this post was submitted on 06 May 2025
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I have the opportunity to pitch a book at my leftist book club. What is a book to help counter anti-ML attitudes from people who lean more anarchist and/or have a strong opposition to Lenin/Stalin? (hexbear.net)
submitted 4 days ago by TheDeed@hexbear.net to c/askchapo@hexbear.net
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My circles tend to be very anti Lenin or anti Stalin, most of them are anarchists or left leaning people who have a pretty strong opposition to MLs. I would like to have a dialogue with them or least give them some tools so that they can have a good background with which to critique ML even if they don't change their mind and become MLs.

Bonus if it includes info about the Bund in relation to Lenin & the Bolsheviks or information about Jews in the Soviet Union or ML Jews in general - most of us are Jewish, and a lot of strong opposition is rooted in the Jewish experience of those eras and strong emotional and ideological affinity to the legacy of the Bund.

These don't quite cover the Jewish experience as much but, some books or articles top of my mind for at least countering anticommunism are:

  • Western Marxism Loves Purity and Martyrdom, But Not Real Revolution
  • Blackshirts and Reds

Would love to hear yalls thoughts.

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[โ€“] GoodGuyWithACat@hexbear.net 16 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I think Losurdo is a bit much to jump into if they're still at the "Lenin is bad" stage. Losurdo is pretty dense and reads like a historiography. I doubt OP's friends know basic Soviet history, so they should probably start by learning about the Russian Revolution.

[โ€“] carpoftruth@hexbear.net 9 points 4 days ago

yeah fair enough. I started reading the bit I highlighted about antisemitism and it's pretty dense. you really have to give a shit to get into it