Today we celebrate 150 years since the birth of revolutionary and theorist, Lenin. His legacy and the legacy of the Russian revolution still inspires millions around the world to fight. For peace and socialism! pic.twitter.com/6YEArZ13U1— London Young Labour (@LDNYoungLabour) April 22, 2020
London Young Labour is controlled by the far left which supported Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party until two weeks ago. He responded to the fall of the Berlin Wall by printing an article in the newsletter he edited headlined 'No cheers here for a united capitalist Germany'. His close aide Seamus Milne defended Lenin, denied that he and Stalin are responsible for the deaths of millions and said
“For all its brutalities and failures, communism in the Soviet Union, eastern Europe and elsewhere delivered rapid industrialisation, mass education, job security and huge advances in social and gender equality.”
He responded to the fall of the Berlin Wall by printing an article in the newsletter he edited headlined 'No cheers here for a united capitalist Germany'.
ReplyDeleteThe world is certainly a worse place today than it was before the Wall came down. The unification of Germany probably was a mistake. It was probably a mistake when Bismarck united Germany the first time.
denied that he and Stalin are responsible for the deaths of millions
They were certainly responsible for a lot of deaths but it's also certain that western propaganda wildly exaggerated the numbers.
Unfortunately in politics everybody lies.
During the Cold War the West seemed to be the good guys but now that we've seen what happened when those good guys had all constraints removed you have to wonder if there really are any good guys. As Graham Greene put it, human nature is not black and white but black and grey.
It was a huge tragedy that Bismarck united Germany and Cavour Italy. Francois Mauriac said, 'I love Germany so much I want there to be two of them. Milne didn't lie.
ReplyDeleteIt was a huge tragedy that Bismarck united Germany and Cavour Italy.
DeleteIt's unfortunate that 19th century liberalism supported a model of nationalism which aimed for larger and larger states. Larger more powerful states are inherently destabilising and lead to large-scale destructive wars. Once Germany was unified it was inevitable that France would seek to create an anti-German alliance and once that happened war was inevitable.
There's a reason why Louis XIV's plan to unite the thrones of France and Spain was so vigorously opposed. Such a super-state would have been a threat to everyone.
You could argue that the union of England and Scotland ended up encouraging Britain to become too involved in continental geopolitics. As long as an independent Scotland existed England remained focused on the Scottish threat. There's a reason why Elizabeth I had no desire whatsoever to get mixed up in a land war in Europe.