In 1920, Lenin gave a speech to the Communist Youth League of Russia. In this speech, Lenin lays out some of his theories on education, describes how communists seize power, and explains the ethics of communism.

What makes this speech so fascinating is how it has inspired directly or indirectly many arguments made today to attack the establishment. There are ideas in this speech that seem to come directly from Friere, as well as proponents of the various forms of critical studies found today. In this post, we will look at Lenin’s definition of communism as well as his views on education, power, and ethics.

Definitions

Lenin defines communism as a society in which all things are owned in common and the people work in common. This definition is much broader than the definition that is commonly shared today. Many people define communism or socialism as common ownership of the means of production. Generally, the means of production are controlled by capitalists and many today want to strip the capitalists of the means of production while allowing for individual ownership of consumer items such as cars, houses, clothes, etc.

In other words, consuming is permissible among socialist today but production must be controlled by the people. Lenin’s definition makes it clear that the people, which is really just government bureaucrats, want to control everything under the guise of common ownership.

Educational Views

While speaking to the youth, Lenin made it clear that it is the youth who will be the face of communist society. Realizing their responsibility the young people need to learn. Lenin explains that learning and teaching must be redesigned. Rote learning is not true learning as it lacks practical application. Students should not cram knowledge into their minds. Education must be practical and not theoretical with a need for participation.

Lenin’s critique of rote learning or memorization is similar to Friere’s criticism of banking education in which the the teacher deposits knowledge into the students’ heads with any form of critical thought. This style of teaching is oppressive as the student is only going to reproduce the existing society rather than transform it. It would be difficult to prove that Friere was inspired by this particular speech of Lenin but the similarities are interesting.

Friere also talks about Praxis, which is essentially a form of practical political protesting or pushback against the norms of the existing society. Once students have a critical consciousness (awakened to the oppression of the world) they need to mobilize and find ways to resist those who are oppressing them. In other words, just as Lenin stated the need for practical learning, Friere emphasized this in the political education of students.

Lenin also states that books plus struggle is what learning truly is. The choice of the word “struggle” in the English translation is another interesting choice of words. Stalin and Mao later developed criticism and self-criticism in which people would criticized themselves and other people who were not living up to the expectations of the Communist revolution. People were expected to publically confess their “sins” and call out the “sins” of others. If your confession wasn’t good enough it could lead to additional consequences. In China, this was called struggle sessions and has been accused of being a form of brainwashing.

The Plan

Lenin provides an example of how criticism was used to gain power. He states that the Communists must criticize the Bouregise to arouse hatred of them. Once the Bouregise is hated the communists can unite the people (proletariat) to take power. This is what happened in Russia. The Czar and capitalists were criticized, people began to hate them, and the working class seized power under the leadership of the communists.

In the various “studies” of today the same strategy is used. Critical race theory criticizes one racial group to stir up hatred in other groups to unite them and take power. Feminism criticizes men in order to develop hatred among women towards men in order to unite them and take power. Queer studies criticize normalcy to stir up hatred against “normal” people so that the queer will unite and take power. The whole goal is to divide the people so that a revolution takes place between those who are “woke” and those who are not. To see how this strategy was laid out over 100 years ago and is still successful is shocking.

Ethics

Lenin also explains the ethical position of communism. He states clearly that there is no belief in God in the communist worldview. Since there is no God, God is not a source of right or wrong. There is no morality outside of the morality defined by society. In other words, men will decide for themselves what is right or wrong.

Communists have a moral duty to share all resources. Nothing can belong to a person as all resources must be shared. To have private property is to encourage selfishness and is bourgeois. For society to flourish the old ways must be destroyed.

Communists have tried to impose this ethical worldview. However, it never works because people aren’t motivated unless there is something in it for them. Despite this, even to this day, people criticize the capitalist system because it inspires people to work hard for the benefit of themselves and others.

Conclusion

The foundational ideas that Lenin explains here have echoed down over the decades to have powerful effects. Lenin’s views influenced Friere, Lenin’s views influenced criticism of Stalin and Mao, and Lenin’s views have also influenced the various “studies” that have impacted society today.