Bolshevism is the epitome of the failure of communist emancipation. Contrary to the understanding of Bolshevism as "revolutionary," it can be shown that there was insightful criticism from the left of the Bolshevik "liberation model" from the very beginning. This criticism should neither be dismissed as reactionary nor did it have to wait for Stalin to recognize that the revolution did not abolish power but rather totalized it in a new state. In the interest of the present, it is essential to rescue this repressed history from oblivion. The focus is on presenting central theoretical critiques of Lenin and his comrades that emerged from the left of social democracy: Trotsky, Luxemburg, Gorter, Pannekoek, Rühle, Rocker, Goldman, Steinberg, Korsch, Weil, and many others are given a voice. These revolutionaries shared with Bolshevism the critique of reformism and capitalism, but recognized that Bolshevism itself was a new form of domination that stood in the way of (worker) self-liberation.