Consider the following texts by Lenin on the situation in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century: 1. "The pamphlet that I offer to the reader's attention was written taking into account the tsarist censorship. For this reason, I only saw myself as being forced to strictly limit myself to an exclusively theoretical analysis, but also to formulate the indispensable observations of a political nature with an extraordinary prudence, for fear of allusions, to the style of Aesop, a cursed language that the tsarism obliged me to resort to all revolutionaries." Taken and adapted from: Lenin, V. I. Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press. 2. "Leo Tolstoy, mirror of the Russian revolution: At first glance it may seem strange and betrayed by the hairs that associate the name of the great writer to the revolution that he did not understand and of which he was inhibited by complete. Why call it a mirror to what, without a doubt, does not reflect the phenomena well? But our revolution is an extraordinarily complex phenomenon: among the mass of its agents and direct participants there are many social elements that also did not understand what was happening and were inhibited from the truly historical tasks that it posed before the course of events." Taken and adapted from: Lenin, V. I. Leo Tolstoy, mirror of the Russian revolution. Journal of the National University of Colombia, number 6, pp. 104-121. Bogotá: UNAL. Taking into account the political and social context that can be inferred from each of these texts, which of the two was written first? A. Text 1 was written first because it refers to imperialism that was presented before the Russian Revolution, while in text 2 the Russian Revolution had already taken place. B. Text 2 was written first because it mentions Leo Tolstoy, who was born in 1828 and died in 1910, before the Russian Revolution, while text 1 is posterior to the Revolution. C. Text 1 was written first because it refers to the tsarist regime that motivated the Russian Revolution, while in text 2 the Russian Revolution had already taken place. D. Text 2 was written first because it mentions the censorship to which the writers exposed themselves during the Russian Revolution, while in text 1 the writing was allowed in the style of Aesop.
Answer (1)
To determine which of the two texts by Lenin was written first, we need to analyze the historical context each refers to and the themes discussed.
Text 1 : This excerpt is taken from Lenin's work titled "Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism" . In this text, Lenin discusses the conditions under the tsarist regime and the constraints posed by its censorship. Lenin talks about the need to use a 'cursed language' to avoid attracting censorship under the tsarist rule, indicating that the text was written during a time when the tsarist regime was still in power in Russia, prior to the 1917 Russian Revolution. This work is well known to have been published in 1916.
Text 2 : This excerpt is from "Leo Tolstoy, Mirror of the Russian Revolution" . In this text, Lenin reflects on the role of Leo Tolstoy as a figure who reveals certain aspects of the Russian revolution. It suggests that the revolution had already happened and that Tolstoy's writings or thoughts were being used to analyze the revolution's complex nature. Lenin interprets Tolstoy's work in a post-revolutionary context, which indicates that this text was likely written after the initial stages of the Russian Revolution.
Based on this analysis, we can infer that:
Option C is correct: "Text 1 was written first because it refers to the tsarist regime that motivated the Russian Revolution, while in text 2 the Russian Revolution had already taken place."
Conclusion : Text 1 is older than Text 2 as it was written during the time of the tsarist regime before the revolution took place in 1917, whereas Text 2 discusses themes relevant to the revolution, indicating it was written after the revolution began."}
