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Vladimir Il'ich Lenin (1870–1924)

Author of State and Revolution

1,143+ Works 12,746 Members 163 Reviews 21 Favorited

About the Author

Creator of the former Soviet Union, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (family name Ulianov) was born on April 10, 1870 in Simbirsk (later Ulianovsk), Russia, the son of a schools inspector. Lenin received upper class education and obtained a law degree in 1891, but he was moved to oppose the czarist Russian show more government, partly due to the execution of his brother, Alexander, who had participated in a plot to assassinate the Russian emperor. For taking part in revolutionary activities, Lenin was eventually imprisoned, publishing his work, The Development of Capitalism in Russia, from prison in 1899. Three years later, his pamphlet "What Is to Be Done" became the model for Communist philosophy. Lenin helped the Bolshevist movement that overthrew the czarist government and brought an end to Russia's war against Germany. As head of the new government, he put land in the hands of the peasants and brought industry under government control. An assassination attempt in 1918 wounded him, and two strokes in 1922 forced him to severely curtail government duty. He retreated to his country home in Gorki, where he died on January 21, 1924. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

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Image credit: Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov known as Lenin at the congress of the III International. Moscow March 1919

Series

Works by Vladimir Il'ich Lenin

State and Revolution (1917) 1,876 copies, 25 reviews
Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1916) — Author — 1,390 copies, 15 reviews
The Civil War in France: The Paris Commune (1871) 565 copies, 5 reviews
Left-Wing Communism, an Infantile Disorder (1920) 537 copies, 10 reviews
Materialism and Empirio-Criticism (1908) 235 copies, 1 review
The Lenin Anthology (1975) 215 copies
Lenin: Selected Works in Three Volumes (1967) 107 copies, 2 reviews
On the Paris Commune (1971) 107 copies, 1 review
The Essential Left (1960) 81 copies
Karl Marx (1972) 80 copies
Collected Works (2004) 80 copies
On Literature and Art (1970) 72 copies
On Trade Unions (2000) 61 copies, 1 review
On Religion (1976) 60 copies
The April Theses (1917) 50 copies
Collected Works, Volume 1 (1987) 48 copies, 1 review
Against Revisionism (1975) 48 copies
The State (1919) 48 copies
Lenin on war and peace (1966) 45 copies
Socialism and War (1972) 42 copies
Kronstadt (1979) 42 copies
Collected Works, Volume 2 (1987) 38 copies, 2 reviews
On Marx and Engels (1985) 33 copies
On Peaceful Coexistence (1977) 30 copies
On Youth (1977) 30 copies, 1 review
The teachings of Karl Marx (1964) 27 copies, 1 review
A Letter to American Workingmen (2010) 27 copies, 1 review
Collected Works, Volume 4 (2023) 27 copies, 1 review
Against Imperialist War (1966) 25 copies, 1 review
Imperialism and the Split in Socialism (1975) 25 copies, 1 review
Can the Bolsheviks retain state power? (1997) 24 copies, 1 review
On the United States of America (1970) 23 copies, 1 review
Collected Works Volume 27 (1965) 23 copies, 1 review
Letters from afar (1938) 21 copies, 1 review
Collected Works, Volume 20 (1929) 20 copies, 1 review
Collected works. 25, June-September 1917 (1964) 20 copies, 1 review
On the Dictatorship of the Proletariat (1976) — Author — 19 copies
War and the workers (1940) 17 copies
On Britain (1941) 16 copies
Collected Works--Volume 9 (1987) 15 copies
Lenin, Obras Escogidas En Doce Tomos (1975) 15 copies, 1 review
On Scientific Communism (1976) 14 copies
Against liquidationism (1973) 14 copies
The Young Generation (1940) 14 copies
The revolution of 1905 (1968) 14 copies
Collected works. 14, 1908 (1972) 14 copies, 1 review
What is Soviet Power? (1978) 11 copies
Articles on Tolstoy 11 copies, 1 review
V. I. Lenin (1976) 11 copies
Ten Classics of Marxism (1948) 10 copies
Ausgewählte Werke (1987) 9 copies
Letters on tactics (2002) 9 copies
On Cooperation 9 copies
Marxism and Revisionism (1974) 9 copies
Valda verk. 1 (1974) 9 copies
On the Eve of October (1938) 8 copies
On Just and Unjust Wars (1984) 8 copies
Economic Writings (1989) 8 copies
The Letters of Lenin (1937) 8 copies
Opere scelte (1965) 7 copies
Valda verk. 2 (1974) 7 copies
The Russian Revolution (1938) 6 copies
Lenin on the Soviet State Apparatus (1975) 6 copies, 1 review
On the Intelligentsia (1984) 6 copies
Interviews Given to Foreign Correspondents (1970) — Interviewee — 6 copies, 1 review
Valda verk. 3 (1975) 6 copies
Socialism and religion (1960) 6 copies
Democracy and revolution (2000) 6 copies
Revolutionary Adventurism (1978) 6 copies
Lenin and Stalin on youth (1977) 5 copies
Lenin and Books (2003) 5 copies
Obras completas (1974) 5 copies
On socialist democracy (1969) 5 copies
On Organization (1996) 5 copies
Lenin and Britain (1949) 4 copies
Revolution!: Sayings of Vladimir Lenin (2017) 4 copies, 1 review
Marxism & nationalism (2002) 4 copies
Über Kultur, Ästhetik, Literatur (1973) — Author — 4 copies
Selected Works [unknown editions] (1934) 4 copies, 1 review
Obras escogidas 3 copies
May Day 3 copies
Marxism and Insurrection (1980) 3 copies
En torno a la dialéctica (1996) 3 copies, 1 review
Women and society (1938) 3 copies
Lenin összes művei 21 3 copies, 1 review
Lenin om Marx (1970) 2 copies
Tolstoy And His Time (1952) 2 copies
Su Trotskij 2 copies
The socialist revolution (1979) 2 copies
Lenin on Ireland (1974) 2 copies
Rok 1917 1 copy
Le Opere 1 copy
Om krigen 1 copy
Obras completas, XXI (1977) 1 copy
Obras completas XXXVI (1978) 1 copy
Obras completas XXXVII (1978) 1 copy
Obras completas IX (1976) 1 copy
Sur l'économie (1978) 1 copy
Karol Marks 1 copy
Mektuplar (2018) 1 copy
Devrime Dogru (2018) 1 copy
Carlo Marx 1 copy
Que Faire? 1 copy
A pártról (1983) 1 copy
Opere scelte 1 copy
14: 1908 1 copy
1: 1893-1894 1 copy
Om strejker 1 copy
Om partiet 1 copy
Articles (1923) (1952) 1 copy
On Organization (1972) 1 copy
Lenin Werke 1 copy
TOLSTOI 1 copy
Tesis de abril (2024) 1 copy
Opere scelte 1 copy
Acerca del estado (1975) 1 copy
Lenin reader 1 copy
Lenin Reader 1 copy
Opere 1 copy
Lenin's Last Works (2014) 1 copy
Lenin Collected Works Vol 8 1 copy, 1 review
Lenin Collected Works Vol 9 1 copy, 1 review
Lenin Collected Works Vol 3 1 copy, 1 review
LÊNIN ANTICOLONIAL (2024) 1 copy
Lenine 1 copy
lenin on Youth (1970) 1 copy
Marxbaad 1 copy
Vom Aufstieg 1 copy
W. I. Lenin 1 copy
Lenin Werke, Band 5 (1955) 1 copy
Werke 1 copy
Lenin to go (2016) 1 copy
Biographie (1976) 1 copy

Associated Works

Ten Days that Shook the World (1919) — Introduction, some editions — 2,863 copies, 43 reviews
The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884) — Introduction, some editions — 1,794 copies, 17 reviews
Social and Political Philosophy: Readings From Plato to Gandhi (1963) — Contributor — 274 copies, 1 review
Rosa Luxemburg Speaks (1970) — Contributor — 138 copies
The Woman Question (1951) — Author — 80 copies
Lenin Rediscovered: What Is to Be Done? in Context (2005) — Contributor — 72 copies
Reader in Marxist Philosophy (1963) — Contributor — 69 copies, 1 review
Selected correspondence of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels (1975) — Contributor, some editions — 65 copies
The Penguin Book of Twentieth-Century Protest (1998) — Contributor — 37 copies

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Legal name
Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich
Other names
Ulyanov, Vladimir Ilyich
Birthdate
1870-04-22
Date of death
1924-01-21
Gender
male
Education
Kazan State University (1887 | Law | expelled)
University of Saint Petersburg (1892 | Law)
Occupations
Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Soviet Union (1922-1924)
Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian Socialist Federative Republic (1917-1924)
Member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1917-1917)
Member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1919-1924)
Organizations
Bolshevik Party
Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Relationships
Krupskaya, Nadezhda Konstantinovna (spouse)
Short biography
Lenin was a communist theorist and revolutionary who oversaw a working class victory during the Russian Revolution and the establishment of the Soviet Union. He was one of the most important authors in the theory and history of Marxism-Leninism, and his writings have been used by worker's movements in every country.

