37
submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by SovietReporter@lemmygrad.ml to c/asklemmygrad@lemmygrad.ml

Do you think that you can help bring about the revolution or do you just want a minor less risky role? What kind of role can you participate on and die with a smile in your death bed when you think about how you lived your life?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] sleeplessone@lemmy.ml 9 points 2 months ago

If I don't end up a deadweight or a counterrevolutionary, that'll be good enough for me.

[-] urshanabi@lemmygrad.ml 14 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

what you said reminds me of what Stalin said in an interview with Emil Ludwig, link here

Stalin: You are being modest.

Ludwig: No, that is really so, and for that very reason I shall put questions that may seem strange to you. Today, here in the Kremlin, I saw some relics of Peter the Great and the first question I should like to ask you is this: Do you think a parallel can be drawn between yourself and Peter the Great? Do you consider yourself a continuer of the work of Peter the Great?

Stalin: In no way whatever. Historical parallels are always risky. There is no sense in this one.

Ludwig: But after all, Peter the Great did a great deal to develop his country, to bring western culture to Russia.

Stalin: Yes, of course, Peter the Great did much to elevate the landlord class and develop the nascent merchant class. He did very much indeed to create and consolidate the national state of the landlords and merchants. It must be said also that the elevation of the landlord class, the assistance to the nascent merchant class and the consolidation of the national state of these classes took place at the cost of the peasant serfs, who were bled white.

As for myself, I am just a pupil of Lenin’s, and the aim of my life is to be a worthy pupil of his. The task to which I have devoted my life is the elevation of a different class — the working class. That task is not the consolidation of some “national” state, but of a socialist state, and that means an international state; and everything that strengthens that state helps to strengthen the entire international working class. If every step I take in my endeavor to elevate the working class and strengthen the socialist state of this class were not directed towards strengthening and improving the position of the working class, I should consider my life purposeless.

So, you see, your parallel does not fit.

As regards Lenin and Peter the Great, the latter was but a drop in the sea, whereas Lenin was a whole ocean.

[-] sleeplessone@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 months ago

I'm flattered by the comparison, but unlike Stalin, I've barely made any steps to strengthen the working class.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (5 replies)
this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2024
37 points (100.0% liked)

Ask Lemmygrad

798 readers
75 users here now

A place to ask questions of Lemmygrad's best and brightest

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS