Vladimir Ilich Lenin's State and Revolution: An Exploration of Revolutionary Theory and Practice

Chad reid: Every worker should read State and Revolution. Lenin Lived, Lenin Lives, Lenin Will Live Forever!

United States on Sep 02, 2023

Mr. Raymond A. Voyce: I got this edition to search for references to alienation and Marx's materialism. There were a few relevant passages. This book is strong on revolutionary socialism.

United Kingdom on May 13, 2023

Trev: That’s pretty much it

United Kingdom on Apr 28, 2023

lee: Good read, important stuff to know

United States on Apr 17, 2023

Kin: The book itself a well printed and of decent quality. The content can be hard to follow at times if you don’t understand some of the terminology used but on the whole it gives a great insight into the mind of Lenin. It certainly shows his utter contempt of State, Class and Capitalism and how through revolution it must be smashed. Also clear is his love of the writings of Marx and Engels - and how, in his mind, their work was completely misinterpreted by the opportunists of the day. Worth a read if you are at all interested in political history.

United Kingdom on Mar 16, 2023

Riley: A classic read from the insight of Lenin not just as a critique on the state, but on Marx and Engels as well. Ironic that I bought it from an Amazon warehouse, but gives reading this a good nuanced perspective in a way.

United States on Mar 06, 2023

some old guy: If you need to know , want to know what lenin was about its a good book
Its well worht the money for the above
Lenin is however pretty well totally nuts and thats not a political view I think jeremy corbin is a wonderful man. Lenin goes on about opinions ideas and history as does the comunist manafesto but there is very very little actuall content other than we hate everything except the working class that should smash everythnig and dictate everythnig from a working class dictatorship.
Its so simplistic its child like . Full of long complex sentences hiding the fact it says nothing. Trying to sound interlectul when its just adjective
Smash the system , remove all personal weath replace it with state ownership , run it from a workers cooperatve , let the state fade away as its not needed , workers must contol the means of production etc
This they could say making statements that at least mean someting.
They Leinin Marx engles all go on
the protalitariate are salves to the petty this or that and the state is in control of them and we need to do the right thing and take away the power of the producers and control the state to get rid of the state becasue we dont...

United Kingdom on Jun 22, 2022

Jim HoJim Ho: The content itself is great, the ideas it contain are explained clearly, Lenin would be a great novelist or/and critic if he didn't come up this idea and orchestrate a revolution.
However, the quality of the book itself is questionable. When the book came at my doorstep and I flicked through a few pages, some pages fell off, thus, I have to stapled my book to avoid any more fall-offs. (I am not certain if it's just this specific book I received, or the whole production line, but from the fact that most people rated the book 5 stars, I guess it's just mine)

United Kingdom on Apr 19, 2022

Christopher: I've been reading this book slowly over the past few weeks, just a few pages a day and I have really appreciated it now that I'm finishing it. I think it's a wonderful read not only for Lenin's perspective and thoughts but also for a good breakdown of Marx and Engels' writings. Lenin talks about arguments brought up against socialism, the steps to achieve full communism, what that would look like, and arguments for why socialism is necessary, and now possible after the European revolutions of the 19th century.
I do not agree with everything he says, and I find some of his analyses to be somewhat incompatible with today's modern worker-state/worker-bourgeois dynamics. And some of his takes on democracy and necessity for a state apparatus I find to be a little jarring to say the least. But that could just be because Communism is something so far from the capitalist norm of today that It's hard to imagine anything else.

I still love the book, I still would recommend, and I still feel it's very useful and informative even today for anyone wanting to find their way through leftism.

United States on Sep 20, 2021

Nemo: First, in regards to this particular copy of S&R; it isn't the best, it isn't the worst. There are numerous misspellings throughout and it is cumbersome like a textbook. I much prefer the standard paper back dimensions, blah blah blah. If I'm actually reviewing a book on format, then it probably wasn't up to par.

Lastly, the information. Keep in mind as you read, who exactly Lenin was. He was born into nobility. He was a rich kid by Russian standards of the time. His brother was involved in a Tsar assassination plot and was subsequently executed. This greatly influenced Lenin's leaving his nobility status and turn to Communism. Granted, life probably sucked terribly under Tsarist rule. People were sent to Siberia well before the Revolution. My problem is that the machine that replaced monarchy was far worse a fate. Lenin presided over the Cheka, the Red Terror, and the suppression of workers riots. There are estimates that a million died under his watch, many of whom were peasants and workers (not those "evil" bourgeoisie). "Enemies" were tortured in the most heinous ways; rats being strategically placed to eat through them, live burials, frozen as living statues, etc....

United States on Aug 04, 2015