Lenin's theory is remembered for his introduction of the concept of the Vanguard Party and for the application of Marxism onto modern imperialism, which had emerged after Marx's death.
Nationality
Russia
Birthplace
Ulyanovsk, Russia
Places of residence
Simbirsk, Russian Empire (birth)
Place of death
Gorki Leninskiye, Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union
Burial location
The Lenin Mausoleum, Red Square, Moscow, Russia
Map Location
Russia

Members

Reviews

184 reviews
I got a lovely old edition of this from the University Library. It has a slightly grudging introduction by Engels and appendices of resolutions by the General Council of the International Working Men's Association. Most interestingly, there is a speech given by Lenin in 1908 on lessons from the Commune, which brings out the point that the initial French Revolution has begun a tide of European nationalism, but by the turn of the 20th century patriotic feeling had become damaging to the show more revolutionary cause. This is also notable as the international significance of the Commune seems to be judged by history as much smaller than the 1789-94 revolution. Which is emphasised, I suppose, by the title of this book, 'The Civil War in France'. Although the Commune had geopolitical significance, its ideas didn't reverberate around the world in the same way as those of the initial ('Great') French Revolution.

As Lenin was speaking decades after the Commune, his tone is measured. Marx's central work, by contrast, is very angry indeed. It consists of an address delivered mere days after the fall of the Commune. He spends quite a bit of it personally abusing Thiers, the French president he holds personally responsible for the repression of the Commune and resulting wholesale slaughter. More broadly, his analysis brings home the sheer complexity of political factionalism in France at the time. It also highlights the achievements of the Commune's short lifespan, which were impressively pragmatic economic and administrative reforms.

As mentioned before, it is fascinating to compare the 1789-1794 revolution with the Paris Commune, which could be seen as a later manifestation of the former's ideas. What strikes me, in this commentary and elsewhere, is that the first revolution was one of young, idealistic men, whereas the Commune consisted of middle aged men, disillusioned by war and political infighting. Whereas strong personalities emerged from 1789-1794, there is no Robespierre or Danton in 1871. That said, the Commune didn't last long enough, managing a mere 70 days, for this happen. Moreover, you could argue that the lack personality politics demonstrates a more fundamental democracy was at work, a genuine 'dictatorship of the proletariat'. Marx certainly really doesn't single out particular Communards for praise, despite excoriating many on the other side by name.

I recommend this book to supplement your understanding of the Paris Commune and its immediate aftermath, but not as an introduction. Marx assumes total understanding of events straight off. I suggest, 'That Terrible Year' by Alaistair Horne as a good starting point.
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Many people dismiss Lenin, and Marxism in general, because they are usually associated with the bureaucratic tyranny of the Stalinist regimes of Russia, Eastern Europe, China etc. But these regimes had/have nothing to do with genuine Marxism, as anyone who reads this book will see. The so-called “communist” states were actually state capitalist systems controlled by a ruling class of bureaucrats who betrayed the democratic aims of the 1917 Russian Revolution.

Lenin follows Marx and Engels show more in showing that the existence of the state is a result of the existence of class exploitation and class conflict in society. (In pre-class societies, the state did not exist.) As Marx said, “...the state is nothing but a machine for the oppression of one class by another...”

This is obvious in the case of ancient Roman slave society or medieval feudalism, but it is less obvious in modern capitalist societies, because capitalists usually hide their class rule behind a veneer of “democracy”. But as Lenin says in this book:

“Bourgeois democracy, although a great historical advance in comparison with medievalism, always remains, and under capitalism is bound to remain, restricted, truncated, false and hypocritical, a paradise for the rich, and a snare and deception for the exploited...”

In modern capitalist “democracies” the electorate and parliaments do not have real power. The ruling class capitalists can use their economic power to force governments into line; they control the media and the top levels of the civil service; and if all else fails they can resort to force, through their control of the police and armed forces.

Lenin agreed with Marx’s view that a revolution was necessary in order to achieve socialism for two reasons: firstly, because the ruling class would not give up power peacefully; and secondly, because it was by going through the experience of class struggle that the working class’s ideas would change on a mass scale and the majority would be won over to socialist ideas and become “fitted to found society anew.”

