Re: 'What is to be Done?' Exhibition (reformatted)

["Stuart Lawrence" <stuartwl@xxxxxxxxxx>]

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@xxxxxxxxxx or mail to:

What is to be Done?
The Lenin Museum
Hämeenpuisto 28,
FIN-33200 Tampere,
FINLAND
http://www.tampere.fi/culture/lenin/



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