Customer Reviews

State and Revolution

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

V. I. Lenin wrote this book in 1917, while he was hiding from the Russian government. Lenin pointed out that "The question of the relation of the state to the social revolution, and of the social revolution to the state, like the question of revolution generally, was given very little attention by the leading theoreticians and publicists of the Second International (1889-1914)". He wanted to correct that oversight, and that is probably the main reason why he wrote this book.

"The State and revolution" is a very short book, well structured and not difficult to read at all. Initially this pamphlet was going to have seven chapters, but Lenin didn't conclude the seventh, due to the outbreak of the Russian revolution. In the postscript to the first edition he explains that, saying that due to the reasons already explained the conclusion of the seventh chapters would have to be put off for quite a long time, but that all the same "It is more pleasant and useful to go through the `experience of revolution' than to write about it".

The main idea in "The State and revolution" is that the State is a product of the irreconcilability of class antagonisms, and an instrument for the exploitation of the oppressed class (a "special coercive force" that rules through violence). The State of the bourgeoisie will disappear, but only through a revolution that will take the people to the dictatorship of the proletariat. The proletariat (the working class) will become then the ruling class, "capable of crushing the inevitable and desperate resistance of the bourgeoisie, and of organizing all the working and exploited people for the new economic system. The proletariat needs state power, a centralized organization of force, an organization of violence, both to crush the resistance of the exploiters and to lead the enormous mass of the population -the peasants, the petty bourgeoisie, and semi-proletarians- in the work of organizing a socialist economy."

The dictatorship of the proletariat will be only a first stage in the path to Communism ("Then the door will be thrown wide open for the transition from the first phase of communist society to its higher phase, and with it to the complete withering away of the state"). According to Lenin, the necessity of systematically imbuing the masses with the idea of the necessity of violent revolution lies at the root of the entire theory of Marx and Engels. All throughout this book, Lenin cites and examines Marx and Engels' writings, in order to explain and support his own point of view.

The importance of Marxism for nowadays world has diminished enormously, but I advice you to read this book nonetheless. It is certainly not a grueling task, and it will allow you to understand better some notions that many Marxist leaders believed with all their hearts. Ideas drive men, and men make history. "The State and revolution" will help you to get acquainted with some of those ideas, and that is not a small feat.

Belen Alcat

This is one of books most interesting and challenging books I've ever read. It is enjoyable and the writing style is wonderful. However, the ideas are what I most enjoyed. Whether you agree or disagree with Lenin, this book is an important marker in modern political analysis. Personally, I loved it and find myself returning to it often for clarity and inspiration.

This is an excellent book on the role of the state after a revolution, how it will wither away, and what a society should look like ( or try to mould itself into ) after the revolution. Lenin, drawing on the works of Marx and Engels extensively, refutes many claims by both the Anarchists and opportunists on the role of the state, and corrects many common errors believed about the Marxist road to Socialism. This is a thoroughly informative read. I recommend those wondering how a Communist society would emerge after a revolution to get this book; It will open your eyes widely.

Considered a classic by most, "The State and Revolution" is a work of decisive importance to communist thought. The Marxist's conception of the state is expressed clearly and concisely by Vladimir Lenin, who consistently reinforces himself with the words of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

"The state arises" Lenin explains, "where, when and insofar as class antagonisms objectively cannot be reconciled. And, conversely, the existence of the state proves that class antagonisms are irreconcilable."

If you are unfamiliar with the elementary concepts of Marxism, you may not be ready to read this book. It isn't a particularly difficult read, but the author assumes that you have a general understanding of Marxism. This was one of the first books that I read when I began to study communism, however, and I remember enjoying it thoroughly. It was easier for me to understand than "The Communist Manifesto".

If you haven't read "The State and Revolution" and enjoy learning about Marxism, then I highly recommend purchasing it, but I suggest that you familiarize yourself with the fundamental principles of Marxist thought beforehand.

I believe this is the best, concise revolutionary analysis of the role of the State ever written.
I find it very annoying that here in the US, while many students may cursorily read the Communist Manifesto in school, I have never once met ANYONE in my life who has read the basic works of Lenin except for avowed Marxists (and only a minority of these)....and being a Communist myself, I have asked several students, and often looked through university bookstores to see if any poli-sci or history professors would break the "no Lenin allowed" rule.
Consequently, there are many people on the "left" who pretend to understand Marx and/or Marxism, but still make the exact same errors to which Lenin here responded over 80 years ago.
For example, someone just this week argued to me than Lenin was "not a real Marxist" (!!!) because he "introduced" the notion of "dictatorship of the proletariat", which was "alien" to Marx (hint: read Chapter 4 of Marx's Critique of the Gotha Programme for just one of many passages which prove this notion
totally false). State and Revolution gives many more examples of extensive quotes from Marx & Engels. One of the greates merits of S&R is that it restores the revolutionary essence to Marx, which was obscured and watered-down by the Social Democrat reformists of the 2nd International led by Karl Kautsky. Incidentally, the concept of the "dictatorship of the proletariat" has been much distorted by capitalist demagogues and anti-communist "leftists" into something completely alien to its original meaning.
To all "Left academics" and others, don't assume (or pretend) you know anything about Marx or Lenin if you've never read them...If you have to be an academic "armchair radical", at least try to get the basic facts right instead of misrepresenting what they stood for...There's no shame in not having read Lenin (join the vast majority), but it's disgusting to just pass off what you've heard about Lenin from "bourgie" intellectuals as the truth (when the truth is those intellectuals never read Lenin either most likely).
There are not a few pseudo-Marxist fakers in academia, who do more damage to popular revolutionary understanding (in the name of Marxism) than do the outright enemies of socialism. NO WONDER these "Left" anti-communist professors don't assign a book like State and Revolution, they're still trying to pass off the same lies and distortions about revolutionary Marxism that Lenin and other genuine revolutionaries tear to shreds in works like S&R.
I dedicate State and Revolution to all the "Marxian" fakers who still try to paint Marx as a mere liberal humanist reformer, and strip him of his revolutionary essence.