Lenin did not want to seize power in a coup. He wanted to win over the majority of the exploited and for THEM to take power. When Marx and Lenin talked about the “dictatorship of the proletariat”, they did not mean that Marxists would rule OVER the working class, they meant rule BY the working class. This workers’ state would then gradually be replaced by a classless society in which the state would “wither away”.

Marx’s model for a democratic workers’ state was the short-lived Paris Commune, where all officials were elected, subject to recall at any time, and paid only an average worker’s wage; and where the army and police were replaced by a workers’ militia. Lenin’s idea was that the soviets (workers’ councils) would also follow this highly democratic model. Bourgeois “democracy” should be replaced by something much MORE democratic. John Reed's book "Ten Days That Shook The World", for example, shows how democratic the soviets were in their early days.

The February Revolution of 1917 had got rid of the Tsar, but it brought to power the Provisional Government which continued to take part in the bloodbath of World War One. Lenin argued for a new revolution, which eventually took place in October.

October would only be a "coup" if the Bolsheviks took power without majority support. In fact they only took power when they had won a majority on the soviets, with the previous majority of SRs and Mensheviks having been voted out. Even the Menshevik Martov admitted that the workers were solidly behind the Bolsheviks by October.

Lenin’s idea was that the Bolshevik party should compete with other parties on the soviets. The fact that the soviets later ended up as being a one-party system was a sign of the FAILURE of the revolution: it was not what Lenin had intended.

Lenin expected the Russian Revolution to spark off revolutions in other countries. (Indeed there was a failed revolution in Germany.) But the isolation of the Russian Revolution, the horrors of the Civil War initiated by the “Whites” and intervention by foreign powers in support of the White armies combined to destroy the foundations of the new regime.

It is claimed by anti-Marxist historians that Leninism led directly to Stalinism. But Stalin actually had to DESTROY the last vestiges of genuine Leninism in order to consolidate his counter-revolution. Incidentally, given that it was the isolation of the Russian Revolution which ultimately led to its demise under Stalin, it was not the politics of Lenin's Bolsheviks which led to Stalinism, it was the LACK of mass Leninist parties in other countries.

After Lenin’s death Trotsky kept alive the genuine Marxist idea that socialism means workers’ democracy, but unfortunately he clung to the idea that Russia had become a degenerated workers’ state, whereas in fact it had become under Stalin a bureaucratic state capitalist regime.
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Lenin offers a competent explanation of the Marxist conception of the state. According to Lenin, the purpose of the bourgeois state is to render the contradictions of capitalism livable, which it does by dominating the proletariat. The state is therefore structurally premised on domination and can never serve to reconcile opposing classes. It is for this reason, then, that reformism appears a dead end.

But even if one accepts such a conception of the state, it is not clear why reform and show more revolution must be understood as mutually exclusive. One might instead conceive of reforms as placing pressure on the state’s capacity to dominate, thereby opening space for more radical transformation.

Lenin also makes questionable interpretive decisions in light of contemporary scholarship on Marx. For example, he endorses a deterministic reading of Marx and claims that Engels “quite definitely regards universal suffrage as a means of bourgeois domination.” The former claim has been thoroughly contested in the literature. As for the latter, in The Principles of Communism, Engels quite explicitly advocates universal suffrage as a means of emancipation.
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This was the guidance that Lenin thought the newly minted Russian Revolution needed.

There is a lot of vibrancy in his language and it's a classic text of agitprop. He takes down his enemies much like a ruthless rapper. I swear some these ideas of the "deep state" have had an unwitting influence on Maga populists in 2025.

I love his Chapter 7 postscript. He didn't get to write it because of the hindrance of an immediate political crisis in Russia. [This chapter] "will probably have to be show more delayed for a long time; it is more pleasant and useful to undertake 'the experience of revolution' than to write about it."

This edition contains, a lengthy and detailed introduction which is a big help when it comes to context and this pamphlet's history. From that history (via Robert Service), he sums it all up by stating "The book's practical historical impact therefore outweighs its intrinsic merit as a work of political science. The State and Revolution was a choral ode to action, intolerance, combat and collectivism; it was the anthem of Bolshevism in its revolutionary era."
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Slavoj iek Editor
Russell Block Editor, Introduction

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Works
1,143
Also by
23
Members
12,746
Popularity
#1,837
Rating
3.8
Reviews
163
ISBNs
805
Languages
24
Favorited
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