Vladimi I. Lenin (1870-1924) and Simone Weil (1909-43)

Publication Type

Book Chapter

Year of Publication

2006

Author

Hoelzl, Michael
Ward, Graham

Book

Religion and Political Thought

Pages

203-17

Publisher

Continuum

Place Published

London

Language

English

Chapter

14

Keywords

roots (uprootedness)
overview
communism

Annotation

Hoelzel is interested in the debates he identifies as arising around the Christian roots of socialism in the west. He presents Lenin and Weil as two communists situated at the polar ends of the debate. Consideration of these two thinkers he argues opens up "a conversation between secular and mystic Marxism"(p. 204). He first presents Lenin then turns to Weil. He begins with a brief biographical overview then gives a brief contextual overview of her work The Need for Roots. The chapter concludes with a fairly long extract from that work.