https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/lenin-the-dictator-by-victor-sebestyen/

I got this book a couple of years ago because I was chasing a particular historical fact that had eluded me: precisely where in Brussels was the initial venue of the Second Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1903, which saw the original Bolshevik / Menshevik split? The Congress met for a few days in a rat-infested flour warehouse, somewhere fairly central, but had to relocate to London because of oppressive surveillance by the Belgian police. The details that we have are entirely from a single account written years later by Lenin’s wife. As with Karl Marx’s residences, I wanted to tie down the historic specificity.

Incidentally, for some reason the façade of the house in Brussels where Lenin lived some years earlier is blurred out in Google Streetview. I have never seen that before, for any other building.

Anyway, I emailed a couple of Lenin experts to see if anyone knew where the Second Congress was held, and the author of this biography replied recommending that I buy his book. I did, but it was not my top priority, and I have only now got around to reading it.

Lenin’s life is of course interesting because he changed the world. He created a revolutionary movement and took power in an empire. He inspired generations. He was responsible for the deaths of multitudes, in many cases personally. So we are entitled to ask how this came about.

Sebestyen is good on the basics. Russia was seething with revolutionary movements in the late nineteenth century. Lenin’s genius was to bind them together with a shared ideology and a centralised political direction. He was helped by literacy and by the organisation of printed party newspapers. As a succession of weak governments in Russia collapsed, starting with the Tsar, he was in the right place at the right time, because he had planned to be. And he ruled with terror for a couple of years, before he died.

He had also endured years of exile, along with his wife and his other long-term partner (they knew about each other perfectly well). He was already a celebrated figure; when he was shipped from Zürich to Russia in the famous sealed train, the likes of Stefan Zweig and James Joyce passed sardonic comment. By the time he took power, his health was failing, and his early death was accelerated by wounds from an assassination attempt. There is an interesting human story there.

Unfortunately I cannot really recommend this particular biography. For a start, it does not actually answer my question about the venue of the Second Congress, as the author had assured me it would. I caught several misspellings of names of minor figures, which looked orthographically suspect to me and where Google instantly confirmed my suspicions. A couple of memorably gory incidents of state violence were either not confirmed or flatly contradicted when I checked other sources. Many of the good bits are simply copied without comment from Krupskaya, Lenin’s wife (though I suspect that’s true of a lot of Leninology).

I will have to resign myself to the loss from historical memory of the location of the rat-infested flour warehouse where Lenin and the comrades argued in 1903. But this has scratched my itch to know more about the man. ( )

A very reputable biography; Sebestyen's book, as opposed to the book's publicity, is perfectly fair. I was, frankly, surprised by the lack of post-Cold War triumphalism or score settling. Lenin, it turns out, was a person. He was an odd one, and, in sum, a deeply harmful one, but also one who can pretty much be understood like all other human beings. He's marked by his history and the society of his time. His ideas aren't pretty, but they're perfectly comprehensible as reactions to events guided by a reasonable wish to make life better for people. Was he right? No. Was he Satan? No. Of course, if you yourself are full of post-Cold War triumphalist score-settling mania, you'll still get something out of this book, because nothing in it precludes you from drawing your own conclusions.

The book is also enjoyable; it's well written, and just flat-out fun. Also, great cover. ( )

A fervent anti-communist (the author) has a literary run in with a fervent communist (the bio's subject). They tussle for 500+ pages. The author gets his licks in but Lenin still pulls off his revolution. The author lets us know it was Lenin who was responsible for the success--the rest of the Bolshies were wishy-washy back sliders (Lenin used more abusive terms-he liked the C word). We learn about the gentler side of Lenin when he was resting and was about to pop from overwork). About his mistress (he ended it--too much trouble--took him away from the revolution) About his tender relationship with his mom (She sent him money to keep him going. But he had a soft spot for her no matter) Also Nice Cover! ( )

Lenin is an excellent up to date modern bio. It's accessible but also based in archival research with new information. This is my first reading on Lenin. It seems appropriately divorced from the Soviet mythology. It gives a picture of Lenin as driven by a single-minded focus (destroy the Empire), intelligent in an OCD way with details, but also deeply flawed by lack of humanity and proportion, a half-baked character whose biggest crime was to allow Stalin to gain power before his death. His success in the revolution was ultimately the result of incompetence of the opposition more than any superior skills. His strength was flexibility in the moment able to quickly change course at a precise moment of weakness in the state. ( )

This is the first major biography of the Soviet leader to appear in two decades, and comes as the world marks the 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. It is a tremendous achievement.

Sebestyen has dug deep into the archives, reading through family correspondence, diaries and more to get a sense of who Lenin really was. He points out, for example, that Lenin was very close to a number of women, including his wife Krupskaya and his mistress, Inessa Armand, as well as his sisters. He had few close, long-term male friends.

The book is unsparing in its criticism of Lenin as the leader of Soviet Russia. One story it recounts tells it all:

In October 1919 Lenin asks the leader of his secret police (the Cheka) how many "dangerous counter-revolutionaries are being held in its jails at that moment. He's given a written reply, giving the number of about 1,500. Lenin marks the page with an "X" to indicate that he read it. The Cheka interprets that to mean they are to be killed and hundreds of unarmed, defenceless prisoners are killed that very night in Moscow. Oops.

There are still people on the Left, particularly in Britain, who have a soft spot for Lenin. I urge them to read this book now. ( )