Kouvelakis, Georges Labica, Sylvain Lazarus, Jean-Jacques Lecercle, Lars T. Lih, Domenico Losurdo, Savas Michael-Matsas, Antonio Negri, Alan Shandro, Slavoj Žižek

“[Lenin Reloaded] will surely be of relevance for those socialists who wish to link our struggles within capitalism to the goals of the broader movement against capitalism. For this reason, the editors of Lenin Reloaded are to be congratulated, and every reader of this journal should consider buying and reading it. . . .” -- Paul Blackledge * Capital & Class *
“The mixture of voices makes for a stimulating anthology. . . .” -- Scott McLemee * Bookforum *
“This collection of essays is recommended, not just because of the quality of the various contributions, but above all because Lenin’s philosophical interventions have been largely neglected and ignored since Althusser.” -- Liam O’Ruairc * Radical Philosophy *

ISBN: 9780822339410

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 485g

352 pages