Lenin'd defining book

[OneBrickOneVoice]

I've loads of spare time this summer so I decided I wanted to read some Lenin. Can anyone suggest what you think his most defining book would be?

[More Fire for the People]

The State and Revolution — self-descriptive;
What is to be done? — an early work on organization;
The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Government — early organization schematic for Soviet Russia;

But I suggest you read a book on the history of the Russian Revolution in addition to Lenin.

[CCCPneubauten]

Imperialism;The Highest Stage of Capitalism

[bezdomni]

For theoretical reading, I'd suggest State and Revolution and Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism.

For historical reading, I'd recommend Lenin's last testament (really, all of his last works), The Immediate tasks of the Soviet Government and What is to be done?.

[Axel1917]

Hell, if you can find a set (they are not very common), and have the cash, get the Lenin Collected Works from Progress Publishers. ;) That is what I did.

[Year: 1]

My favorite book of all time is Lenin's The State and Revolution. It enlightened me on the concept of the state, on Marxist ideas and the tasks of the proletariat. It is an extraordinary semi-anarchist blueprint for the future society.
Trotsky wrote that this book was Lenin's "last will and testament." He wrote:
"In his book The State and Revolution Lenin purged from the genuine teachings of Karl Marx all the spurious ingredients introduced by the social democracy."

What Is To Be Done is elitist and counter-revolutionary!!! It basically says that the common people are not interested in making revolution but that it needs a vanguard party to pave the way for them. What Is To Be Done was written years earlier before the State and Revolution. What Is To Be Done is an overseer's manual.

Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism is absolutely amazing. In that pamphlet Lenin explained the unexplainable: why Marx's ideas of revolution in the industrialized countries did not take place. The book is very relevant today despite its dated statistics.

[EusebioScrib]

The best work of Lenin's to read is State and Revolution. First, he didn't "write" any of it. He basically stole a bunch of quotes from Marx and just added a little commentary to each of them and vwala! "New Ideas."

What Is To Be Done is a very complicated and "highly specialized" book. You can't just pick it up and expect to understand it. It requires a decent knowledge of the situation of Russia at the time, names, groups, etc. So all in all, I've never actually read it, although have read abridged versions online which pull out key secitons.

Imperialism is a good book to read of course.

Also, read some of his smaller pamphlet stuff. For instance, stuff discussing the "Worker's Opposition" or his neo-puritanism stuff.

[Year: 1]

Originally posted by [email protected] 28 2006, 06:01 PM
The best work of Lenin's to read is State and Revolution. First, he didn't "write" any of it. He basically stole a bunch of quotes from Marx and just added a little commentary to each of them and vwala! "New Ideas."

What Is To Be Done is a very complicated and "highly specialized" book. You can't just pick it up and expect to understand it. It requires a decent knowledge of the situation of Russia at the time, names, groups, etc. So all in all, I've never actually read it, although have read abridged versions online which pull out key secitons.

Imperialism is a good book to read of course.

Also, read some of his smaller pamphlet stuff. For instance, stuff discussing the "Worker's Opposition" or his neo-puritanism stuff.
Yeah, Lenin got his ideas from Marx; but nobody had actually read and absorbed every detail of Marx's writings and then synthesised them into a coherent book until Lenin came along. Lenin's State and Revolution is like reading several of Marx's essential works (Like The Civil War in France and Communist Manifesto) without taking the time to do so. Of course, Das Kapital is another matter

[bolshevik butcher]

I would highly reccomend the state and revolution for immediate reading, if youre new to lenin. I would aslo reccomend left wing communism: an infanitle disorder, to give a leninist perspective on the flaws of anarchism and other ultra leftists ideas.

[Conghaileach]

Originally posted by [email protected] 28 2006, 07:01 PM
The best work of Lenin's to read is State and Revolution. First, he didn't "write" any of it. He basically stole a bunch of quotes from Marx and just added a little commentary to each of them and vwala! "New Ideas."
Even Marx himself is guilty of that.

[Year: 1]

Well Lenin did not actually steal from Marx. He borrowed quotations and cited his sources like any good scholar. :lol: