A Study On Lenin’s Criticism Of Populism And Its Contemporary Value

In ordinary sense, Populism puts emphasis on values and ideals of common people, taking popularization as the root and theoretical basis of all political legitimacy and asking for social reform under the public participation. Populism became known to people in Russia after middle 19C. Reform of Russian serfdom in 1861 gave rise to a lot of petty bourgeoisie, and Populismas the interest representative of petty bourgeoisie appeared on the historical stage. However, due to its restrictions as well as resistance and criticism from orthodox Marxists and scientific socialism theorists, Populism finally faded and was abandoned by Russian people. Marxism thus became increasingly thriving in Russia, and finally led Russian people to move forward the unprecedented era of socialism. When reflecting on China, we can find the social contradictions are prominent, Populism are looming, and a group of people lacing of rational and independent thinking ability are trying to impact the existing social mainstream consciousness and the social structure. We should be well alert and cautious about it. Studying Lenin’s criticism on Populism has theoretical significance because it teases out and discusses an important point in the development of Marxism, and it also has practical significance because it tries to link the criticism of Lenin’s time with China’s guard against Populism.This thesis expounds from 4 aspects. In the first part, the author introduces the research background and significance of the theme, as well as research status home and abroad. The author also defines Populism and its characteristics, and points out the original points as well as weakness of the thesis. The second part deals with the general development situation of Populism in Russia, including its the emergence, development declination. The third part, the main part of the thesis, discusses Lenin’s criticism on Populism. Lenin criticizes from the perspectives of populist economic view, populist view of society, and populist viewpoint of revolution. The fourth part mainly analyzes the contemporary value on Lenin’s criticism of Populism.We should be well study on Lenin’s ideal to "Applying Marxism to analyze and solve problems", and it also must cautious about the "impotence of elites" assumption, "Public opinion is the highest" fantasy and the crisis thereby appears. At last, the thesis stresses that Populism is a periodic product in the transformation of Chinese society, and a conditioned reflex upon a certain kind of social problem. While calling for a return to the rational society by applying Marxism to guard against and criticize Populism, We should also actively resolve a variety of practical problems reflected from Populism and eliminate the possible social conditions that may generate Populism.