"Noam Chomsky treated his version of the left-right continuum in a similar light, claiming that even Lenin and his Bolshevik allies were actually right-wing extremists because they did not adhere to classical Marxism. Exposing this insight in a 1989 speech, Chomsky said, ‘Lenin was a right-wing deviation of the socialist movement and he was so regarded…by the mainstream Marxists… Bolshevism was a right-wing deviation.’ In that same speech, Chomsky claimed that Lenin was not socialist at all, and had forged an oppressive and anti-worker totalitarian state that could lead many to visualize Lenin as a right-wing fascist."
React to this quote
More by L. K. Samuels
See allResonant Thoughts
"The theory of totalitarianism certainly provided a way out in offering a distinction between ‘democratic’ anticommunism and ‘totalitarian’ anticommunism, but it did not prevail for long, and following…"
Explore Further
Related Quotes
"Post-structuralists appropriated terms such as "" and "difference" that originated in 1970s-era Black femin…"
— Sharon Smith (writer)"I am using the word "perceive". I am using it here in such a way that to say of an object that it is percei…"
— Alfred Jules Ayer"Provision of condoms also sends the message that sex between prisoners is OK - yet abstinence is part and p…"
— Stewart Leggett"Well, that's more-or-less what I was saying, though obviously addition is a little more cosmic than the bit…"
— Larry Wall"Poets, essayists, chroniclers, wags, and wise men write often about death but have rarely seem it. Physicia…"
— Sherwin B. Nuland"PLAYBOY: A Columbia coed was recently quoted in Newsweek as equating you and LSD. “LSD doesn’t mean anythin…"
— Marshall McLuhan
Related Thinkers
Related Topics
Deep Dives
- David Cay Johnston on wisdom
- Bernard Lietaer on wisdom
- George Katona on wisdom
- David Cay Johnston on politics
- David Cay Johnston on time
- David Cay Johnston on justice
- David Cay Johnston on life
- David Cay Johnston on knowledge
- David Cay Johnston on art
- David Cay Johnston on philosophy
- knowledge & Beauty
- knowledge & Change