During the lifetime of great revolutionaries, the oppressing classes constantly hounded them, received their theories with the most savage malice, the most furious hatred and the most unscrupulous campaigns of lies and slander. After their death, attempts are made to convert them into harmless icons, to canonize them, so to say, and to hallow their names to a certain extent for the “consolation” of the oppressed classes and with the object of duping the latter, while at the same time robbing the revolutionary theory of its substance, blunting its revolutionary edge and vulgarizing it.

[–] Bassword@hexbear.net 5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Ironically not really the case with Lenin, even if it's true of others.

[–] barrbaric@hexbear.net 7 points 2 years ago

A lot of libs think Lenin was okay but Stalin went too far, which is close if you squint.

[–] MattsAlt@hexbear.net 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I think invoking Lenin might be perceived as too dangerous for them, better to try and let him fade away while they pat themselves on the back for invoking MLK, Ghandi, or Nelson Mandela

[–] Bassword@hexbear.net 3 points 2 years ago

I think it's that they can pigeonhole antiracist or national liberation figures like those you listed into those issues alone, while ignoring their broader socialist politics. Lenin was a communist first and foremost, so it's harder to sanitize.