"Democracy for an insignificant minority, democracy for the rich — that is the democracy of capitalist society."The question of the state is not something that normally occupies the attention of most workers. This is no accident. The state would be of no use for the ruling class if people did not believe that it was something harmless, impartial and above the interests of classes or individuals. However, Marxism teaches us that the state is an instrument for the oppression of the e...

"The pamphlet… outlined a broad plan of organisation in which everyone would find a place for himself, become a cog in the revolutionary machine, a cog, which, no matter how small, was vital to the working of the machine. The pamphlet urged the necessity of intensive and tireless efforts to build the foundation that had to be built if the Party was to exist in deeds and not in words…" (Nadezhda Krupskaya, Reminiscences of Lenin.)First published in early 1902, What Is to Be Done? re...

During the First World War, Lenin found himself isolated, but he was not afraid to fight against the stream. He dedicated all his strength to educating and training the Bolsheviks on the basis of the genuine ideas of Marxism. His masterpiece, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism, is an immortal monument to his work in the vital field of theory.No book has ever explained the phenomena of modern capitalism better. Indeed, all of Lenin's predictions concerning the concentratio...

In this classic text, Lenin brilliantly explains the fundamental principles of the materialist philosophy of Marxism. He defends them against idealist attacks from the subjective idealism of Machism, a philosophical trend, which at Lenin's time was becoming very fashionable, even within the workers' movement.Step by step, layer by layer, quoting at length from the many trendy philosophical and scientific publications of the day, the book exposes idealism in all its guises. The aim ...

"Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder is a work by Vladimir Lenin attacking assorted critics of the Bolsheviks who claimed positions to their left. Most of these critics were proponents of ideologies later described as left communism.The book was written in 1920 and published in Russian, German, English and French later in the year. A copy was then distributed to each delegate at the 2nd World Congress of the Comintern, several of whom were mentioned by Lenin in the work.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin can be considered on of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century. Here is his fascinating and world changing treatise on socialism and religion.

The Bolsheviks led the workers to power in the October Revolution of 1917. To ensure its survival, they grappled with the task of spreading the revolution beyond Russia.'Left-Wing' Communism: An Infantile Disorder was written in 1920 to educate the newly-formed communist parties of the Third International, and to correct theultra-left, sectarian trends that infected many of them. Inspired by the Revolution and repelled by the betrayals of social democracy, these communists h...

Part of Pluto's 21st birthday series Get Political, which brings essential political writing in a range of fields to a new audience.This is an entirely new collection of Lenin's writing. For the first time it brings together crucial shorter works, to show that Lenin held a life-long commitment to freedom and democracy. Le Blanc has written a comprehensive introduction, which gives an accessible overview of Lenin's life and work, and explains his relevance to political thought today...

John Atkinson Hobson (1858 – 1940) was an English social scientist and economist most famous for his work on imperialism—which notably had an influence on Vladimir Lenin—as well as his theory of underconsumption. His early work also questioned the classical theory of rent and predicted the Neoclassical "marginal productivity" theory of distribution. In Hobson's seminal study “Imperialism - A Study”, he explores the roles of patriotism, philanthropy, and the spirit of adventure in the light...

Lenin's most important and controversial theoretical textLenin’s booklet The State and Revolution struck the world of Marxist theory like a lightning bolt. Written in the months running up to the October Revolution of 1917, Lenin turned the traditional socialist concept of the state on its head, arguing for the need to smash the organs of the bourgeois state to create a ‘semi-state’ of soviets, or workers’ councils, in which ordinary people would take on t...

John Atkinson Hobson (1858 – 1940) was an English social scientist and economist most famous for his work on imperialism—which notably had an influence on Vladimir Lenin—as well as his theory of underconsumption. His early work also questioned the classical theory of rent and predicted the Neoclassical "marginal productivity" theory of distribution. In his 1891 work “Problems of Poverty”, Hobson explores the subject of poverty and the industrial condition of the poor, looking at such facto...

First published in 1902, “The Evolution Of Modern Capitalism” looks at the effects that the industrial revolution had had on contemporary capitalism, focusing primarily on the introduction of machinery into production. Contents include: “The Structure of Industry Before Machinery”, “The Order of Development of Machine Industry”, “The Structure of Modern Industry”, “The Formation of monopolies in Capital”, “Economic Powers of the Trust”, “Machinery and Industrial Depression”, etc. This fasc...