The noble causes of a violent government.
By taking sides in the dynamic conflict between the powerful and the poor, Lenin appeals to high virtues. The basic idea is that all humans are equal, which is also the cornerstone of many Western models of government, but the difference that Lenin makes is that in his view, the powerful are evil and malicious, and moreover, Lenin believes that they should be murdered. This helps to set the stage for the gruesome brutality of the Russian Revolution, and the many years of killings that came next.
The irony of class warfare.
Instead of viewing the leaders and the followers as symbiotic, Lenin paints them as extortionists and victims, taking the side of the underdog. Ironically, Lenin was not a member of the class he was fighting for, and neither was Marx in fact, so actually, the whole thing could be seen as another bourgeois attempt for more power. This is always true of Marxist revolutions—the person who cries wolf the loudest gets to be the new "Head Wolf," so to speak. Lenin's rise to power was almost as epic as his fall from power when he too was judged as a member of the Bourgeois when Stalin came to power.
The irony of victimhood.
The primary injustice that Lenin appeals to is the injustice of the working class and their victimhood as workers. Although Lenin and Marx both treated hard work as noble and heroic, they felt that the working class was being enslaved to the interests of the wealthy, which actually is a pretty good analysis of capitalism. The problem is that of victimhood. If the working class is the victim of some injustice, then all the sudden there is an impetus for revolution. So Lenin helps the proletariat to see themselves as the perpetual victims of an unforgivable injustice, splitting the nation in half for a new civil war.
The irony of revolution as a type of warfare.
In the American Civil War, the southern states seceded from the Union. That is not the case in the French and Russian "Civil Wars," as Lenin calls them, since these civil wars are divided by class division. This means that in Lenin's mind, a Marxist revolution is similar in nature to a holy war against the evil powers that be. The irony here is that everyone in question is properly Russian. It's a warfare of one entity against itself. All the enemies look just like the good guys, and vice versa, so what are they really destroying? This irony is sad, because it means that it becomes difficult to see when the battle is won, and so it continues through several reiterations, resulting in the deaths of many people.
The irony of 'fighting for the right thing.'
Something must be said for the ironic outcome of the Russian Revolution. Instead of a clear, morally founded victory against the tyranny of evil men, it was a blood bath. People were killed for random reasons, just like the French Revolution, and just like the French Revolution, eventually, the system caught up with its greatest advocate, and Lenin too became the victim of his own revolution. Ironically, this document is quite possibly the reason for Lenin's own downfall.
