This week's Marxist IQ deals with my own conceptions of how Lenin might look at some events today

1. Even with its enormous military power, Lenin, , looking at contemporary imperialism, would probably consider U.S. imperialism as

a. the hegemonic power of world capitalism

b. a pitifult giant

c. the weak link, because of its enormous debts to global finance and its function as the policeman  the world, of the major capitalist powers, like the Czarist Russia in 1914.

d. the center for capitalist revival

2. Looking at the tangled struggles in Western Asia/Middle East, Lenin would in all likelihood take the following position

a. "Zionism" is the main enemy

b. the reactionary governments of Iran and Israel and the reactionary Hamas movement are all enemies of the working class and socialism

 c. to understand the situation and develop policies to deal with it, one must first follow the money, meaning follow the oil and those who control and seek to control it

d. The working class of Israel, as the most advanced working class of the region, is the most likely to achieve socialism

3. Looking at organizations like the IMF, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, Lenin would in all likelihood conclude that

a. Kautsky was right when he contended that imperialism could create a stable global economic system that would avoid imperialist war and economic collapse

b.  Bernstein was right in that socialism could only develop through  evolution from capitalism, through popular movements and the use of existing capitalist economic and political institutions

c.  The anarcho syndicalists were right in that only the smashing of all political and economic institutions and the creation of peoples collectives could save the working class

d. That these institutions and alliances merely deepened capitalist crisis, making it more vulnerable to economic breakdown and increasing the possibility of military interventionism that would leed to war

4. Looking directly as the U.S. domestic situation after the Obama victory, Lenin would probably see the greatest dangers coming from

a. the alliance of finance capitalists, military industrial complex companies and non union employers who profitted most from the Reagan Bush polices of the last three decades

b. religious right

c. conservative trade unions

d. the Occupy movement

5. Looking at the achievements and failures of Marxist-Leninist aka Communist parties since the Russian empire socialist revolution, Lenin would in all likelihood conclude

a. that the achievements of these parties far outweigh their failures and are evidence that they must continue to exist and develop, learning from their failures

b. these parties have failed completely to advance socialism

c. these parties failed because of "revisionism" and must purge all "revisionist" elements within their ranks

d. these parties must create a new Comintern on the model of the old one

correct answers to last week's Marxist IQ followed by the correct answers to the previous Marxist IQ

Novemberf 10 Marxist IQ

1.c

2.d

3.d

4.b

5.c

Answers to Marxist IQ, October 26

1.d

2.c

3.b

4.c

5.d