_State and Revolution_ is a complicated book in the annals of Marxist thinking. Lenin assigns above all a class role to the State, and therefore ascertains correctly the necessity of a socialist state assuming a proletarian viewpoint. At the same time, Lenin's socialist state lacks a truly political dimension, as it remains, above all, a means for strictly administrative decision-making. Something that would gravely hamper the subsequent understanding of the political character of a future socialist state, specially when you think that this book was written while Lenin hid from the Kerensky government, that's to say just before the October Revolution. Neverthless, the problems put by the book have enormous present value. Therefore it must be taken as entirely questionable the decision to choose as translator an anti-communist like Service, something that would be quite like choosing a neo-stalinist to translate Trotsky's "Revolution Betrayed".

In general I find Lenin easier to read than Marx. This, in my mind, is the main value I see in State and Revolution. Lenin who was 50 plus years Marx's junior significantly elaborated and augmented Marx's analysis of capitalism, class struggle and the workers' revolution they hoped would do away with both. With 50 more years experience than Marx with the failures of "democratic socialism," Lenin can argue more coherently that only a workers' revolution will end capitalism and class society. He also offers a more detailed analysis of the workers' state that is to replace the shattered capitalist state and his view of the economic and political processes by which this state will "wither away" to become true communism.

The State and Revolution also includes a discussion of the 1848 French civil war (which was hoped to end class society altogether where the 1789 revolution had failed to do this) and the successes and failures of the 1871 Paris commune. It also includes a scathing attack on anarchists who seek to destroy the state without proposing any form of social organization to replace it. Lenin quotes Marx in expressing his concern that simply destroying the state political apparatus wouldn't be adequate - that members of the capitalist class would be certain to launch a counter-revolution - thus the need for the workers to remain organized and armed to protect their revolution.

Much of the book attacks specific individuals by name, who Lenin accuses of deviating from true Marxism. For the most part these people have been lost to history. However after 30 years of sitting in political meanings where people can argue for three hours without agreeing on a vision or statement of purpose, I find it reassuring the Lenin himself dealt with these petty squabbles 100 years ago.

By Dr Stuart Jeanne Bramhall, author of THE MOST REVOLUTIONARY ACT: MEMOIR OF AN AMERICAN REFUGEE

Lenin's "State and Revolution" provides a clear insight in the emergence of revolutionary Marxism. A must-read for anyone interested in knowing what are the steps that a revolutionary-minded person can take to foster revolution.

In an introductory college course on Marxism this book is the one most likely to be recommended after the "Communist Manifesto" and Engels' "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific". This is partly because it is very readable and partly because it deals with the state both before, during and after the revolution - whereas Marx showed little interest in during and after.

Like Marx, Lenin portrays the state in capitalist society as the oppressive forces of the bourgeoisie. This applies as much to democratic states as any other. And what of the "proletarian revolution" that is to topple the bourgeois state? Marx mentioned the phrase only twice in all his writings, including a reference in the Manifesto. It was left to others (notably Lenin) to enlarge on revolution and the transition to communism. Lenin, unlike Marx an active revolutionary, was more conscious of the problem of how a revolution can arise from the masses, particularly in a backward country such as his native Russia. His answer was to portray the communist party as "the vanguard of the proletariat" in planning an executing revolution. Equally he seized on Engels' comments on the proletariat seizing control of state institutions followed by a period in which the state "dies out" (or withers away), to develop the notion of an indefinite period of the "dictatorship of the proletariat" whereby the communist party would rule on behalf of the proletariat and progressively liquidate all remnants of the old bourgeois order.

It is during the period of the dictatorship of the proletariat (length not discussed) that the state finally disappears. In an important passage Lenin writes that there may be "excesses" by "individuals" but these can be dealt with by "the armed people itself, as simply and readily as any crowd of civilised people, even in modern society, parts two people who are fighting, or intervene to prevent a woman from being assaulted." But once exploitation of the masses is removed then "with the removal of the chief causes, excesses will begin to `wither away'." Thereafter, according to Lenin, all that is needed in a classless society is "book-keeping and control". When all workers have learned to do this then "from this moment the need for any government begins to vanish."

Lenin seems to be suggesting that these functions could be carried out by workers en masse. Engels, however, had specifically attacked the Anarchists for wishing to destroy all authority, arguing that people had to be in charge of running enterprises even after a revolution. At any rate Lenin shared with Marx and Engels a very optimistic view of human nature. What distinguished Lenin, and makes this book so important, is the role he gives to communist parties as a "vanguard of the proletariat" and the significance of a "dictatorship of the proletariat".

Lenin's State and Revolution is the most crucial analysis of the Marxian theory of the state and its relation to class struggle. Lenin was a revolutionary determined to reveal the provisional government's capitulation to the forces of imperialism and to revivify the revolutionary edge of Marxism that "socialists" had attempted to obscure. Lenin writes
"According to Marx, the state is an organ of class domination, an organ of oppression of one class by another; its aim is the creation of "order" which legalizes and perpetuates this oppression by moderating the collisions between classes."
In Lenin's view, the aim of the revolutionary proletariat is to overthrow the state, and in turn, use it to redistribute the wealth and seize control over the means of production. The state will subsequently "wither" in time. State and Revolution is a powerful testament to the dictatorship of the proletariat, as well as an excellent critique of the anarchists and social-democrats.