Lenin & the struggle for peace, land & bread 100 years on
By Logan Williams
2024 marks the 100-year anniversary of the death of Lenin. Both a revolutionary leader and one of the foremost political theorists of crisis and social change, this centenary is a good time to reflect on his contribution to the struggle of workers across the globe.
This is especially important as – even a century later – more and more activists within labour, international justice, and social movements begin to acknowledge that we are living through a global economic, social, and political crisis on a scale unprecedented in many of our lifetimes.
Just as today we grapple with multiple intersecting crises, so, too, did Lenin. Then, the slogan ‘peace, land and bread’ drew together the political threads necessary to win a majority to the cause of revolution – tackling head-on the crises of war, cost of living, and property relations facing Russian workers and peasants.
As then, a defining feature of today’s crisis is the relentless drive of the ruling-class towards an era of permanent wars, but now we see it led by the US, supported by weaker imperialist countries (including Britain).
There is no clearer confirmation than the horrifying events in Gaza, which, since October, has seen at least 34,568 Palestinians killed, with 77,765 injured. All of this is enabled by weapons from the US, UK, and elsewhere – fuelling super-profits for arms manufacturers and other parts of the capitalist class.
But the assault has seen an immense response from a global mass movement, and is a lightning rod for anger at the whole system. As recently noted by Labour Outlook, “we have seen demonstration after demonstration nationally for Palestine on an unprecedented scale. There have been 13 national marches since October, with a total attendance of over 4 million.”
The demands for an end to arms sales to Israel and for boycotts of companies such as CAT, JCB, and Barclays who profit from the oppression of Palestine, show that millions understand the roots of Israel’s aggression, and its imperialist nature.
Even when not taking part in direct ‘regime change’ wars – for example, in Iraq, Libya, and elsewhere – the US, UK and other imperialist powers fuel coups, sanctions, and other interventions – as in the dozens of examples furnished by Latin America. The resistance is clear that all these interventions are driven by the wish to make more profit, as exemplified by the 2003 anti-war movement’s slogan, “no blood for oil.”
Demands such as these – alongside those for “welfare not warfare” – resonate deeply in Britain, where historic economic decline continues, with millions suffering from the cost-of-living emergency.
The economic crisis is the result of decades of failed neo-liberalism, and is illustrated by news stories about the disastrous effects of privatisation of key industries, including water and energy, a part of a decades-long drive to ever-increasing profit.
People suffering from “the cost-of-greed crisis” aren’t idiots. They know the solutions – all polling suggests the majority of people understand public services and utilities need to be run for people not profit.
Alongside permanent war and economic crisis, we are confronted with a new crisis once again caused by the insatiable drive for profit – the climate emergency.
When asked in a recent Guardian survey where the blame for the climate crisis fell, a ‘lack of political will was cited by almost three-quarters of the respondents, while 60% also blamed vested corporate interests, such as the fossil fuel industry.’
They were right. The polluters and profiteers are causing the climate catastrophe, while their representatives in the Labour and Tory parties stand by.
To tackle each of these crises, we must actively seek to understand the world we live in and help support progressive movements in their bid to do the same. Already, millions are making the connection between the economic crisis, climate catastrophe, and spread of war, and the capitalist system.
This is especially true for younger people, as illustrated by a 2023 poll from the Fraser Institute that found nearly a third of people aged 18-34 think that “communism is the ideal economic system”. Last year, YouGov surveyed views on well-known figures, including Lenin. Astonishingly, the Russian revolutionary is popular amongst 40% of Millennials (those born between 1981-96) here in Britain!
Within the wider context of multiple crises, it’s no wonder that so many have found a renewed relevance for this central figure in the history of 20th century politics. As issues of war, imperialism, and rampant social crises top the political agenda, we can learn from Lenin’s ideas, developing a guide to action in our present conditions. As Lenin himself said, ‘without revolutionary theory, there can be no revolutionary movement’.
To give just one example, his important work, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, remarkably illuminates economic processes such as monopolisation, which continues today.
In it, he writes, “Monopolies, oligarchy, the striving for domination and not for freedom, the exploitation of an increasing number of small or weak nations by a handful of the richest or most powerful nations — all these have given birth to those distinctive characteristics of imperialism which compel us to define it as parasitic or decaying capitalism.”
What better description of the system that has given Israel carte blanche to prosecute a genocide against the Palestinians as arms sales flourish; that allows food prices to soar as the bosses register record profits; or that rewards fossil fuel companies as the world burns?
So, whilst Lenin lies in a Moscow tomb – his teachings reviled by ‘mainstream’ politics 100 years after his death – it is worth returning to his demands of ‘peace, land and bread,’ and the analysis behind them. That is the motivation behind our new Lenin 100 series of events – we hope you can join us to discuss these ideas and their relevance in the fight for socialism today.
- Logan Williams is one of the volunteers for the ‘Lenin 100’ series of events. Follow on X here
- Register for the ‘Lenin 100’ series here.
- The first event is Lenin Lives! The Struggle for Socialism – 100 Years On – online, Sunday July 7, 3pm. Register here. Paul Le Blanc, author, ‘Lenin. Responding to Catastrophe,’ will – in the words of the organisers – “take us through Lenin’s dynamic revolutionary thought, how he worked as part of a larger collective, how he centred the labour movement & his radical understanding of democracy – & look at how this can help transform our activism today.”
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