James Ryan - Lenins Terror: The Ideological Origins of Early Soviet State Violence

This book explores the development of Lenins thinking on violence throughout his career, from the last years of the Tsarist regime in Russia through to the 1920s and the New Economic Policy, and provides an important assessment of the significance of ideological factors for understanding Soviet state violence as directed by the Bolshevik leadership during its first years in power. It highlights the impact of the First World War, in particular its place in Bolshevik discourse as a source of legitimating Soviet state violence after 1917, and explains the evolution of Bolshevik dictatorship over the half decade during which Lenin led the revolutionary state. It examines the militant nature of the Leninist worldview, Lenins conception of the revolutionary state, the evolution of his understanding of dictatorship of the proletariat and his version of just war. The book argues that ideology can be considered primarily important for our understanding of the violent and dictatorial nature of the early Soviet state, at least when focused on the party elite, but it is also clear that ideology cannot be understood in a contextual vacuum. The oppressive nature of Tsarist rule, the bloodiness of the First World War and the vulnerability of the early Soviet state as it struggled to survive against foreign and domestic opponents were of crucial significance. The book sets Lenins thinking on violence within the wider context of a violent world.

James Ryan is a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral CARA Mobility Research Fellow in the Humanities and Social Sciences, based at the Department of History, University of Warwick, UK and School of History, University College Cork, Ireland.

Liberal Nationalism in Central Europe
Stefan Auer

CivilMilitary Relations in Russia and Eastern Europe
David J. Betz

The Extreme Nationalist Threat in Russia
The growing influence of Western Rightist ideas
Thomas Parland

Economic Development in Tatarstan
Global markets and a Russian region
Leo McCann

Adapting to Russias New Labour Market
Gender and employment strategy
Edited by Sarah Ashwin

Building Democracy and Civil Society East of the Elbe
Essays in honour of Edmund Mokrzycki
Edited by Sven Eliaeson

The Telengits of Southern Siberia
Landscape, religion and knowledge in motion
Agnieszka Halemba

The Development of Capitalism in Russia
Simon Clarke

Russian Television Today
Primetime drama and comedy
David MacFadyen

The Rebuilding of Greater Russia
Putins foreign policy towards the CIS countries
Bertil Nygren

A Russian Factory Enters the Market Economy
Claudio Morrison

Democracy Building and Civil Society in Post-Soviet Armenia
Armine Ishkanian

NATORussia Relations in the Twenty-First Century
Aurel Braun

Russian Military Reform
A failed exercise in defence decision making
Carolina Vendil Pallin

The Multilateral Dimension in Russian Foreign Policy
Edited by Elana Wilson Rowe and Stina Torjesen

Russian Nationalism and the National Reassertion of Russia
Edited by Marlne Laruelle

The Caucasus
An introduction
Frederik Coene

Radical Islam in the Former Soviet Union
Edited by Galina M. Yemelianova

Russias European Agenda and the Baltic States
Janina leivyt

Regional Development in Central and Eastern Europe
Development processes and policy challenges
Edited by Grzegorz Gorzelak, John Bachtler and Maciej Sm tkowski

Russia and Europe
Reaching agreements, digging trenches
Kjell Engelbrekt and Bertil Nygren

Russias Skinheads
Exploring and rethinking subcultural lives
Hilary Pilkington, Elena Omelchenko and Albina Garifzianova

The Colour Revolutions in the Former Soviet Republics
Successes and failures
Edited by Donnacha Beachin and Abel Polese

Russian Mass Media and Changing Values
Edited by Arja Rosenholm, Kaarle Nordenstreng and Elena Trubina

The Heritage of Soviet Oriental Studies
Edited by Michael Kemper and Stephan Conermann

Religion and Language in Post-Soviet Russia
Brian P. Bennett

Jewish Women Writers in the Soviet Union
Rina Lapidus

Chinese Migrants in Russia, Central Asia and Eastern Europe
Edited by Felix B. Chang and Sunnie T. Rucker-Chang

Polands EU Accession
Sergiusz Trzeciak

The Russian Armed Forces in Transition
Economic, geopolitical and institutional uncertainties
Edited by Roger N. McDermott, Bertil Nygren and Carolina Vendil Pallin

The Religious Factor in Russias Foreign Policy
Alicja Curanovi

Postcommunist Film Russia, Eastern Europe and World Culture
Moving images of postcommunism Edited by Lars Lyngsgaard Fjord Kristensen

Russian Multinationals
From regional supremacy to global lead
Andrei Panibratov

Russian Anthropology After the Collapse of Communism
Edited by Albert Baiburin, Catriona Kelly and Nikolai Vakhtin

The Post-Soviet Russian Orthodox Church
Politics, culture and Greater Russia
Katja Richters

Lenins Terror
The ideological origins of early Soviet state violence
James Ryan

Life in Post-Communist Eastern Europe after EU Membership
Edited by Donnacha O Beachain, Vera Sheridan and Sabina Stan

EURussian Border Security
Challenges, (mis)perceptions and responses
Serghei Golunov

The ideological origins of early Soviet state violence

James Ryan

First published 2012
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2012 James Ryan

The right of James Ryan to be identifi ed as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Ryan, James, 1985
Lenins terror : the ideological origins of early Soviet state violence /
James Ryan.

pages ; cm. (Routledge contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe series ; 36)
ISBN 978-0-415-67396-9 (hardback) ISBN 978-0-203-11576-3 (ebook)
1. Lenin, Vladimir Ilich, 1870-1924. 2. ViolencePolitical aspectsSoviet
Union. 3. Statesponsored terrorismSoviet Union. 4. Soviet Union
HistoryRevolution, 19171921. I. Title. II. Series: Routledge
contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe series ; 36.
DK254.L46R89 2012