Lars T Lih
Biographic Data
| ID | 953777 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Lars T Lih |
| GIVEN NAMES | Lars T |
| FAMILY NAME | Lih |
| SIGNATURE | LIH L T |
| AFFILIATIONS | Assistant Professor of Political Science, Wellesley College |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9022-1533 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 40 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 24 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 40 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1984 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Charters Wynn, The Moderate Bolshevik: Mikhail Tomsky from the Factory to the Kremlin, 1880-1936
Reply to Charters Wynn
Lenin: Rupture or Continuity
Airbrushing Out Revolutionary Social Democracy: Lenin, Stalin, and Potresov on the Second International
In early 1915, Lenin engaged in a polemic with former comrade and by then longtime foe Aleksandr Potresov over the best way to account for the failure of the Second International's response to the outbreak of European war. Potresov presented a unitary portrait of the Second International as nonrevolutionary, whereas Lenin countered this portrait with a bipartite model of fundamental conflict existing within the Second International, between "Oppo…
Why Did Marx Declare the Revolution Permanent: The Tactical Principles of the Manifesto
Why did Marx declare the revolution permanent? A careful examination of the celebrated passages from March 1850 in their immediate rhetorical context shows that he intended to affirm the tactical principles laid down earlier in the Communist Manifesto – as opposed to standard ‘anti-stagist’ interpretations that present the Permanenz locution of 1850 as a break with these principles. Among such principles: keeping eyes firmly fixed on the prize – …
A Fully Armed Historiography
This essay disputes the traditional view of Lenin’s April Theses as radical, pitting him against his own party shortly after his arrival in Petrograd. Instead, Bolsheviks before and after Lenin’s arrival in 1917 remained true to the party’s class scenario of revolution embodied in the slogan, “All Power to the Soviets.”
The Non-geometric Carter Elwood (1936–2018): An Appreciation by Lars T. Lih
[On 22 September 2018, Carter Elwood, a Distinguished Research Professor at Carleton University, died of complications in Ottawa following an accident. Professor Elwood was born in Chicago in 1936
The tasks of our times: Kautsky’s Road to Power in Germany and Russia
The Anti-Bourgeois Democratic Revolution”: A Reading of the Russian Revolution
Proponho uma nova categoria para descrever a Revolução Russa de 1917: “revolução democrática antiburguesa”. O “poder soviético” foi proclamado, de fato, durante a Revolução de Fevereiro, em 1917. A força básica por trás desse novo poder ou autoridade soberana – os trabalhadores, soldados e camponeses que constituíam o eleitorado dos sovietes – era hostil à burjúi tanto em seu sentido estrito de proprietários industriais como em seu sentido mais a…
Regardez les allemands: Les racines de Lénine dans la social-démocratie européenne
Lars T. Lih, « Regardez les allemands ! » : les racines de Lénine dans la social-démocratie européenne À la fin du xix e siècle, le Parti social-démocrate allemand (SPD) propose un nouveau type de parti combinant des innovations techniques de mobilisations de masses (la campagne électorale, la « culture alternative », la presse de parti) avec un objectif révolutionnaire. Les sociaux-démocrates russes admiraient ce modèle, mais ils durent reconnaî…
Bolshevism's ‘Services to the State’: Three Russian Observers
A few years after the Russian revolution of 1917, three Russian writers from widely varying points of the political spectrum put forth a strikingly similar interpretation of ‘the services to the state’ of the Bolsheviks. At the time, such an argument seemed perverse and paradoxical, since the Bolsheviks were seen as a violently anti-state force. The three writers are Sergei Lukianov (the nationalist right), Nikolai Bukharin (the Bolshevik left), …
Lenin and Bolshevism
The strategy of European Social Democracy, as embodied in the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) and set forth in the canonical writings of Karl Kautsky, was based on the aggressive use of political freedom to carry out large-scale propaganda campaigns. Lenin aimed at implanting this strategy into the uncongenial soil of Russian absolutism, which gave rise to his organizational ideas for the Social Democratic underground. After the 1905 revolut…
Filosofiia probudivshegosia cheloveka: Libertarizm v rossiiskoi levoradikal'noi ideologii (1840–1917gg) and Ternovyi venets svobody: Libertarizm v ideologii i revoliustionnoi praktike rossiiskikh levy…
Permanent Revolution: A Rejoinder
Democratic Revolution in Permanenz
According to Richard Day and Daniel Gaido, the editors of Witnesses to Permanent Revolution: The Documentary Record (2009), the basic insights of Trotsky's theory of “permanent revolution” were shared by other prominent German and Russian Social Democrats, including Karl Kautsky, Franz Mehring, Parvus, Rosa Luxemburg and David Ryazanov. In reality, the documents found in Witnesses show that these writers did not use the expression “permanent revo…
The Ironic Triumph of Old Bolshevism: The Debates of April 1917 in Context
During the debates in Bolshevik party circles after Lenin's return to Russia in early April 1917, one central issue was the status of "Old Bolshevism." According to Lenin, Old Bolshevism was outmoded, whereas other Bolsheviks such as Lev Kamenev and Mikhail Kalinin defended its relevance. The central tenet of prewar Old Bolshevism was "democratic revolution to the end," a slogan that implied a vast social transformation of Russia under the aegis …
Robert C. Tucker, 1918-2010
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. As you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button
