Lenin

The Man, the Dictator, and the Master of Terror

De: Victor Sebestyen

Narrado por: Jonathan Aris

Victor Sebestyen's riveting biography of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin—the first major biography in English in nearly two decades—is not only a political examination of one of the most important historical figures of the twentieth century but also a fascinating portrait of Lenin the man.

Brought up in comfort and with a passion for hunting and fishing, chess, and the English classics, Lenin was radicalized after the execution of his brother in 1887. Sebestyen traces the story from Lenin's early years to his long exile in Europe and return to Petrograd in 1917 to lead the first Communist revolution in history. Uniquely, Sebestyen has discovered that throughout Lenin's life his closest relationships were with his mother, his sisters, his wife, and his mistress. The long-suppressed story told here of the love triangle that Lenin had with his wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya, and his beautiful, married mistress and comrade, Inessa Armand, reveals a more complicated character than that of the coldly one-dimensional leader of the Bolshevik Revolution.

With Lenin's personal papers and those of other leading political figures now available, Sebestyen gives is new details that bring to life the dramatic and gripping story of how Lenin seized power in a coup and ran his revolutionary state. The product of a violent, tyrannical, and corrupt Russia, he chillingly authorized the deaths of thousands of people and created a system based on the idea that political terror against opponents was justified for a greater ideal. An old comrade what had once admired him said that Lenin "desired the good . . . but created evil." This included his invention of Stalin, who would take Lenin's system of the gulag and the secret police to horrifying new heights.

In Lenin, Victor Sebestyen has written a brilliant portrait of this dictator as a complex and ruthless figure, and he also brings to light important new revelations about the Russian Revolution, a pivotal point in modern history.


(With 16 pages of black-and-white photographs)

Humanizes the Villain

I think this is what Audiobooks are meant for; that is for listening to autobiographies of historical figures. I know for me, I couldn’t picture myself going to a bookstore to pick up a book on Lenin. But an audiobook like this, that was so captivating through and through, made me feel like I was watching one of those well made, top production, Netflix documentaries. This was just all audio. I highly recommend this book if you were ever curious to learn of what started the communist revolution, or learning about how dictators can get to power (fyi it’s not so hard), or what life in Russia was like 100 years ago, or seeing the effect one human being can have on history, and many many more insights. I’m already looking up the next “great” figure I can read up on.

Excellent history and presentation

Well-documented work, brilliantly written and equally brilliantly presented. I understand the origins of 20th century conflicts much better now.

Well written and narrated

Growing up in Ukraine in the 80s and 90s, I had no interest or proper awareness of the real history as a teenager. What an blissful ignorance it was. I remember those days in school when we had to be accepted into various levels of communist youth organizations, and how I was bummed out for not becoming a "pioneer"(second level, in 4th grade) with the orange handkerchief around my neck, from the first try. We did indeed spoke of him as Grandpa Lenin with such affection, so many years past his time, hard to believe it now. Seeing the collapse of the Soviet Union was awesome and liberating, though. Between various dictator characters, including the current one, Russia keeps going from the fire to the flame, and back. What a pity for the Russian people. And my people.
More to the point, this book on Lenin's life is well written and revealing. I went through it within about 4 days. Good read.

Lenin

not much is known about Lenin. This seems to be a very objective book . well narrated

A true master

This book portrayed Lenin's live in such details that it made one feel like they were there.

Expected more

I wanted to know more. This was very short and not much details were provided about the time Lenin was in power. Yet, I learned many things I had no idea about.

I wanted the book to continue...

As much as we could vainly wish Vladimir Ilitch had never become Lenin -- history can't but happen, whoever its actors are -- the end of the story had me wanting to hear more of it. 20 hours of listening... and I wanted 20 more. The story told by Viktor Sebestyen captures how the introvert child of a petit-bourgeois family in rural Russia finds himself at the crossroads of History with a sense of personal destiny. In the maelstrom of catastrophic political events that marked the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, what were the chances a would-be revolutionary zealot, financially supported by his mother, could become in the space of 25 years the head of the Bolchevik party and the founding father of the Soviet Union? Sebestyan weaves masterfully Lenin's personal life, his political convictions and struggles, his character, and the larger tapestry of the end-times of Tsarist Russia. His book leads its readers through Lenin's life and gives a fascinating account of his views through letters, diaries, Party documents, media articles (Pravda, Izvestia), as well as accounts and anecdotes told by those who fought with him or against him. It is a well-researched read, full of interesting details, always mindful of History with a capital H. It won't make you like Lenin (fortunately), but it reveals the man in his complexity and will give your mind something to chew on for a long time.

Great primer and introduction to the Soviet History

Victor Sebestyen paints a broad and fairly objective portrait of the man Lenin. He neither deifies him or slanders Lenin, put provides an accurate account of the man Lenin with his particular quirks, failings and strengths. The author squarely places Lenin within his time and life of a Russian revolutionary in the last declining years of the obsolete, absolute monarchy of the Romanov Dynasty and how he directly and inadvertently established a « communist » dictatorship of the « proletariat », which was a façade for the absolute monarchy it replaced.

Captivating and informative

Starting, I knew very little about Lenin, but by the end I somehow felt a guru on everything about the famous soviet.
The title led the painting of Lenin as dictator, but I am not convince the author tried to see his character from a neutral view point before the write-up. I think his sources and perception of Lenin going did not offer Lenin's past to draw it's own image and reasons.

The Wrong Faction Won

Sebestyen’s emphasis is on narrative, telling a story rather than giving multitudinous obscure facts. He has new details from Soviet archives but they don’t derail the biography. Good for him. I now understand the difference between Menshevik and Bolshevik factions: the former wanted popularist socialism after the Tsar fell that would be nationally participatory, the latter wanted strict central control by a committee that would force true communism. The masses are NOT revolutionaries, said Lenin; the most revolutionary thing they ever do is form labor unions. A cadre of iron-willed professional revolutionaries must take power to direct everything and keep the transformation from socialism to communism on track. True to his theories, Lenin instituted tight and frightful central control after 1917, ordering thousands of foot-draggers executed. Bolshevik committees chose what was best for the masses and pushed their choices through at whatever the cost in suffering. Ends justifies means. Sebestyen portraits Lenin as a generally decent and often kind man when interacting person-to-person: brilliant since childhood, very loyal to friends who stayed loyal to him, living simply, having the common touch speaking to workers, polite, personally tidy, playing with children, prone to tantrums and grudges, a fanatic socialist, near nervous breakdowns several times from revolutionary zeal. This man who was all that ordered the deaths of hundreds of thousands he perceived as in the way of the workers’ state, although he never witnessed the killings personally. The sight would have unhinged him. Nevertheless, necessary executions, Lenin preached, are how revolutions are sustained to bring change. The true revolutionary realizes this and steels himself to what he has to do—or, in Lenin’s case, what he told others to do. Sebestyen writes that, regretfully, this horrible tenant marked Soviet Communism for decades—all traceable to Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov’s original thinking on seizing and maintaining control to serve the overall good. I enjoyed this book. If this era of history interests you I recommend buying it. It’s 20 hours long so figure 2 weeks to get through it.