Semi-Daily Journal

That reminded me of something I read while studying the Bolshevik coup ten years ago:

"The October coup was carried out by a band of fanatical intellectuals who were determined fundamentally to transform man and society throughout the world ... They cannot properly be called utopians, because ... they relied mainly on force ... I, for one, fail to perceive [in the history of the Soviet Union] any indication of a higher purpose. I see only countless ordinary individuals ... desiring more than to lead ordinary lives, being dragged against their will to serve as building material for fantastic structures designed by men who know no peace."

If Lenin hadn't supressed his love of high culture so much, maybe the world would be a very different place. And if Saddam had taken to reading Shakespeare instead of books on Stalin, Iraq might have been spared the last three decades of tyranny.

Then again, maybe not. Hitler liked Wagner, after all.

An old Bolshevik is remembering:
Here I am 12 years old begging near Kremlin. It was -30C, I had no winter clothes and no food for 2 days. Comrade Lenin is passing by. - Comrade Lenin - I begged - a piece of bread, please. - Comrade Lenin took his knife out and said - Bread? Bread? How about I just stick this in your eye? - But than he just turned around and left - Comrade Lenin loved children. We thank him for our happy childhood.

An old Bolshevik is remembering:
Here I am 12 years old begging near Kremlin. It was -30C, I had no winter clothes and no food for 2 days. Comrade Lenin is passing by. - Comrade Lenin - I begged - a piece of bread, please. - Comrade Lenin took his knife out and said - Bread? Bread? How about I just stick this in your eye? - But than he just turned around and left - Comrade Lenin loved children. We thank him for our happy childhood.

It sounds like something any revolutionary, regardless of political cause, could have said. Wars and revolutions do not mix well with a taste for the fine arts.

"... a band of fanatical intellectuals who were determined fundamentally to transform man and society throughout the world..."

BTW, what is Manifest Destiny is all about?

I recently read a short history of the Russian Revolution. It said that when the party was considering Kerensky's proposition that there be elections, Lenin argued relentlessly against that and urged violence. The author says that Lenin's brilliant logic eventually wore out resistance. Lenin argued from his previous theoretical writings and his ideological strength won the day.

The emphasis on using ideology to decide on political matters has modern day counterpart. Political matters are more like music than we think. Music and literature and the arts generally give us perspective, and ways of integrating the more human parts of our persona into our actions.

"Wars and revolutions do not mix well with a taste for the fine arts."

Not so sure it's as simple as that. Mao liked the opera in Beijing, Hitler and some other Nazis loved Wagner (for the bloody and incestuous Teutonic nonsense in so many of his operas) and Lenin clearly had a taste for music, though he preferred to suppress it. I seem to recall that many of the Russian revolutionaries whom Stalin purged, such as Bukharin and Rykov, had tastes for opera, ballet and literature, but I am too lazy to check this. And didn't the American Founding Fathers have some tastes in these matters?

Incidentally, there is a hilarious passage in a book called The New Emperors about how Stalin's attempt to organise a ballet for Mao when Mao went to Moscow went completely wrong. The theme of the ballet was the massacre of some Chinese Communists by Nationalists, and Soviet sailors were presented as saving the day. This was tactless, but the title of the piece was "Red Poppy", Chinese slang for opium, which of course had wrecked Chinese society in the previous century. The Chinese at the time apparently found that less funny than I did reading about it.

"What is Manifest Destiny all about?"

Manifest Destiny was a religious, high-falutin way of saying "whoever hogs it first, gets it."

That is the principle that explains how much water goes to Mexico in rivers that come from U.S.

That is truly beautiful. Too late for Holiday cards this year, but next year, who knows?

Masaccio:

"... Music and literature and the arts generally give us perspective, and ways of integrating the more human parts of our persona into our actions."

Right! Observe National Security Advisor! Wonder how Dubya rates on that count, though? Or Mr. Rumsfeld?

Besides joking, though, the Soviet block countries / regimes I think placed emphasis on arts and sports as a matter of politics and idelogy, to prove that communist society could compete with bourguois society in those fields of human endeavor.

Other than that, since political leaders typically come from bourguois backgrounds, it should be no surprise that they have a taste for arts and literature.

Hitler of course was one of the exceptions. Hitler, as I recall, did not exactly come from any elite bourguois family and I suspect his appreciation of Wagner went no deeper than artistic depth of his paintings, which, as far as can tell, was something like epsilon if not zero. But then Hitler was a whole different category by himself, I would say it was a freak accident of fate that he became any leader lat all.
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NorthernLights: Thank you for that very illuminating definition of Manifest Destiny.:)

I saw Ninotchka the other night, hilarious b&w movie. Probably one of my all time faves now.

As for the guy who claims Lenin threatened his eye...

#1 Lenin's last days alive ("War Communism") was the only heyday of the entire Soviet period.

#2 You'd have to be 91 years old. He died in 1924.

If you were quoting someone else, cite it, otherwise, note that you are just making stuff up.

Lenin loved the Apassionata, Hitler loved Wagner' music...Nothing surprising in all that. As Settembrini pointed out in Thomas Mann's "Magic Mountain", Music is politically suspect. He could have added, that so is Painting, Sculpture, Poetry etc. They appeal to the emotions and great art does this appeal very well. That does not mean it appeals necessarily to worthy emotions of to great truths. It is a romantic fallacy that Great Art is automatically Noble and True.

That same passage, by the way, was used by Tom Stoppard in his play "Travesties," in which the protagonist recounts and recreates his (mostly imaginary) encounters with James Joyce, Tristan Tzara and Lenin. One major theme, of course, is "What is Art?"

Josh Narins, I have the impression that the author you address to was making it up or was misinformed. I never heard of such a story about Lenin -- not that I'm any expert on Lenin.

Josh Narins, Bulent Sayin: that was supposed to be a joke.

Here is another one:
(Head of Checka) Dzerdginskiy comes to Lenin's office and asks - Comrade Lenin when should we shoot the White Guards - before dinner or after - Before - Lenin answers - of course before - and bring dinner to me.

Thank you, I just wanted to give a greeting and tell you I like your website very much.