LBNIN THE PHILOSOPHER 53 to Socialism is the consolidation of Socialist consciousness in its right sense among the Indians today". For this,he goes on, "it is imperative to understand and absorb the philosophical views of Lenin". (Page 1). A question may arise whether the purpose mentioned here will be served by familiarizing the readers with only the philosophical writings of Lenin. Is it not necessary to introduce the readers to such works of Lenin as Development of Capitalism in Russia, What is to be Done, Two Tactics of Social Democracy, Imperialism', State and Revolution', Kautsky the Renegade', "Left-wing" Communism and so on. In his work as a practical revolutionary, the theoretician and leader of the first victorious Socialist revolution in the world and the organizer of the Communist Internationol, Lenin has not left untouched any field of theoretical or practical study. No revolutionary Socialist in India therefore can afford to neglect the study of this entire material produced by Lenin during his relatively short life as the pioneer of the struggle against revisionism. The fact, however, remains that the study of the philosophical questions which may appear to ordinary readers as abstruse, unrelated to practical revolutionary activities, was for Lenin, as for Marx and Engels before him, a part of the class struggle. Chattopadhyaya, for instance, explains "the ideological-political context" of Materialism and Empirio - Criticism. "Lenin would not have written any specialised treatise on philosophy for the sake of some academic attainment. Motivated as he was above all by the cause of revolution, it is inconceivable that he could undertake any strenuous research unless he saw its direct bearings on his revolutionary activities. In other words, he must have something compelling political purpose for writing such specialised treatise on philosophy, inclusively of—as we shall see—the philosophy of science. Asa matter of fact, we now know that, while sending instructions for expediting the publication of the book, he emphasised on 'serious political obligations' involved in it". (Pp 15-16). "The immediate purpose of the book", Chattopadhyapa goes on, "was to counteract the influence of a philosophical view that was causing serious ideological rift in the Russian Socialist movement. Even some of the important theoreticians in Lenin's own party, under the spell of this view, were carried to a position that amounted to the most violent distortion and overt rejection of the fundamentals of the Marxist philisophy". (P 161). Chattopadhyaya then quotes from the preface of the first edition