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The Rise of Communism: From Marx to Lenin
- Narrated by: Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius
- Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins
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Publisher's summary
How did communism become such a pervasive economic and political philosophy? Why did it first take root in early 20th-century Russia? These and other questions are part of a fascinating story whose drama has few equals in terms of sheer scale, scope, or human suffering and belief.
These 12 lectures invite you to go inside communism’s journey from a collection of political and economic theories to a revolutionary movement that rocked the world. Rich with historical insights, they zero in on the “how” and “why” of the Bolsheviks' rise to power and how communist ideas worked in theory and practice - and how they didn’t.
First, you’ll examine the utopian movements that influenced Marx and Engels, and how these leaders came to develop their revolutionary philosophies. From there, you’ll discover how Lenin became the first person to put Marxist ideas into action by violently seizing power in Russia during the chaos of the First World War. Throughout, you’ll meet thinkers and revolutionaries like Rosa Luxemburg and Leon Trotsky, unpack the meaning of texts like Das Kapital and The Communist Manifesto, and experience the shock and awe of events including the Paris Commune and the October Revolution.
An uncompromising look at one of the dominant political ideologies of the 20th century, this is a fascinating, and sobering, study of how theories rise to power in a bid to create a new civilization - whatever the human cost.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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The Complete Book of Five Rings is an authoritative version of Musashi's classic The Book of Five Rings, translated and annotated by a modern martial arts master, Kenji Tokitsu. Tokitsu has spent most of his life researching the legendary samurai swordsman and his works, and in this book he illuminates this seminal text, along with several other works by Musashi.
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Best translation I have encountered.
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The Mastery of Self
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The ancient Toltecs believed that life, as we perceive it, is a dream. We each live in our own personal dream, and these come together to form the dream of the planet, or the world in which we live. Problems arise when our perception of the dream becomes clouded with negativity, drama, and judgment (of ourselves and others), because it's in these moments of suffering that we have forgotten that we are the architects of our own reality and we have the power to change our dream if we choose.
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listen.. .then listen again
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I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn’t)
- Telling the Truth about Perfectionism, Inadequacy, and Power
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- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
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Based on seven years of ground-breaking research and hundreds of interviews, I Thought It Was Just Me shines a long-overdue light on an important truth: Our imperfections are what connect us to each other and to our humanity. Our vulnerabilities are not weaknesses; they are powerful reminders to keep our hearts and minds open to the reality that we're all in this together.
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I'm sure its great if you are a mother ....
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By: Brené Brown
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Eight Dates
- Essential Conversations for a Lifetime of Love
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- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Navigating the challenges of long-term commitment takes effort - and it just got simpler, with this empowering, step-by-step guide to communicating about the things that matter most to you and your partner. Drawing on 40 years of research from their world-famous Love Lab, Dr. John Gottman and Dr. Julie Schwartz Gottman invite couples on eight fun, easy, and profoundly rewarding dates, each one focused on a make-or-break issue: trust, conflict, sex, money, family, adventure, spirituality, and dreams.
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What the F. Robot-reader???!?!?!
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By: John Gottman PhD, and others
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Buddhism for Beginners
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This user’s guide to Buddhist basics takes the most commonly asked questions - beginning with “What is the essence of the Buddha’s teachings?” - and provides simple answers in plain English. Thubten Chodron’s responses to the questions that always seem to arise among people approaching Buddhism make this an exceptionally complete and accessible introduction - as well as a manual for living a more peaceful, mindful, and satisfying Life.
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Amazing introduction to Buddhism
- By chad d on 07-02-15
By: Thubten Chodron, and others
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Mythology: Mega Collection
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Do you know how many wives Zeus had? Or how the famous Trojan War was caused by one beautiful lady? Or how Thor got his hammer? Give your imagination a real treat. This Mega Mythology Collection of eight audiobooks is for you....
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An interesting set of introductions.
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By: Scott Lewis
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Medieval Myths & Mysteries
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The 10 enlightening (and often humorous) lectures of Medieval Myths and Mysteries will show you how far from the “dark” times of legend these centuries were. Uncover the facts about the Knights Templar. Reveal the truth behind the tales of legendary creatures like the Questing Beast and the unicorn. Trace the events of the Black Death and the ways it altered the world in its wake, and much more. With Professor Armstrong, you will dig deep into the ways that later generations reshaped the narrative of the medieval years and perpetuated the myths.
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Interesting, but centered on Britain
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Marcus Aurelius - Meditations: Adapted for the Contemporary Reader
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Meditations is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy. Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of the Meditations as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. These books have been carefully adapted into modern English form to allow for easy listening. Enjoy!
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Best translation
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Ho Tactics
- How to MindF**k a Man into Spending, Spoiling, and Sponsoring
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I have discovered a group of women who refuse to be exploited, are immune to manipulation, and who never settle in the name of love. These ladies know what they want and take what they want by beating men at their own game. Utilizing the secrets exposed in this book, these women gain power, money, and status. Men call them gold diggers, women call them hos, but they call themselves winners. This is the book that society doesn't want you to listen to….
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I spent $24,000 in 4 months
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The Ethical Slut
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For anyone who has ever dreamed of love, sex, and companionship beyond the limits of traditional monogamy, this groundbreaking guide navigates the infinite possibilities that open relationships can offer. Experienced ethical sluts Dossie Easton and Janet W. Hardy dispel myths and cover all the skills necessary to maintain a successful and responsible polyamorous lifestyle.
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The information and advice is 100% totally solid!
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By: Janet W. Hardy, and others
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The Prophet
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- Length: 1 hr and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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On the face of it, a simple book of 26 poem fables sharing one man’s wisdom. But The Prophet is so much more than that. It has inspired people from John F Kennedy to The Beatles and became the '60s Bible of counterculture – all because of the timeless truths it shared. Each poem takes a different theme – pleasure, beauty, freedom, joy and sorrow – as the fictional Al Mustapha shares his thoughts and experiences as he prepares to travel back to his island home.
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Riz Ahmed's Narraration Is So Moving!
- By Dee Tree on 09-12-21
By: Kahlil Gibran
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Welcome to The Real History of Secret Societies, a historical look at the true-life groups which, if you believe the myths, are the unspoken power behind some of the world’s major turning points, from controlling the British crown to holding back the electric car and keeping Martians and Atlantis under wraps. Prepare yourself. In this course brought to you in partnership with HISTORY®, you will be visiting some of history’s deepest rabbit-holes, across centuries and continents, in search of secret societies in all their varieties.
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What listeners say about The Rise of Communism: From Marx to Lenin
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Proteus_Undead
- 11-09-19
Disappointing, simplistic, biased
Unfortunately this was one-sided and propagandistic. To be clear from the start, since a few other reviewers seem to think that balance and objectivity is a nonsense expectation, the problem with this course is that it ignores huge sectors of scholarship that do not conveniently align with right-wing perspectives (I have listed references at the end, highly recommended for those interested, and also recommended for people motivated by cognitive dissonance to propound on subjects that are clearly not their area of study--for example Darrel from 12-17-19.) Again: referencing and relying on only a small, partisan group of scholars is bad scholarship. You will get defective knowledge, it's that simple. There isn't any controversy here. In this course you will get partisan, defective knowledge characterized by consistent omissions of crucial details and willfully partisan selection and description of details. (Again, please review the historical literature, especially my references at bottom before you react out of cognitive dissonance and make embarrassing comments, as a few have done already).
Furthermore the rhetoric is again simply willfully biased. The lecturer goes out of his way to consistently frame events and historical personages in nefarious terms, omitting any historical details that controvert the simplistic moral message running through the narrative--and not because there is an absence of them. Two examples:
1). The main citation the author relies on to describe Karl Marx as a person is through the German agent that was supposed to monitor him, making sure to include a ridiculous and irresponsible comment about the "demonic glint" in Marx's eyes (is this supposed to be a comment on Marx's character, or on the agent's character? How do we know the agent is reliable, and not predisposed toward enmity because of his job? Why is this the main citation used to describe Marx, when we have long descriptions by people who actually KNEW HIM for more than the short period the agent was assigned to Marx? This is what I mean by irresponsible and biased--though under the appearance of objectivity.)
2). The only details used to describe Lenin's character are ones that construe him as controlling and violent. There is a complete omission of the historically documented, passionate commitment to democracy, justice, and individual development that was essential to everything either wrote or did. Woops! What isn't mentioned in this "portrait" is that Lenin repeatedly kept space open for dialogue in the bolshevik party, changed his mind when others offered good reasons, frequently worked with people who had otherwise been his past enemies, that Lenin actively dissuaded any cult of personality, that he actively set up institutions through which the new communist government could closely listen to the voice of, and represent the desires of the people (the "sovnarkom"), etc--these are not mentioned at all. Objectivity and unbiased, scholarly presentation is repeatedly sacrificed for the sake of ideological prejudice. If this fact causes you to experience cognitive dissonance, and to double down and publicly say embarrassing things like the standard of objectivity is nonsense, then the references at the end of this review are especially for you.
In summary: the history is there, but it's propagandized and distorted in 2 ways. First, the reference material is woefully inadequate, outdated, and biased (review my references at bottom before submitting your cringey robotic comments, please). Secondly the rhetoric is similarly just not objective, sometimes to a degree that makes it silly.
Better, less biased audible audiobooks on this topic (or related): The Red Flag, Marx and Marxism, Russia in Revolution, Socialism 101. The Penguin edition of the Communist Manifesto also has a fantastic introduction that can serve as an insightful introduction to socialist and Marxist thought on its own.
Some scholars (not on audible) who have done excellent research, and who are conspicuously absent from this course (presumably because they present a strongly well-researched counter-narrative): Soma Marik, August H. Nimtz, Alexander Rabinowich, Neil Harding, Lars T. Lih,Christopher Read, S.A. Smith, Marcel Leibman, Tamas Krausz, Lara Douds. See especially Marik and Nimtz for Marxism/Leninism and democracy. The truth is something you have to work for.
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- MaxPSI
- 11-11-19
Good stuff
Really enjoyed this, and learned a lot. This is a fairly straight history, which starts with Marx and ends with the death of Lenin. Another reviewer took issue with "balance" or some such nonsense. This is not a hagiography, and it's not explicitly pro or anti Socialism / Communism. But you know what? Marx and Lenin and many of their comrades were not nice people, and their fantasies led directly to misery, starvation, death and enslavement for uncounted millions. If you're a modern leftist seeking validation this is not for you. But perhaps you should listen anyway.
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- Abel
- 04-24-21
One of the most dishonest Great Courses lectures I’ve hear/seen
If you want to just confirm your own “communists are bad” bias, this lecture is for you.
On class 1, the lecturer states that without that train ride that took Lenin to Russia, the world wouldn’t have known Hittler, Mussolini, Second World War, Chinese Revolution, Korean War and more. This is not even balanced with the Racist, Imperialist, Colonialist horrors perpetrated by the West. It’s justifying cause for the reaction. Communism proposed an answer to the wrongs that happened before and kept going after.
Can we blame Lenin and Marx for all the crimes that happened before they were born too? Maybe slavery wouldn’t have happened if Lenin didn’t take that train ride too.
So from class 1 onwards the lectures go back and forth from historical facts to academic dishonesty. I did finish it regardless but if you’d like to have a balanced overview of the process this isn’t it.
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- Mark
- 11-10-19
Scholarly, Detailed and Objective
In the second lecture of this series, Professor Liulevicius quotes a Prussian spy who described Marx’ eyes as “demonic.” Is this evidence of bias? Perhaps not, for in the same breath Liulevicius acknowledges Marx’ “genius,” “energy” and irresistible “intellectual superiority,” again quoting the Prussian agent.
For listeners not steeped in the scholarship of early Communism, this is a very well-crafted primer/refresher. Professor Liulevicius is a great storyteller and his skillful use of primary sources often allows the historical figures involved to speak for themselves.
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- Cheesebodia
- 01-18-20
The Rise of a Costly Idea
AT A GLANCE:
A valuable summary of a changing idea.
CONTENT:
This is a brief history on the beginnings of Communism as an ideology and its early implementation, beginning with pre-Marxist social theories and ending with the founding of the USSR. The course is structured chronologically and easy to follow; however, there is a good deal of repetition and overlap between lectures that should have been revised before release. I went into this knowing only the broadstrokes and feel that the content is highly useful for undergraduate-level purposes.
It must be said that the structure takes a nosedive in the last few lectures. After Lenin we are given a full-length lecture on Rosa Luxemburg; it seems like a time-filler and is loaded with a level of detail elsewhere given only to Marx. I accept that this series couldn't delve too deeply into the USSR as it will probably be its own follow-up course, but this does not excuse the lackluster ending. We finally receive a treatment of Radek, Serge, Zinoview, Bogdanov, Ho Chi Minh and Stalin only in the last two lectures! This feels extremely rushed, and the course should have been either longer or actually stopped at Lenin.
NARRATOR:
Prof. Liulevicius is a well-spoken and clear lecturer, if not particularly striking in his style. I would purchase another of his courses.
OVERALL:
Highly recommended for those unfamiliar with the basics of Communism and its historical beginnings. The accompanying PDF is highly useful and differs enough from the lectures to recommend reading it concurrently or on its own.
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- Darrel Bishop
- 12-17-19
An Objective History from Marx to Lenin
Disregard the bad review from 11/09/19.
I liked this overview of the roots and growth of Communism from Marx to Lenin. I read the review of another Audible listener (below) which gave a critical review of the lecture and called it "bad scholarship." It's clear the review author sees anything less than gushing praise for communism as right wing propaganda. As a historian, I found the scholarship to be on Paar with academic practices today. I found the lecture informative and objective and followed a logical course through the end of the 19th century and into the 20th. I would purchase another lecture from this professor.
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- Cody
- 05-13-21
Author has a very obvious bias
The author tells history with a very heavy narrative influence. He often mocks those they disagree with in a way that would never be done in another Great Courses series. At points this is done to a degree that falsifies the history.
An example early on is the intentional mocking of Marx and Engels when they critiqued other socialist movements of the time as if Marx and Engels were the Intellectual Property owners of the concept of socialism.
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- Trent Dale
- 06-15-21
Disappointed
Extremely biased and skewed to show leftists views only in a negative light. The story is told without any disguise to the disgust the storyteller has towards communism. I expected more open thought from such academia.
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- Larry
- 10-07-20
Early Communism is the model for Democrat Radicals
I found that this clear and unbiased outline of the rise of a Communism was eye opening in joining together the aspects of Democrat radicalism that we hear about daily today. Violence, threats, mobs action, and a vanguard of shallow thinking followers determined to “pull it all down” are near exact replicas of their earlier Communist counterparts. It is a sobering reminder than the events of today are not spontaneous happenstance, but rather the fulfillment of warped minds with a purpose. Your subversion.
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- R. MacDonald
- 06-25-21
communist history from your racist uncle
Mostly just biased but occasionally we're treated with things that are completely incorrect. the instructor first to stick to classic anti-communist tropes and describing a social movement as far more complex and ambiguous. these tropes in particular are of the extreme authoritarian nature of communism not only in its ideology but in the dispositions of its leaders. the religiosity of this supposedly secular movement is exceptional despite capitalism now crafting brands which promote consumption as religious experience and brand identification as spiritual fulfillment. I might revisit this later if I feel like taking notes and breaking down why this is so bad. if I don't mostly this review is for a young generation of socialists who are trying to understand Marxist leninism in a highly alienated capitalist society. To you I say this is a poor introduction to the topics you wish to understand it is in fact capitalist propaganda through and through. a quick way you can tell these things are this way aside from the tropes is no which leaders the author or instructor prefers and respects. capitalists love MLK and to some extent Malcolm x and now Fred Hampton and in Europe they love Rosa Luxembourg. the reason why they love the socialist is because more than any of their very worthy contributions to socialism they failed and were killed by capitalism making them perfect socialists.
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9 people found this helpful