Lenin’s Critique Of Populism And Its Enlightenment

The national history of Russia is full of blood and tears.From the 13 th century to the15 th century,it was the invasion of the Tartar Mongols and their cruel rule and oppression of Russia for nearly two and a half centuries.Then there was the chaos of social unrest and the disintegration of the state;The most painful point of Russian life was the terrible tyranny of serfdom--the inhuman life of the peasants,the persecution of the intellectuals,the decemberist guillotine and the Siberian slave labor.This painful national history shows the living conditions of the Russian nation in the gap between the East and the West,and the painful groans in the fierce collision between the two cultures.For Russia in the 19 th century is a century of exploration,in western countries under the influence of bourgeois revolution and the enlightenment,a large number of Russia’s advanced character and intellectual elite have been carrying on the tension in the spirit of exploration and exploration society,that of Russia’s destiny and the development of exploration,in particular,is the Western Europe capitalist road,Or its own unique village community development path,the populist thought emerged at the historic moment.Russian populism starts from its founders Herzen and Chernyshevsky to the thinkers and theorists of different factions in its various development stages,who jointly create a complete ideological and theoretical system of populism from their respective standpoint and viewpoint.After young Lenin grew up as a Marxist,the first problem he faced was "the fate of Russian capitalism".Lenin combined the revolutionary practice of Russia with the basic principles of Marxism,and deeply criticized all kinds of wrong theories and views on the development of Russian capitalism.In particular,he formed ideas about the development of Russian capitalism against the wrong views of populism.Populists declared that the development of capitalism in Russia was not a historical necessity,and advocated that the peasant community should be regarded as the embryo and foundation of socialism.At the same time,he believed that the proletariat was not the main force to realize the socialist revolution and advocated relying on individuals and heroes to create history.By the 1890 s,the popusts had completely lost their original revolutionary democratic spirit of opposing the tsarist autocracy,and had been shaken to the side of the liberal bourgeoisie,becoming the opposite of Marxism.So Lenin,as the staunchest defender of Marxism,fought against the populists politically and theoretically,arguing that the populists talked of "empty social programmes".It is in the process of this struggle,Lenin solved "the fate of Russian capitalism" the major theoretical issues closely related to the Russian revolution practice,at the same time explained the Russian social class structure and class antagonisms,further illustrates the Russian the historical mission of the proletariat and the revolutionary struggle of the thought and the way of power,a series of problems.Lenin’s criticism of populism is an important link in the development of Marxism,which is also the product of the proletarian revolution era.Lenin enriched and developed Marxism with new revolutionary struggle experience and provided theoretical guidance for backward countries to explore the road of socialist construction.Restricted by many factors,Lenin’s early criticism of populism had some shortcomings,such as overestimation of the development degree of Russian capitalism and inaccurate judgment of the role of peasants in the revolution.During his fighting life,Lenin wrote a large number of brilliant works,leaving a very rich theoretical wealth for mankind,which still radiates a dazzling light and provides precious wealth for the socialist modernization construction with Chinese characteristics.It guides us to promote the sinicization of Marxism based on the national reality.Dialectical analysis of the historical role of capitalism and how to scientifically understand and guide the development of contemporary Chinese populism.