760
PARTISAN REVIEW
surroundings" at home and abroad which were of their own making.
While Mr. Wolfe clearly understands the dialectics of this develop–
ment,
he tends to exaggerate the "democratic" elements in Lenin's pre–
revolutionary thinking.
If,
as Mr. Wolfe himself says, any form of de–
mocracy must include "control of political and economic apparatus by
the people, and not the reverse," then Lenin was not a democrat at any
point in his career. Authoritarianism was always there, explicit or im–
plicit. Neither do I believe that Lenin was a "peasantophile," in the old
Narodnik (populist) tradition. His recognition of the importance of
the peasantry was based on considerations of political strategy alone,
and no sentiment was involved. As I see it, of a similarly "instrumental"
nature was Lenin's idea of national self-determination.
Space does not permit me to list errors in factual details which I
have discovered here and there in Mr. Wolfe's volume. It is a pity to
find them in a work of such merit, but I hasten to add that, irritating
as they are, they do not impair the book's general significance and meth–
odological value.
Michael Karpovich
BACK ISSUES OF PR
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JANUARY 1948: Arthur Kastler-London Letter; Mllrcel Proust--Filial
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FEBRUARY 1948: Mllry McCllrthy-The Cicarone; SlIul Bellow-A Letter
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MARCH 1948: Delmore Schwllrtz-The World is a Wedding; Rene
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APRIL 1948: Andrll Mlllrllux lind Jllmes Burnhllm-The Double Crisis (II
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MAY 1948: Philip Rllhv-Disillusionment and Socialism; Josephine Herbst
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JULY 1948: Jelln Coctellu-The Human Voice; Hllnnllh Arendt-The
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