The State and Revolution (Gosudarstvo i Revolyutsiya)

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin is one of the most striking and controversial figures in the history of the 20th century. Despite the complexity and contradictory assessments of his work, one can hardly deny the fact that, having led the political upheaval of 1917 and then become the head of the Soviet state, he exerted a powerful influence on human history. This makes it all the more interesting to turn to his journalism. This edition includes the most significant texts of the leader of the proletariat ('What Is to Be Done?', 'State and Revolution,' 'April Theses,' 'Three Sources and Three Components of Marxism,' and others), providing insight into his personality and beliefs. In these works, Lenin emerges as the leader of the Bolshevik Party, as a strategist and tactician of the revolutionary struggle, as a Marxist—a researcher, follower, and reformer of the socioeconomic and political teachings of Marx and Engels, as a theorist of 'scientific communism,' and even as a literary critic. The publication is accompanied by an article by St. Petersburg State University professor and writer Andrei Stepanov, which offers a contemporary perspective on the legacy of Lenin the publicist.