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    Lenin's Letter to the American Workingmen
    Lenin's Letter to the American Workingmen
    Lenin's Letter to the American Workingmen
    Ebook37 pages24 minutes

    Lenin's Letter to the American Workingmen

    By Rupert Matthews

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    About this ebook

    The full, original text of this rarely reprinted book, together with explanatory notes, introduction and conclusion by historian Rupert Matthews.

    In the summer of 1918 the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia was 10 months old and was sweeping all before it. The Russian Communists were in the process of establishing their “dictatorship of the proletariat”. Not only that but they optimistically hoped that the working classes in other countries would start their own revolutions to usher in a new global age of Communism.

    But in the USA, the Communist Party was in trouble. Many American working men were aghast at the way things were going in Russia. The USA had only recently declared war on Germany, but Russia had agreed a peace deal with Germany. American was still scarred by its memories of civil war, but Russia was now embarking on one of its own.

    The American Communists appealed to Lenin to write a pamphlet that they could publish to give the Communist side of the events in Russia. This “letter” - in reality published as a booklet - is Lenin’s response. In it he explains why the Russian Revolution was turning out to be so violent, why Russia had made peace with Germany and urges the American workingmen to join the revolution. He seeks to draw analogies between Russi and the USA.

    In his commentary, historian Rupert Matthews explains how in this letter Lenin provides a telling insight into his state of mind and thought processes at this critical time in his life, and in the progress of the Russian Revolution. He shows where Lenin fatally misread the situation in America and goes on to explain the consequences of this letter for the Communist movement in the USA and the West.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBretwalda Books
    Release dateJun 24, 2012
    ISBN9781909099142
    Lenin's Letter to the American Workingmen
    Author

    Rupert Matthews

    Rupert Matthews has written over 150 books for different publishers, achieving significant sales in a variety of markets both in the UK and abroad. His works have been translated into 19 languages and have been shortlisted for a number of awards. Rupert has been a freelance writer for 20 years, working in-house at a major book publisher before going freelance.

    Read more from Rupert Matthews

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      Book preview

      Lenin's Letter to the American Workingmen - Rupert Matthews

      A LETTER TO AMERICAN WORKINGMEN

      From the Socialist Soviet Republic of Russia_

      By N. LENIN

      with an introduction by Rupert Matthews

      ***********

      This Edition First Published 2012

      Copyright © Bretwalda Books 2012

      Published by Bretwalda Books

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      Copyright © 2012 Bretwalda Books

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      ISBN 978-1-909099-14-2

      ***********

      Contents

      Introduction by Rupert Matthews

      A Letter to American Workingmen

      Conclusion by Rupert Matthews.

      ***********

      Introduction

      by Rupert Matthews

      The letter that forms the bulk of the text of this ebook was written by Lenin in response to urgent appeals from Socialists and Communists in the USA. In August 1918 the new Soviet state in Russia had been getting some bad press in America, and elsewhere. It was to counter these attacks that Lenin wrote this letter.

      The letter was originally published in New York on the pages of the bi-monthly magazine The Class Struggle, and then subsequently as a pamphlet in its own right. The publishers of both were the Socialist Publication Society, run by Ludwig Lore a German Communist who had fled to the USA to escape the German police in 1906. Lore was aided by Russian Louis Boudin and Italian Louis Fraina, both of whom were likewise on the run from their national authorities.

      Lenin claims in the letter that he was invited to write the article by a Russian Communist who had

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