The Philosophy Steamer: Lenin and the Exile of the Intelligensia

ISBN: 9781843540939

Atlantic Books 10 May 2007

Paperback | 432 pages

In 1922, Lenin personally drew up a list of some 220 “undesirable” intellectuals to be deported in preparation for the creation of the Soviet Union that December. Two ships sailed from Petrograd that autumn, taking around 70 of these eminent men and their families into permanent exile in Berlin, Prague, and Paris. Using diaries, letters and memoirs, *The Philosophy Steamer* tells the story of the philosophers, writers, journalists and scholars thrown out of their homeland and forced to join émigré communities. It also explores the fate of ideas — not just those of Lenin, but also of the men who, though forced to leave their homeland, made unique contributions to the cultural and intellectual life of the twentieth century, vividly capturing this remarkable moment in history. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}