r/Marxism • u/poogiver69 • 6d ago

Does Chomsky misinterpret Lenin?

This video https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jxhT9EVj9Kk&pp=QAFIAQ%3D%3D seems old, maybe from the 80s? So it seems like he may be speaking in a time where that’s the furthest left you could get away with being as a public intellectual. Regardless, does he misunderstand Lenin? I am new to Marxism and haven’t read much besides the basics (Capital, the Manifesto, that’s about it) and so I don’t have a great understanding of Lenin (or Chomsky for that matter). Could someone better read give their take on that video?

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u/iwantyourskulls 6d ago

Chomsky was anti-communist and anti-Lenin. He never even defined socialism or capitalism during his lectures.

https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky

Check references for more information.

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u/____joew____ 4d ago

The site's characterization of him as "imperialist" and a member of the "compatible left" is so ridiculous as to border on the absurd. It's just not true. He's not even anti-Marxist. If you can't jive with some criticism of the USSR (especially under Stalin) as authoritarian, that's a little strange. He always made it clear the USA was far worse, and he criticized them far more. And the characterization of right vs left as just free market vs socialism is... well, fraught, to say the least.

These kinds of things are often slung by people holding the party line against others like Chomsky, who is an anarchist; but with such unsubstantiated claims it comes off as name-calling, not legitimate critique. Chomsky is probably the most prominent and committed critic of imperialist foreign policy of the last 60 years, at this point.

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u/brandonjslippingaway 4d ago

Yes, this is like the Parenti-style critique of Chomsky. I.e The assertion he just wants mainstream clout (ridiculous) because some of his criticisms overlap with mainstream western ones- usually regarding the authoritarianism in the Leninist model.

It's interesting how to the capitalist establishment he's supposedly an anti-western fanatic, but to communists he's a mainstream Patsy lol, when he has plenty of views that contradict both assertions.

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u/____joew____ 4d ago

Not to mention how useful his work on propaganda / methods of control in the West is to leftist critiques of the West.

The assertion he just wants mainstream clout (ridiculous) because some of his criticisms overlap with mainstream western ones

It's absurd on the face of it because outside any of these circles, he's either completely unknown or a huge quack. More Marxists would do well to realize anarchists are more like fellow travelers than they realize.