海角大神

Lenin: The Man, the Dictator, and the Master of Terror is the best聽biography I鈥檝e read in years, despite its being about one of the most聽destructive leaders in history. It takes Victor Sebestyen less than聽five pages to perform the hardest of all literary tricks: making the聽person he鈥檚 writing about seem like a familiar human being. What makes聽that 鈥淢aster of Terror鈥� knowable is acknowledging his strengths 鈥� he certainly had them 鈥� his peculiarities (there were plenty), and his character. 鈥淲hat people聽could see straight away, from his first days as a revolutionary 'agitator,' was a single-minded man of iron discipline and unshakeable聽belief that he was right....鈥澛�

I had never understood Lenin鈥檚 power before. I had read his tracts,聽his speeches. I had read Solzhenitsyn鈥檚 dismissive fictional account, "Lenin in Zurich." I had read about his comrades and successors Stalin聽and Trotsky, who both exuded 鈥減ersonality,鈥� but all the while, Lenin remained for me a zero. No charisma; no eloquence; no gift of writing. I had聽suffered way too many Soviet-era scholars who were required to quote聽Lenin鈥檚 blather about my 19th-century Russian literary idols; it聽was obvious they found nothing insightful in what he pronounced. He聽just had to be quoted.聽

And when I got to Moscow, I didn鈥檛 want to see聽the Soviet demi-god鈥檚 pickled body in his Red Square tomb. It turns聽out his family and loved ones didn鈥檛 want to see him there, either, but his fellow terror-mongers thought his deification was a聽good idea, and so there he still is, stared at by Russian nationalists聽and the curious.

He was the only man in the world capable of doing what he did: carrying out the Russian Revolution. This is a negative achievement in Sebestyen鈥檚 considered opinion (I concur), and it鈥檚 all too plain that聽other dictators have learned from Lenin鈥檚 example: 鈥淗is principle was聽simple: it is better that 100 innocent people are killed than that one聽person who is a danger to the Revolution remains free and a potential聽threat.鈥� 鈥楾he dictatorship means 鈥� take note of this once and for聽all 鈥� unrestrained power and the use of force, not of law.鈥欌��

Lenin would have loathed this biography. What does it matter, he聽would鈥檝e wondered, that he and his wife never had a child, or that his聽longtime mistress could scarcely rouse him to the expression of a聽romantic sentiment? What does it matter that he was domestically聽fussy? 鈥淓very morning he would dust his desk and bookshelves before he聽settled down to work and ensure every pencil was sharpened to a fine聽point and in the right place. This was a routine that he adhered to聽strictly, whether he was in cheap lodgings 鈥� or in later years as the聽ruler of a vast empire from an office in the Kremlin.鈥� But it聽does matter for making sense of a now damnably vivid man. We also聽learn that in the midst of the Russian Civil War, which he more than聽anyone fomented, he was the lone member of his household who聽remembered to feed the cat.

He never witnessed an execution and yet mocked anyone who suggested聽the Revolution could proceed without violence. He asked the new聽country鈥檚 commissar of justice, who was squawking at Lenin鈥檚 wanton聽orders to shoot, among others, troublemakers and protestors: 鈥淒o you聽really believe that we can be victorious without the very cruelest聽revolutionary terror?鈥� He shied at the sight of blood and never聽served as a soldier or officer, but he was utterly shamelessly聽responsible for oceans of blood being poured onto the vast territory聽of the Soviet Union. He was a devout Marxist who rewrote Marxism to聽suit his dictatorial plans.

Lenin grew up in a well-off, educated family; he enjoyed their company聽his whole life and his mother helped support him financially into his聽forties. He was born Vladimir Ulyanov, the name he became famous for聽being just one of his many revolutionary pseudonyms. In 1887, when he聽was 17, his older brother was executed for attempting to assassinate聽the tsar. At university, Lenin, studying with a vengeance, became one聽of the country鈥檚 top-ranked law students. In the late 1890s, his聽revolutionary activities got him arrested and sentenced for three聽years to Siberia, where, to even to his surprise, he enjoyed himself聽reading, writing, and hunting. After the Revolution, he would make sure聽no one enjoyed the labor camps that became the Gulag.

He didn鈥檛 care聽about food or parties; he liked lively people and mistrusted bores who聽only spoke of radical plans. Creating an聽actual revolution from a tiny core of followers聽was his job, his life鈥檚 work.

Everyone who knew him had strong opinions about him. He was not聽lovable, but he was impressive. 鈥淰ladimir Ilyich was perhaps the most聽unemotional man I have ever met in politics. No hate, no compassion,聽not even irritation against his opponents. His ruthlessness in聽argument never stemmed from a personal grudge 鈥� each word, even each聽slanderous innuendo in his writings, was coldly calculating,鈥� remembered a comrade. He was not physically attractive or dynamic.聽鈥淟enin kept everyone at arm鈥檚 length. I never saw him put his hand on聽anyone鈥檚 shoulder and nobody among his comrades would have dared,聽however deferentially, to do so to him,鈥� recalled another聽acquaintance.

But he knew how to pitch his political points so that聽even people who despised him and his message understood their聽attraction. The writer Maxim Gorky was critical of the leader but also聽amazed: 鈥淚 had never known anyone who could talk of the most intricate聽political questions so simply 鈥� no striving after eloquent phrases,聽but every word uttered distinctly and its meaning marvelously clear.鈥澛燣enin鈥檚 primary cause was the eradication of social inequality,聽and yet he couldn鈥檛 give a fig for individual people.

This isn鈥檛 a back-and-forth, on the one hand he was good, on the other聽he was bad biography. Sebestyen shows us what Lenin did and created聽was terrible. Who he was is and was, regrettably, fascinating: 鈥淭he聽public Lenin adopted a highly populist style of politics that would be聽recognizable 鈥� and imitated by many a rabble-rouser 鈥� a hundred years聽later, even in long-established democracies. He offered simple聽solutions to complex problems. He lied unashamedly.鈥�

"Lenin: The Man, the Dictator, and the Master of Terror" is terrific,聽the story of 鈥渢he godfather鈥� of 鈥減ost-truth politics鈥� and founding聽father of one of the world鈥檚 biggest man-made catastrophes.聽鈥淭hroughout its existence the Soviet Union identified itself with the founder of the State, alive or dead. The regime he created was largely聽shaped by his personality: secretive, suspicious, intolerant, ascetic,聽intemperate. Few of the more decent parts of his character found their聽way into the public sphere of his Soviet Union.鈥�

Don鈥檛 look away. We can see the future in the past.

Bob聽Blaisdell聽has written a biography of Leo Tolstoy.