call for thoughts: 'What is to be Done?' Lenin project, Tampere

[anna balint]

We are writing to let you know about a forthcoming exhibition at the
Lenin Museum in Tampere, Finland. ‘What is to be Done? Questions for the
21st Century’, appeals for your response to Lenin’s original question
"what is to be done?" posed in 1902. Your response, along with those of
others drawn from a local, national and international public, will be
documented, archived and displayed in the exhibition.

Lenin’s ideas about revolutionary change, the relationship between
local movements and universal social struggles, as well as his predictions
about late capitalism and imperialism seem surprisingly relevant today.
‘What is to be Done? Questions for the 21st Century? encourages you to
write down any thoughts you might have about possible social change
today. Your response can be something short, a slogan, an idea or a
reference to a specific situation you feel is important. Under late
capitalism’s all encompassing reach, it is our very freedom to think
that is being eroded. In the spirit of Lenin’s thought, we repeat the
question ‘what is to be done? as a sincere appeal for your ideas and
thoughts on our future.

The Lenin museum opened in January 1946 in the Tampere Workers' Hall
where Lenin had pledged to further the cause of Finnish independence.
In the same building, Lenin and Stalin met for the first time in 1905. The
museum preserves, exhibits and researches the objects, documents and
symbols of the Soviet era and has developed into a widely acclaimed
institute of culture and research. The downfall of the Soviet Union has
left the museum the last regularly operating museum of its kind in the
whole world.

In the following e-mail there will be a series of short statements and
questions that we now ask you to respond to. We request that you e-mail
your response, which we will then transfer to a time card format for
the exhibition. All responses will be gathered together, translated in
Finnish and Russian, documented and presented as an archive at the
Lenin Museum in January 2003. With your permission, multiple copies of your
response will be made so that visitors to the museum can take some
ideas away. Please indicate in your e-mail if you are willing to let us make
copies. We need to have all of our responses in by mid-November 2002,
so that we have time to translate everything!

This question is asked of individuals and groups in Tampere and broader
national and international constituencies in Finland, Russia, the US
and elsewhere. The questions also currently appear in several international
art journals with perforated response cards. Please feel free to pass
on the questions to any interested friends or colleagues. We would like to
harness the energies of those who think about change today and put them
into dialogue in this important public space.

Thank you for your time and participation!

Yours sincerely,

Susan Kelly and Stephen Morton

===
WHAT IS TO BE DONE?
Questions for the 21st Century

Lenin’s description of imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism
now seems like a self-fulfilling prophecy. After the collapse of the
Soviet bloc the total spread of unregulated global capitalism is seen
as inevitable. With this spread, a third of the world's population lives
on less than $2 a day and the poorest countries in the world owe a $422
billion debt that can never be paid. Yet, events in Seattle, Genoa and
elsewhere show that global capitalism can be resisted. Do you think
that Lenin's ideas are of any use today? What are the burning social and
political questions of our time?

****************

When Lenin wrote What is to be Done? in 1902, he mainly wanted to
distinguish between radical revolutionary politics and the reformists
who just wanted to patch things up. Lenin was intolerant of questions
that failed to really challenge the dominant political order. How can
we provoke significant change today and do you think any real shift can
really happen under our present system?

*****************

The Lenin Museum in Tampere is the site of Lenin and Stalin's first
meeting. Lenin's ideas are often seen as leading inevitably to
Stalinism and the terror of the Soviet Empire. This has been called the Leninist
Tragedy. At the scene of their meeting, is it possible to rescue some
of Lenin's ideas from this fate? How can we prevent social change from
turning into a situation where the same structures of power are
re-established with different players at the top?

*****************

In Tampere, 1906 Lenin made a pledge to honour the Finnish right to
self-determination after the Bolshevik Revolution. Lenin believed that
Marx's revolutionary ideas had to be adapted to the local and national
conditions of workers rather than being imposed from above. In Lenin's
time, this mobilisation of worker's movements was the most effective
way of achieving international solidarity. The phrase ?workers of the world
unite? may now seem like an impossible ideal since late capitalism has
crushed union power and pitted the workers of the world against one
another. Despite this gloomy picture, from where you stand right now,
what are the possibilities for social change today?

****************

In short, what is to be done?

Please e-mail your response in not more than 300 words to
whatistobedone at excite.com or mail to:
What is to be Done? The Lenin Museum
Hämeenpuisto 28, FIN-33200 Tampere, FINLAND
http://www.tampere.fi/culture/lenin/