| Vendor | |
|---|---|
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Liepman Literary Agency
Marc Koralnik |
| Original language | |
| French | |
LENIN - THE INVENTION OF TOTALITARIANISM
The ultimate political biography of Lenin by Stéphane Courtois, leading editor of the Livre noir du communisme
(The Black Book of Communism), an international bestseller. The fruit of 30 years of research.
(The Black Book of Communism), an international bestseller. The fruit of 30 years of research.
A MAJOR CONTRIBUTION TO THE HISTORY OF COMMUNISM AND THE SOVIET UNION
Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin, was one of the key figures of the 20th century. The man who, before 1917, was known only to the insiders of the Russian revolutionary movement suddenly stepped into the spotlight. He seized power in Russia with formidable audacity. He created the first Communist regime that was to spread to some twenty countries until 1989-1991, as well as a Communist International organization running more than 90 parties in the world.
This regime and this international movement were the first manifestations of what many observers, beginning in the 1920s, called totalitarianism, an unprecedented political phenomenon characterized by its hatred of representative democracy, its utter contempt for human rights and its goal of establishing the total domination
of a party over the State, the society and even the individual. While the great Lenin was presented for a century as a huge popular hero, even as a champion of democracy, the author, relying on impressive documentation little used until now, shows that in reality the leader of the Bolshevik party had hatched his freedomeradicating project in the shadows for fifteen years, before taking advantage of unexpected circumstances in 1917 to implement it.
Far from the glorious image established by the propaganda of some and the ignorance of others, Stéphane Courtois illuminates the dark face of Lenin, a leader who, from 1920 on, became the role model first of Mussolini and then of Hitler, while his heirs Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, etc. went on to develop the «Leninist» system to the extreme limits of social control and mass murder.
Stéphane Courtois is a historian, honorary research director at the CNRS, director of the magazine Communisme and the editor of collections for several publishers (Seuil, Le Rocher, Cerf, Vendémiaire). He is the author of some thirty books devoted to French and international communism and the totalitarian
phenomenon. He edited the Livre noir du communisme (The Black Book of Communism), Robert Laffont, 1997, which was a worldwide blockbuster (26 translations, more than 1 million copies sold).
Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin, was one of the key figures of the 20th century. The man who, before 1917, was known only to the insiders of the Russian revolutionary movement suddenly stepped into the spotlight. He seized power in Russia with formidable audacity. He created the first Communist regime that was to spread to some twenty countries until 1989-1991, as well as a Communist International organization running more than 90 parties in the world.
This regime and this international movement were the first manifestations of what many observers, beginning in the 1920s, called totalitarianism, an unprecedented political phenomenon characterized by its hatred of representative democracy, its utter contempt for human rights and its goal of establishing the total domination
of a party over the State, the society and even the individual. While the great Lenin was presented for a century as a huge popular hero, even as a champion of democracy, the author, relying on impressive documentation little used until now, shows that in reality the leader of the Bolshevik party had hatched his freedomeradicating project in the shadows for fifteen years, before taking advantage of unexpected circumstances in 1917 to implement it.
Far from the glorious image established by the propaganda of some and the ignorance of others, Stéphane Courtois illuminates the dark face of Lenin, a leader who, from 1920 on, became the role model first of Mussolini and then of Hitler, while his heirs Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, etc. went on to develop the «Leninist» system to the extreme limits of social control and mass murder.
Stéphane Courtois is a historian, honorary research director at the CNRS, director of the magazine Communisme and the editor of collections for several publishers (Seuil, Le Rocher, Cerf, Vendémiaire). He is the author of some thirty books devoted to French and international communism and the totalitarian
phenomenon. He edited the Livre noir du communisme (The Black Book of Communism), Robert Laffont, 1997, which was a worldwide blockbuster (26 translations, more than 1 million copies sold).
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Published 2017-09-01 by Perrin |