Lenin as a Statistician: A Non-Soviet View

Abstract

SUMMARY Many of Lenin's arguments were based on statistical analysis, and in the Soviet milieu he is widely praised as a statistician. In this paper we first examine the background and influences of Lenin's statistics and also consider his statistical arguments, some of which are often cited in the Soviet literature. Our general conclusions are that (a) in his earlier work Lenin exhibited innate craftmanship in analysing large-scale statistical data, (b) his statistics owes much to V. E. Postnikov, P. N. Skvortsov and F. A. Shcherbina whose influence has been downplayed, (c) Lenin was not beyond turning his analysis to political ends, (d) his influence among established statisticians in the Russian Empire, including the zemstvo statisticians, was quite modest and (e) he was instrumental in establishing official statistical organs in the USSR.

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