Lenin Disputed
Critical discussion of Lenin’s What Is to Be Done? is hindered by a series of historical myths. Issues such as the following need to be studied more empirically and more critically: Did the attitudes of early readers of WITBD? reflect Lenin’s alleged ‘worry about workers’? Did the events of 1905 cause Lenin to renounce his earlier views about the workers and about party-organisation, giving rise to disputes with Bolshevik activists? Did either Le…
Lenin and the Great Awakening
Lenin Rediscovered: What Is to Be Done? in Context
Lenin’s What is to Be Done? (1902) has long been seen as the founding document of a 'party of a new type'. For some, it provided a model of ‘vanguard party’ that was the essence of Bolshevism, for others it manifested Lenin’s élitist and manipulatory attitude towards the workers. This substantial new commentary, based on contemporary Russian- and German-language sources, provides hitherto unavailable contextual information that undermines these v…
Bread Day. Dir. Sergey Dvortsevoy. New York: First Run / Icarus Films, 1998. 55 minutes. Color. English subtitles. $390.00, sale. $75.00, rental
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Bukharin's "Illusion": War Communism and the Meaning of Nep
Vlast' from the Past: Stories Told by Bolskeviks
Left History features articles from a variety of theoretical approaches; these include feminist, marxist, and postmodernist deliberations on topics such as race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, culture, the state, labour, the environment, theory, and method
The Mystery of the ABC
Bukharin in 1917-1920 was one of those who suggested an extremely radical line of instant socialism... a Utopian and optimistic set of ideas concerning a leap into socialism, which would seem to have little to do with the reality of hunger and cold.Alec Nove,An Economic History of the USSR, 1969
Stalin's Letters to Molotov, 1925-1936
Democratic Revolution in Permanenz
According to Richard Day and Daniel Gaido, the editors of Witnesses to Permanent Revolution: The Documentary Record (2009), the basic insights of Trotsky's theory of “permanent revolution” were shared by other prominent German and Russian Social Democrats, including Karl Kautsky, Franz Mehring, Parvus, Rosa Luxemburg and David Ryazanov. In reality, the documents found in Witnesses show that these writers did not use the expression “permanent revo…
Stalin's Letters to Molotov
State Control in Soviet Russia: The Rise and Fall of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate, 1920-1934
Stalin's Letters to Molotov, 1925-1936
The Mystery of the ABC
Bukharin in 1917-1920 was one of those who suggested an extremely radical line of instant socialism... a Utopian and optimistic set of ideas concerning a leap into socialism, which would seem to have little to do with the reality of hunger and cold.Alec Nove,An Economic History of the USSR, 1969
Robert C. Tucker, 1918-2010
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. As you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button
Political Testament of Lenin and Bukharin and the Meaning of NEP
Lenin's last writings have given rise to a surprising range of interpretations. Despite this diversity, consensus holds that in these articles Lenin was striking new ground, extending his critique of war communism, and deepening his conception of the New Economic Policy. Another widely held view is that Nikolai Bukharin, inspired by the last articles, went further down the path opened by Lenin. Few agree about the content of Lenin's new direction…
The Economic Organization of War Communism 1918-1921
This book examines the origins, development and reasons for change of the first Soviet economic system. Programmes are compared with outcomes and theory with practice in the fields of nationalization, workers' control and management, money and planning, industrial organization and food procurement. The organization of military supply and industry is examined separately, to emphasize that the initial approach to economic organization was affected …
Bolshevik Razverstka and War Communism
Few would dispute the claim that the razverstka, the Bolshevik method of grain procurement, was a centerpiece of "war communism." Yet there exists no adequate treatment of the razverstka in the scholarly literature, and indeed there is widespread confusion about the nature and purposes of the razverstka policy as well as about the circumstances of its introduction and its replacement in 1921 by a food-supply tax (prodnalog). A closer look at the …
Mikhail Bakunin: A Study in the Psychology and Politics of Utopianism
Bolshevik Razverstka and War Communism
Few would dispute the claim that the razverstka, the Bolshevik method of grain procurement, was a centerpiece of "war communism." Yet there exists no adequate treatment of the razverstka in the scholarly literature, and indeed there is widespread confusion about the nature and purposes of the razverstka policy as well as about the circumstances of its introduction and its replacement in 1921 by a food-supply tax (prodnalog). A closer look at the …
Gorbachev and the Reform Movement
Essay| October 01 1987 Gorbachev and the Reform Movement Lars T. Lih Lars T. Lih Assistant Professor of Political Science, Wellesley College Lars T. Lih is the author of Bread and Authority in Russia, 1914–1921 (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, forthcoming). Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Current History (1987) 86 (522): 309–312. https://doi.org/10.1525/curh.1987.86.522.309 Views…
The Brezhnev Politburo and the Decline of Detente
The Economic Organization of War Communism 1918-1921
