influence which issues and topics people consider most important and are worthy of thinking and talking about , to the exclusion of other important issues and topics of possible interest available . 4
Thus , two major types of agenda setters have evolved that overlap in modern society and mutually support each other in defining community agendas : those who
Issues of individual concern , influenced by face-to-face contact
Universe of issues people could be thinking about
What the media channels people to think about
Media issues
( Graphic by Arin Burgess , Military Review )
Figure 2 . Media-Focused Issues
set agendas through personal contact with members of the community , and those who set community agendas through the mass media ( see figure 2 ).
However , there is a potent third category of agenda-setting agents that must be incorporated into the agenda-setting process . Lenin ’ s theory includes those agents who are organized to coerce public focus on issues . The relationship of these three agenda setters will be discussed together as key elements of Lenin ’ s theory below .
Lenin as a Media Theorist
The great influence that media have on defining community issues considered in public elections is
AGENDA SETTING
highlighted by the relationship among key concepts in a political-influence process formulated by Lenin . Lenin originated his concepts while serving as leader of the Bolshevik branch of the Russian Communist Party in the lead-up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 . To understand why he developed them , some background is necessary . Commencing in the late 1800s , there was much controversy concerning Marxist theory among European communist and socialist leaders . Discussions became heated and frequently characterized by personal attacks , innuendo , threats , and , not infrequently , violence . The sticking point that produced so much contention dealt with disagreements over interpretations of Marxist theory ; whether Karl Marx had actually predicted the demise of capitalism via the process some referred to as economic determinism . 5 Frustrated European communist and socialist leaders increasingly questioned and critically analyzed why the end of history they believed Marx had predicted decades earlier had not come to pass . However , some resisted calls to revise interpretations of Marxist doctrine to conform to historical experience . The most vocal ideologues dogmatically insisted that the nature of capitalism and the forces driving it to inevitable destruction had only temporarily stalled but would regain momentum because of the inevitable natural forces of economic determinism . 6
For his part , Lenin bitterly repudiated the concept of economic determinism , labeling this concept “ economism ” and denouncing it as naïve faith in mysterious forces that would produce the inevitability of a spontaneous rise of the proletariat . He argued instead that such contentions were completely misinterpreting and distorting Marx ’ s analysis . Rather , Lenin insisted , the evolving character of capitalism would inevitably produce nothing but the emergence of an opportunity for the proletariat to rise and seize the means of production . 7 Consequently , Lenin asserted , committed communists had the responsibility to organize and agitate for revolution and not merely wait for conditions to incubate by themselves spontaneously based on misplaced faith in so-called natural laws of economic determinism . 8
In an effort to promote this view more widely , Lenin wrote and published a monograph titled “ What Is To
MILITARY REVIEW November-December 2016 117