| Lenin’s criticism of Russian populism is an important part of Leninism,and it is also an important topic in the current academic research on populism.The populist trend of thought originated in Russia in the 1830s and 1940s,and its birth has a profound economic,political,religious and cultural background.The Russian populist movement is divided into three stages.The first stage is represented by the revolutionary populist faction,which was mainly active from the early 1860s to the end of the 1870s;the second stage is represented by the liberal populist faction,mainly active in from the early 1880s to the late 1890s;the third stage was the period of new populism represented by the Socialist Revolutionary Party,which was mainly active in the first two decades of the twentieth century.The content of Russian populism is complex,involving philosophy,economy,politics,culture,etc.,and it had a relatively large influence in Russian society at that time.Although this influence has a positive side,it has a more negative side.In order to overcome the negative effects of populism and avoid a series of harms that populism would bring to the Russian proletarian revolution,Lenin criticized it.Throughout all of Lenin’s discourses on Russian populism,it could be seen that Lenin’s criticism of Russian populism mainly focused on four aspects.The first is a critique of Russian populist philosophy.Lenin’s critique of the populist philosophical view is the ideological basis for criticizing Russian populism.In the early 1890s,in the face of various attacks on Marxist philosophy by Russian populists represented by Mikhailovsky,Lenin criticized it.In his criticism,Lenin refuted the methodology of the Russian populists based on "theory of human nature" and "the unique development of Russia";with the Marxist historical materialism,he denounced the populist idealist heroic historical view;The misinterpretation and misreading of"Das Kapital”by Russian populists such as Kharovsky explained the philosophical significance of "Das Kapital”and defended and developed Marxist philosophy.The second is a critique of Russia’s populist economic outlook.After concentrating on criticizing the populist philosophical view,Lenin focused on criticizing the economic theory of the liberal populist.At that time,the economic theory advocated by the liberal populists represented by Yushakov,Vorontsov,Krivenko,and Danielson was quite popular in Russian society.These theories are somewhat confusing and hinder the spread of Marxist political economy in Russia.In order to break this obstacle,Lenin used the basic principles of Marxist political economy to write a series of economic works on the basis of collecting and studying a large number of materials related to Russian villages,industry,and markets.In these works,Lenin strongly criticized the village community theory,industrial theory,and market theory of the liberal populists,shaking the theoretical foundation of the liberal populists.Again,a critique of the Russian populist political outlook.Lenin believed that Russian populism was a political trend of peasant democracy.Under the influence of this trend of thought,peasants actively participated in the revolution against the tsar,which was a positive aspect of Russian populism.However,in this political trend of thought,there are also parts that need to be criticized.The Narodniks emphasized that the peasants were the main force of the Russian revolution,and believed that"the future masters of Russia are the peasants".Lenin criticized this erroneous view,pointing out that the Russian peasantry was the representative of the petty bourgeoisie,a group that could become an ally of the proletariat,but would not become the masters of Russia,because "the future masters of Russia are the workers".After criticizing the Narodniks,Lenin further discussed the populists’vision of the future society,pointing out that the socialism that the Narodniks aspire to is nothing but the petty bourgeoisie that Marx and Engels criticized in the Communist Manifesto as early as Socialism,this kind of petty-bourgeois socialism is both backward and reactionary and will have a negative impact on Russian workers and peasants.Thus,Lenin went on to criticize the Narodnik theory of petty-bourgeois socialism.Finally,there is a critique of the Russian populist cultural outlook.Compared to economics and politics,culture is a part of a nation’s inner,deep texture.Many Russian populists are quite accomplished in the field of culture.They have left their thoughts on culture in their literary and artistic works,forming a unique cultural view of the Russian populists.But these cultural views contain a lot of wrong elements.Lenin also noticed this when he criticized Russian populism.Therefore,Lenin criticized the cultural moralism and youth education concept of the Russian populists;at the same time,Leo Tolstoy,who lived in the same era as Lenin,is considered by many to be the representative of Russian cultural populism in the nineteenth century,after reading Tolstoy’s literary works,Lenin wrote many articles,explaining and criticizing the populist thoughts revealed in Tolstoy’s works.In the process of criticizing the Russian populist cultural outlook,Lenin defended the guiding position of proletarian culture in Russia.Lenin’s criticism of Russian populism is of great significance.One is to point out that socialism is the direction of Russia;Second,it defended the theoretical position of Marxism in Russia;Third,it opened up a new path for the Russian revolution. |
