Communism has decisively shaped the modern world. After the Second World War, Marxist regimes ruled over one-third of the population of the globe. Even today, after the fall of the Soviet Union, communist ideas continue to steer current events in Eastern Europe and East Asia.
According to award-winning historian Professor Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, to understand the inner dynamics of communist thought and rule (and the reasons they linger in places like Cuba, North Korea, and China), you have to go back to the crucial beginnings of communism. How did it become such a pervasive economic and political philosophy? Why, of all places, did it first take root in early 20th-century Russia?
These and other questions all get addressed as part of a fascinating story that stretches from the intellectual partnership between Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the late 19th century to the Russian Revolution of 1917 to the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924. It’s a story whose drama, Professor Liulevicius notes, “has few equals in terms of sheer scale, scope, or suffering.”
Author(s): Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius
Series: The Great Courses
Publisher: The Teaching Company
Year: 2019-11
Language: English
Pages: 102
Tags: Society, Politics
Professor Biography......Page 3
Table of Contents......Page 5
Course Scope......Page 7
The Specter Haunting Europe......Page 9
Lecture 1—The Locomotive of History......Page 10
An Evolving Tradition......Page 11
Suggested Reading......Page 12
Lecture 2—Marx and Engels: An Intellectual Partnership......Page 13
French Political Revolution......Page 14
The Industrial Revolution in Britain......Page 15
Marx and Engels......Page 16
The Ideas of Marx and Engels......Page 17
Suggested Reading......Page 19
Lecture 3—The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital......Page 20
Revolutions across Europe......Page 21
Marx’s Theories......Page 22
The Views of Marx and Engels......Page 24
Mikhail Bakunin......Page 25
Suggested Reading......Page 26
Lecture 4—The 1871 Paris Commune as a Model of Revolt......Page 27
Background on the Paris Commune......Page 28
Revolt......Page 29
A Second Siege......Page 30
Marx and the Commune......Page 31
The Legend of the Commune......Page 32
Suggested Reading......Page 33
Lecture 5—Marxism after Marx......Page 34
Post-Marx Questions......Page 35
The Social Democratic Party of Germany......Page 36
The Haymarket Square Incident......Page 38
Internal Debates......Page 39
Suggested Reading......Page 40
Lenin and the Founding of the Soviet Union......Page 41
Lecture 6—Revolutionary Russias......Page 42
Background on Russia......Page 43
A Revolutionary Tradition......Page 44
The 1870s and 1880s......Page 45
Georgi Plekhanov......Page 46
Lenin and the Russian Revolution......Page 47
Russia Near Collapse......Page 48
Suggested Reading......Page 49
Lecture 7—The Making of Lenin......Page 50
A Revolutionary Turn......Page 51
Lenin’s Exile......Page 52
Lenin Strikes......Page 53
The Hunted......Page 54
Lenin Waits......Page 55
Suggested Reading......Page 56
Lecture 8—World War I as a Revolutionary Opportunity......Page 57
Lenin in Zimmerwald......Page 58
Lenin’s Books......Page 59
The February Revolution......Page 60
Lenin’s Return......Page 61
Suggested Reading......Page 63
Lecture 9—Red October: How the Bolsheviks Seized Power......Page 64
The Bolsheviks Make Their Move......Page 65
After the Coup......Page 66
Lenin in Charge......Page 67
International Affairs......Page 68
Civil Wars......Page 69
Bolshevik Brutality......Page 70
Suggested Reading......Page 71
Lecture 10—Rosa Luxemburg: A Revolutionary Martyr......Page 72
Luxemburg’s Background......Page 73
Luxemburg in Germany......Page 74
The War and Luxemburg......Page 75
Later Events......Page 76
Socialist Civil War......Page 77
Suggested Reading......Page 78
Lecture 11—The Red Bridge to World Revolution......Page 79
The Comintern......Page 80
New Communist Parties......Page 82
Hungary......Page 83
Bavaria......Page 84
Conclusion......Page 85
Suggested Reading......Page 86
Lecture 12—Toward a New Communist Civilization......Page 87
Proletkult......Page 88
Reforms......Page 89
Propaganda......Page 90
The Cheka......Page 91
The Death of Lenin......Page 92
Suggested Reading......Page 93
Quiz Questions......Page 94
Bibliography......Page 97
Image Credits......Page 102
