The Influences of Chernyshevsky, Tkachev, and Nechaev on the political thought of V.I. Lenin.

Abstract

<p>The collapse of the Soviet Union has challenged Marxist political theory. Many people saw the collapse of the Soviet Union as a defeat of Marxism. Most scholars of Political Theory realize that Lenin did not follow Marxist writings. However, most still consider Lenin as predominately a Marxist. This thesis will examine the source of Lenin's ideas on Class, the Party, and the Revolution, and will trace these differences with Marx to chernyshevsky, Tkachev, and Nechaev. It will irrustrate the extent of the influence of Lenin's Russian, non-Marxist, predecessors. Lenin did indeed study and adopt aspects of Marxism, but he differed with him in some important areas, particularly Class, the Party, and the Revolution. Marx, writing in western Europe, sought human emancipation, while Lenin, in backward, autocratic Russia, sought political emancipation from the Tsarist autocracy. This resulted in differences between the thought and writings of Lenin and Marx.</p>