This book examines the origins, development and reasons for change of the first Soviet economic system. Programmes are compared with outcomes and theory with practice in the fields of nationalization, workers' control and management, money and planning, industrial organization and food procurement. The organization of military supply and industry is examined separately, to emphasize that the initial approach to economic organization was affected …
The Transition Era in Soviet Politics
Essay| October 01 1989 The Transition Era in Soviet Politics Lars T. Lih Lars T. Lih Assistant Professor of Political Science, Wellesley College Lars T. Lih’s publications include Bread and Authority in Russia, 1914–1921 (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, forthcoming). Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Current History (1989) 88 (540): 333–336. https://doi.org/10.1525/curh.1989.88.540…
State Control in Soviet Russia: The Rise and Fall of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate, 1920-1934
Soviet Politics
Essay| October 01 1990 Soviet Politics: Breakdown or Renewal? Lars T. Lih Lars T. Lih Assistant Professor of Political Science, Wellesley College Lars T. Lih is the author of Bread and Authority in Russia, 1914-1921 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990), and Bolshevik Sowing Committees of 1920: Apotheosis of War Communism? (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh, Center for Russian and East European Studies, Carl Beck Papers, 1990). Sear…
The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Rural Communist Party, 1927-39
Political Testament of Lenin and Bukharin and the Meaning of NEP
Lenin's last writings have given rise to a surprising range of interpretations. Despite this diversity, consensus holds that in these articles Lenin was striking new ground, extending his critique of war communism, and deepening his conception of the New Economic Policy. Another widely held view is that Nikolai Bukharin, inspired by the last articles, went further down the path opened by Lenin. Few agree about the content of Lenin's new direction…
Bread and Authority in Russia, 1914-1921
Inside Gorbachev's Kremlin: The Memoirs of Yegor Ligachev, by Yegor Ligachev
Stalin's Letters to Molotov
Stalin's Letters to Molotov, 1925-1936
The Tragedy of Bukharin
Despite its eventual failure, the Bolshevik experiment remains the sole example of revolutionary socialist rule. From 1917, the Bolsheviks confronted the fundamental questions of our time: how can a real alternative to capitalism be achieved? Can mass democracy triumph over bureaucracy? Nikolai Bukharin took a leading role in grappling with such problems. Sometimes brilliantly successful, at times mis-guided, Bukharin's career never failed to ill…
"Bertrand Patenaude's "Peasants into Russians
Bertrand Patenaude's article, Peasants into Russians: The Utopian Essence of Communism, in the October 1995 issue of The Russian Review, is an excellent contribution to the debate about the usefulness of the concept of War Communism.' It is based on a wide range of material that future scholars will have to incorporate into their accounts of the Civil period. Just as important, Patenaude conducts the debate in a civilized, scholarly manner that f…
The Mystery of the ABC
Bukharin in 1917-1920 was one of those who suggested an extremely radical line of instant socialism... a Utopian and optimistic set of ideas concerning a leap into socialism, which would seem to have little to do with the reality of hunger and cold.Alec Nove,An Economic History of the USSR, 1969
Vlast' from the Past: Stories Told by Bolskeviks
Left History features articles from a variety of theoretical approaches; these include feminist, marxist, and postmodernist deliberations on topics such as race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, culture, the state, labour, the environment, theory, and method
Bread Day. Dir. Sergey Dvortsevoy. New York: First Run / Icarus Films, 1998. 55 minutes. Color. English subtitles. $390.00, sale. $75.00, rental
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Bukharin's "Illusion": War Communism and the Meaning of Nep
Lenin Rediscovered: What Is to Be Done? in Context
Lenin’s What is to Be Done? (1902) has long been seen as the founding document of a 'party of a new type'. For some, it provided a model of ‘vanguard party’ that was the essence of Bolshevism, for others it manifested Lenin’s élitist and manipulatory attitude towards the workers. This substantial new commentary, based on contemporary Russian- and German-language sources, provides hitherto unavailable contextual information that undermines these v…
Lenin and the Great Awakening
Lenin Disputed
Critical discussion of Lenin’s What Is to Be Done? is hindered by a series of historical myths. Issues such as the following need to be studied more empirically and more critically: Did the attitudes of early readers of WITBD? reflect Lenin’s alleged ‘worry about workers’? Did the events of 1905 cause Lenin to renounce his earlier views about the workers and about party-organisation, giving rise to disputes with Bolshevik activists? Did either Le…
The Ironic Triumph of Old Bolshevism: The Debates of April 1917 in Context
During the debates in Bolshevik party circles after Lenin's return to Russia in early April 1917, one central issue was the status of "Old Bolshevism." According to Lenin, Old Bolshevism was outmoded, whereas other Bolsheviks such as Lev Kamenev and Mikhail Kalinin defended its relevance. The central tenet of prewar Old Bolshevism was "democratic revolution to the end," a slogan that implied a vast social transformation of Russia under the aegis …
Robert C. Tucker, 1918-2010
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. As you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button
Political science (32 works) · Law (24 works) · Politics (19 works) · History (18 works) · Law (15 works) · Economic history (14 works) · Soviet and Russian History (13 works) · History (12 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Political economy (10 works)