According to the article, Revolt of the Masses, written by José Ortega Gasset and the article by Vladimir Lenin, What is to be done?; the two authors seem to agree on one thing, that is, the nation and the full power. They give an in-depth analysis of great extent of lack of freedom in the nation. In particular, Ortega expounds on how Fascism took control of all people, sense of culture and he points out on how belonging was totally deprived. However, they appear to differ on the exact concept of mass revolution. Vladimir Lenin (1902) advocates for the idea of socialism, which emerged out of philosophical, historical and economic theories that were supported by both the property and intellectual class. In other words, he believed in combination of ideas from many quarters to bring development of ideas in the formation of a coherent and a partisan society that is strictly controlled by dedicated revolutionaries. According to him, such ideas are vital necessity for a revolution. On the other hand, Jose Ortega introduces a new idea of mass. He argues that mass must not necessarily be conceived as individuals appearing in mass, but rather mass is anything that has no set value on its self whether good or bad, but is based on specific grounds and has the same feeling like everybody (Jose, 1930).
Imperatively, Ortega and Lenin have a very different perception of mass. On the one hand, Ortega opines that an average person should not be mixed with those that he or she perceives to be intellectually superior. On the other hand, Lenin has the opinion that everybody should unite in the fight for the same course. Consequently, it is believed that both would view this concept of freedom within mass society differently. Lenin would go by the analogy of people who stays under the same roof and subjected to the same conditions and are fighting for the same course; while Ortega would address this concept as giving time those who are in the leadership positions to make the decision that can be followed by the rest.
- Ortega Y. Gasset, J. (1961). The revolt of the masses (Translated from the Spanish) (1st ed.). London: Unwin Books.
- Vladimir Ilyich, L. (1902). What is to be done? Collected Works Vol V, pp. 375-76, 451-53, 464-67.
- Ortega, G. J., & Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. (1994). The revolt of the masses. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech.