Lenin's testament: Stalin too rude

As told 4

“Lenin's basic reproach to Stalin is not a wrong politics or whatever, it's simply this guy does not have good manners.”
~0:00 Like a Thief in the Night: The Actuality of Communism2017-10-25 · 1:35:32

“the only guy he is really against is Stalin. But what's his reproach to Stalin? Just that he doesn't have manners, he is shamelessly brutal.”
18:07 Slavoj Žižek at 75 – A CelebrationLive In Conversation with Yanis Varoufakis2024 · 59:13

“He doesn't depose Stalin with wrong political line, it's all decency. Comrade Stalin is too rude, he doesn't have good manners enough.”
55:15 What is Happening with Sex in our World?2018-06-02 · 1:00:42

What it carries

one story, many jobs: the ideas this anecdote is deployed to argue, one tally mark per use (an idea page shows the same relation from the other end, as its shelf of stories)

contents · one story, 3 jobsuses

Leninist ×2 Leninist philosopher of manners ×1 unwritten rules ×1

Its cast and sources

populated by

Joan Williams1 Clara Schumann1 Gillian Flynn1 Tana French1 Albin Kurti1 Thomas Hertog1 Robert F. Kennedy Jr.1 Jill Stein1

alongside works

Kotlovan (The Foundation Pit)1 Justine1 The Origin of Time1 Materialism without Materialism / Idealism without Idealism1 Marxism and Form1 Jena Realphilosophie1 Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism1 Seminar XVII: The Other Side of Psychoanalysis1

Told together with

25% Lenin reading Hegel's Logic in Switzerland after political despair 2 shared talks

Every retelling 5

~0:00 Like a Thief in the Night: The Actuality of Communism2017-10-25 · 1:35:32

Lenin's famous letter proposing to fire Stalin from General Secretary focused not on his political errors but on his coarse manners, Žižek takes this seriously as a political category relevant to today's Trump and Kaczyński., illustrating Lenin's ethics of manners,vulgarity in public speech,Stalinist politics

~7:49 Slavoj Žižek on Marx, Hegel, Politics, Films, Burgers and Hot Dogs… and a lot more!2021 · 1:47:20

Lenin's criticism of Stalin in his testament was not about political line, too right-wing or too radical, but that Stalin lacked good manners and was too brutal., illustrating Leninist philosopher of manners,unwritten rules

18:07 Slavoj Žižek at 75 – A CelebrationLive In Conversation with Yanis Varoufakis2024 · 59:13

In Lenin's Testament, finding political faults with all other contenders, Lenin's sole truly personal reproach against Stalin was that he was shamelessly brutal and lacked manners, a moral-aesthetic judgment that proved prophetic., illustrating shame,communism-socialism

55:15 What is Happening with Sex in our World?2018-06-02 · 1:00:42

Lenin's famous last testament proposes deposing Stalin not for wrong political line but for rudeness and bad manners, an extraordinary turn Žižek cites as proof that decency, not vulgarity, was Lenin's final concern., illustrating decency vs. vulgarity,left politics,Leninism

24:42 Perfil Interview2018-09-09 · 2:59:07

Lenin's famous testament argues for deposing Stalin, but the grounds are not political line, Stalin is simply 'too rude'. Žižek finds this admirable: Lenin, near the end, saw that political brutality itself is extremely dangerous and became obsessed with civility., illustrating Leninism,political civility,Trump era