Lars T. Lih
Lars T. Lih is a historian and scholar of Russian and socialist history. His books include Lenin, Lenin Rediscovered, and Bread and Authority in Russia, 1914–1921.
Lih was raised in "a small town in Cold War America".[1] He received a B.A. from Yale University in 1968 and a B.Phil. from the University of Oxford in 1971 before working for six years in the office of U.S. Representative Ron Dellums. He later completed a Ph.D. in political science at Princeton University in 1984. He has written for Jacobin,[2] Weekly Worker,[3] and the International Socialist Review,[4] and has published several books. He was also, for a time, a lecturer at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University in Montreal, Canada.[5]
His 2006 book Lenin Rediscovered was about Vladimir Lenin's What Is to Be Done?, and was written in part to counter the mainstream perceptions and interpretations of the book;[1] Lih argues that "What is To be Done? is not so important, but it is very important to see why it is not so important".[6] In 2024, he published What Was Bolshevism?, a book using primary sources from Lenin, Stalin, Bukharin, Trotsky, and Zinoviev to "paint an indispensable self-portrait of Soviet civilization".[7]
Books
- Lih, Lars T. (2024). What Was Bolshevism?. Historical Materialism. Brill.[8] (also published by Haymarket)
- Lih, Lars T. (2011). Lenin. Critical Lives. Reaktion Books.[9] (also distributed by the University of Chicago Press)
- Lih, Lars T. (2006). Lenin Rediscovered: 'What Is to Be Done?' in Context. Brill.[10] (republished in 2008 by Haymarket)
- Lih, Lars T. (1990). Bread and Authority in Russia, 1914–1921. University of California Press.[11]
References
- ^ a b "An interview with Lars T. Lih on Kautsky, Lenin, and Trotsky". The Platypus Affiliated Society (160). Retrieved 2026-05-13.
- ^ "Lars T. Lih". Jacobin. Retrieved 2026-05-12.
- ^ "Lars T Lih". Weekly Worker. Retrieved 2026-05-12.
- ^ "Lars Lih". International Socialist Review. Retrieved 2026-05-12.
- ^ "Lars T. Lih". Music. McGill University. Archived from the original on 2021-02-25.
- ^ Gann, Tom (March 6, 2018). "The Bolsheviks Dared: Interview with Lars T. Lih on Lenin as Theorist and Strategist of Hegemony". New Socialist. Retrieved 2026-05-13.
- ^ Lih, Lars T. (2023). "What Was Bolshevism?". Historical Materialism. Retrieved 2026-05-13.
- ^ Reviews include:
- Greene, Doug Enaa (2024). "Lars Lih's 'What Was Bolshevism': The Trap of Continuity". Left Voice. Retrieved 2026-05-13.
- Marot, John (2024). "Bolshevism Mystified". Tempest Collective. Retrieved 2026-05-12.
- ^ Reviews include:
- Pereira, N.G.O. (2012). "Review of 'Lenin'". Canadian Slavonic Papers. 54 (1/2): 264–265.
- Pogorelskin, Alexis (2012). "Review of 'Lenin'". Russian Review. 71 (2): 334–335.
- Ryan, James (2012). "Review of 'Lenin'". The Slavonic and East European Review. 90 (2): 363–365. doi:10.1353/see.2012.0127.
- ^ Reviews include:
- Chattopadhyay, Kunal (2009). "Lenin and Democracy: Recovering Truth from Mythology". Economic and Political Weekly. 44 (8): 24–28.
- D'Amato, Paul (2009). "What Lenin really said". International Socialist Review (63). Retrieved 2026-05-13.
- Krylova, Anna (2008). "Review of 'Lenin Rediscovered: 'What Is to Be Done?' in Context'". Slavic Review. 67 (3): 770–772. doi:10.2307/27652985.
- Shandro, Alan (2009). "Review of 'Lenin Rediscovered: 'What Is to Be Done?' in Context'". Science & Society. 73 (4): 556–559. ISSN 0036-8237.
- White, James D. (2009). "Lenin Rediscovered and Reloaded". Europe-Asia Studies. 61 (3): 535–544.
- ^ Reviews include:
- Andreyev, Catherine (1994). "Review of 'Bread and Authority in Russia, 1914–1921'". The English Historical Review. 109 (431): 518–519.
- Atkinson, Dorothy (1991). "Review of 'Bread and Authority in Russia, 1914–1921'". The American Historical Review. 96 (5): 1583–1583. doi:10.1086/ahr/96.5.1583.
- Borrero, Mauricio (1994). "Review of 'Bread and Authority in Russia, 1914–1921'". Slavic Review. 53 (4): 1169–1171. doi:10.2307/2500893.
- Channon, John (1992). "From Muzhik to Kolkhoznik: Some Recent Western and Soviet Studies of Peasants in Late Imperial and Early Soviet Russia". The Slavonic and East European Review. 70 (1): 127–139.
- Fraunholtz, Peter (1991). "Review of 'Bread and Authority in Russia, 1914–1921'". Harvard Ukrainian Studies. 15 (1/2): 226–228.
- Häfner, Lutz (1991). "Review of 'Bread and Authority in Russia, 1914–1921'". Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas. 39 (2): 280–283.
- Manning, Roberta T. (1992). "Review of 'Bread and Authority in Russia, 1914–1921'". Agricultural History. 66 (2): 367–368.
- Offer, Avner (1992). "Review of 'Bread and Authority in Russia, 1914–1921'". The Economic History Review. 45 (2): 441–442. doi:10.2307/2597659.
- Patenaude, Bertrand M. (1992). "Review of 'Bread and Authority in Russia, 1914–1921'". The Journal of Modern History. 64 (3): 633–635.