ABSTRACT
The formulation in 1900-1902 by Lenin of Bolshevik theory is an event that in importance far exceeds the obvious influence it has had on the history of Russia and other countries with Communist governments or movements. Bolshevism originated that characteristic institution of the twentieth century, the one-party state. The origins of Lenin's political theory have to be sought at least as much in psychology as in ideas. Unlike typical radical intellectuals of his time, he had no commitment to any set of ideas; and it is ironic that he, the most flexible of revolutionaries, should have acquired the reputation as the most constant. Lenin's unhappiness with the "economists" was exacerbated by the emergence in Russia of revisionism. In early 1899, several leading Russian socialists, led by Peter Struve, called publicly for a reappraisal of some of Marx's theories and, like Bernstein and his German followers, began to question the feasibility of social revolution.
