[.uk] Lenin's Private War: The Voyage of the Philosophy ... (ISBN 0312367309)

Russia In Exile:
A book that helps one better understand the havoc created among the Russian intelligentsia by the Bolsheviks after the overthrow of the czar. Ms. Chamberlain traces the expulsion by Lenin of some of the best thinkers in Russia and uses their often sorry fates (many go to Berlin or Prague, in short time to become victims of Hitler) to help explain the various strands of philosophical thinking that were such a threat to the world view of the new autocrat, the Communist Party. It is clear to the author that Stalin was a product of Lenin's thinking, not an aberration. Readers, who make the effort, will learn much that will help them understand the deep divisions within present day Russia. Conflicting views on the essence (spiritual and political) of Russia, that were present in the early 1920s and long before, have reemerged since the thankful crash in the 1980s of Lenin's deadly party.

A Good Start:
I was thrilled to see that someone had written about this little-known incident from the days when Lenin labored to consolidate his power in what would become the Soviet Union. In the end, what I got was a good, scholarly presentation that left me wanting more. The author does a good job, in the early going, of introducing us to some of the major players, but that's all we're left with -- introductions. I came away feeling I didn't know any of these people as well as I would have liked. Perhaps the source material isn't yet available to make that possible; possibily the fact that the book touches on so many individuals precluded it, but I felt disappointed in the end. I also felt the final chapter, where the author attempts to explain where the philosophies of these exiled parted ways from Lenin was a waste of time. I'm hopeful another author will take up the subject, but this is definite a good start.

Somewhat casual:
We should certainly be grateful to Ms. Chamberlain for making the story of the exile of some leading Russian philosophers on personal orders from Lenin in 1922 available to the English-speaking readership. (As Chamberlain makes clear, speaking of "philosophers" is a bit of stretch, since in addition to some actual philosophers -- people like Nicholas Berdyaev or Semyon Frank -- the group included mathematicians, historians, agronomists and representatives of a few other professions.) However, anyone who expected a more in-depth analysis of the ideas of the exiled non-Marxist thinkers will be dissapointed. The first third or so of the book, treating the bureauractic preparations for, and the execution of, the exile by the early Bolshevik secret-police apparatus, is the best. The middle chapters about the fates of the exiles in Berlin, Prague and Paris are not particularly innovative, and the author loses the main storyline by covering additional characters that were not part of the 1922 group exiled by Lenin, nor did they have any political or generational connections with it (e.g., Nabokov, Jakobson, Tsvetaeva). I thought the final chapter of the book, in which Chamberlain speculates about the legacy of the sort of the quasi-religious Russian "philosophy" for the contemporary world, was the weakest, though. Chamberlain tries to portray Berdyaev and his fellows as providing a valuable critical perspective on today's Western consumer societies. In fact, Berdyaev and other Russian idealists with their ramblings about the decadence of the West and the greatness of Russia fit rather well into the world-view promoted by the contemporary Russian government.

A valuable portrait:
Chamberlain recounts the voyage of a luckier part of the Russian intelligentsia - in that they lived. This is the tale of their forcible exile by Lenin and Stalin in 1922, to "cleanse" Russia of "undesireables." A valuable portrait of the intellectual community whose loss would cost Russia dearly for decades. Later cleansings were, of course, less humane. (Reviewed in Russian Life)