Russian revolutionary leader and theoretician Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) was highly critical of the interpretation of the Right of Self-Determination by his contemporary Marxist thinker Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919). While Luxemburg argued that national self-determination was a dangerous distraction from the desired system change towards a socialist state, Lenin defended the right to self-determination, including secession. Most Sinhala leftists have been opportunists who peddle Marxism like a pimp, especially concerning the national question. They are divergent from Lenins extremely well-articulated definition and clarification of the national right of self-determination.