how to educate, organize and arouse the masses to action against their capitalist exploiters. What we all want to know is, how did Lenin do it? What theories did he hold? What tactics did he pursue? What means did he employ? In short, what is the essence of Leninism?
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Leninism is the theory and practice of working class struggle. It is the accumulated experience of the battling armies of the proletariat against capitalism reflected by the mind of a genius. It is the century-old hatred of the oppressed against the oppressors embodied in a man of iron will and a great, beautiful heart. It is the proletarian urge to power expressed, formulated and led by the greatest leader the working class ever had.
To understand thoroughly Lenin and Leninism one needs to be familiar with Russia, its history, the martyrdom of hundreds and thousands of Russian revolutionaries, and the long, bitter years of oppression suffered by the toiling masses of Russia. Lenin is inseparable from the class struggle of the Russian masses.
But his greatness and the importance of his work have gone far beyond the boundaries of his native land. At this moment there is not another name in the whole world which means so much for millions upon millions of human beings. It is as if the deepest longings and most intimate dreams of the oppressed in every corner of the globe, in "civilized" Europe as well as in backard Africa, as much in America, as in Asia, have gone forward into the endless spaces of the universe and have found their point of concentration, their unifying genius in the life and teachings of Lenin.
Was there ever a human being more truly international, more a leader of the people of all countries and all nations, than Lenin?
Take his attitude toward the late imperialist war. How did he look upon it? How did he react towards it?
He loved the Russian masses with all the great powers of his human soul. Is anyone in doubt about that? If one's understanding of the most deeply buried feelings of the masses is any test of one's love for them, then who in Russia's history has surpassed Lenin in such understanding? And if one's sympathy for the sufferings of the masses, sympathy of the purest kind, of a most intense and burning nature, is any sign of one's love and devotion to the masses, then who in the life of Russia is greater in this respect than Lenin?
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