State and Revolution

Fab book and good value.

An essential read for anyone remotely interested in discovering more about Marxist Leninist theory.

great communist book.buy it comrades!!great service/long live lenin!!!thanks

bought as a present for a political history buff

Professional service

This book is an interesting read. Lenin certainly seems to have a sense of humour when writing this, even if it is in the form of dry wit which comes out now and again, thankfully keeping this from growing too dry. There is no mistake that this is an academic piece, citing much of Engels and Marx, rather than a revolutionary pamphlet. For any scholar of revolutions, Lenin, or pre-1918 Europe, this is a must-read.It is not especially long and could probably be read in two sittings, whilst the book itself is fairly good quality and well-laid out.

Nice little book, enjoying it!

All good

This book is a ATOM BOMB!

It's a great book for learning more about communism and an excellent book for learning the mecanics of politics and power. Even after nearly 100 years the content is still up to date; which is a good example of the bureaucracy's pace...

There are no shortage of reviews for this classic, for good reason. For all their influence and relevance, both Marx, but not so much Engels, did not leave behind a coherent doctrine, with elements of their philosophy scattered among many writings. The function of State and Revolution is to connect the dots and give a coherent, clear message of Marxian theory. It remains one of the clearest explanations of the Communist system.I was struck when reading State and Revolution how much resonates with today. Even though first published over a hundred years ago (1917), State and Revolution contains cutting analysis which holds up even one hundred years after it was first published. In this regard, pay attention to what Lenin says about how States are created and continue to exist. Or witness what Lenin says about how the memory and thoughts of great revolutionary thinkers are reduced to sound bytes, ignoring other important messages, or, to use Lenin’s words, being “canonized.” For example, for all the great words and deeds from Martin Luther King, the media mostly remember him for saying, “I have a dream, ....” leaving out the many other words and deeds he said.A frequent argument against Communist political systems is that historically most have been nothing but authoritarian dictatorships. State and Revolution clarifies this argument. Russia, Eastern Europe were mired in dictatorship, never progressing further, per Marxian theory, to a democratic, communistic state. The great benefit of State and Revolution is that Lenin fully explains this important issue, devoting an entire chapter to the “withering of the State.”

Good book

Although I am an anarchist, Lenin's work is useful in understanding the origins of the state in class society. From the irreconcilable class antagonisms that exist under class societies and the necessity of the state to enforce private property under capitalism, the democratic bourgeois republic emerges alongside the capitalist mode of production. Lenin argued that a Vanguard Party of the proletariat should be mobilized to increase revolutionary class consciousness among the working class, the state machinery of consumer society should be broken up and seized by the proletariat, a democratic dictatorship of the proletariat should use the state to combat reaction by the bourgeoisie, and that the elimination of class hierarchy would lead to the "withering away" of the state. Although Lenin's words resonate well, historically, his actions and words did not match, and overall, I favor anarchism and I would recommend reading Bakunin, Kropotkin, Goldman, Stirner, Proudhon, Bookchin, etc.