Tag Archives: communist party

Kerepesi/Fiumei Uti Sirkert – Pantheon of the Working Class Movement

Posted on by
Reply
Pantheon of the Working Class Movement

Pantheon of the Working Class Movement

Kerepesi/Fiumei Uti Sirkert – Pantheon of the Working Class Movement

Labour Movement Pantheon

‘The Labour Movement Pantheon was built according to the plans of József Körner with the purpose of creating a central burial place for the Socialist Hungary. The mausoleum was inaugurated in 1959. The pantheon was originally designed for 365 urns, but only 75 urns had actually been placed there. In 1989 János Kádár was also buried nearby.’

From the information leaflet ‘ More than a graveyard’ produced by the government.

This is the only monument from Hungary’s Socialist period that is still in existence in its original location. I’m sure the only reason for that was its location in a cemetery. The same goes for the memorial obelisk in the Soviet plot (located a short distance to the left of the main entrance).

As far as I can understand there was quite a radical and thorough removal of any and all monuments that put the period from 1948-1989 in a positive light. This included wall plaques commemorating any Communist, even if they had died in the fight against German Nazism and their local Hungarian collaborators. I’ve encountered one or two bas reliefs on buildings in the centre of Budapest which seemed to have survived the purge – mainly because they could be written off as commemorating workers without any specific reference to Socialism and, therefore, not considered a political threat. There doesn’t seem to have been a lot of symbolism incorporated into Hungarian Socialist Realist art so easy to pass some monuments off as benign.

The Pantheon

The complex is reached by way of a wide path, lined by a mixture of bushes, flower beds and individual grave plots. This path then widens out to a small rectangular platform where any ceremony would talk place for whoever was going to be placed in the mausoleum.

Then, on either side, reached by a flight of eight steps, three large, rectangular pylons. On one side, that facing away from the mausoleum, there are larger than life-size tableau representing the struggle of Hungarian workers and peasants against oppression by the State and exploitation of capitalism. On the other side are plaques with names from Hungary’s revolutionary past – although these are not graves or niches as the individuals are all buried elsewhere.

In the centre, right in front of the mausoleum is a statue of three people.

I’m sure it’s a history written chronologically but not sure where it actually starts as the two opposing tableau seem to represent a similar stage of the struggle.

So starting with those closest to the building and taken from the perspective of the ceremonial square.

Pantheon of the Working Class Movement - 02

Pantheon of the Working Class Movement – 02

On the right hand side there are two soldiers, with late 19th century rifles, bayonets fixed. They are also wearing swords which are in their scabbard. The are threatening a man, who is standing, and a woman (kneeling) as she has her right arm around her little daughter. Although the man is not physically trying to defend himself his stance is one of defiance to authority. The way the civilians are dressed would seem to indicate they are peasants, farmers, and the tree also emphasises the encounter taking place in the country. There’s also the symbolism of the willow tree which is one of reliance and endurance – and in this scenario resistance. That resistance is stressed by the raised fist, against the soldiers, of the mother and even the little girl.

Pantheon of the Working Class Movement - 05

Pantheon of the Working Class Movement – 05

On the left side the pylon depicts a violent encounter between the people and the military but this time in an urban environment. An armed lackey of the state is on horseback (the horse rearing up on its hind legs) and he is either threatening or attempting to strike a demonstrator with his drawn sword. This is not the first time he has used his sword as lying prone on the ground is another male demonstrator, either wounded or dead. The other person in the tableau is a standing woman who has a piece of a cobble in her hand ready to throw at the rider. The demonstrators have prepared for violence as we see that the ground is broken up at their feet so ammunition, in lieu of firearms, is ready to hand.

But at the same time notice how her male companion has his hand at her waist, pushing her back, protecting her, from the possible onslaught that is coming in the shape of the raised sword. This sculpture was produced in 1959 and this action could be interpreted as the male trying to be the protector of the weaker female, as if she is not someone who can look after herself. Perhaps it wil be seen different now. In this situation you have that fine dividing line of protecting a Comrade, any Comrade, and not undermining female revolutionaries.

This scene is very reminiscent of another monument to workers’ struggle which I’ve seen recently and that is the monumental sculpture to the 1905-1907 Revolution outside the Ulitsa 1905 Goda Metro station in Moscow. In that sculpture an armed puppet of the State has already done his worse but others in the demonstration are continuing to fight him with their bare hands or with anything that comes to hand, even trying to pull him off his horse.

So in these two pylons, where I think the chronology could be interchangeable, show the early days of the struggle, when the oppressed and exploited are fighting but not in an organised manner and always at a disadvantage as the State has a monopoly on organisation and weapons. The people have the will and the courage but they still lack what they need to overcome the enemy and win.

And one of the things the workers and peasants need if they are to achieve victory is an ideology and the theory of Revolution.

Pantheon of the Working Class Movement - 06

Pantheon of the Working Class Movement – 06

That, I believe, is what is being presented in the next pylon on the left. Here we have four people, three men and a young woman. They are in the countryside (as indicated by the trees in the background) but they are not people of the countryside. Both the young man and woman on the right have rucksacks on their backs and the man has a long stick to indicate that they have walked from the city/town to the countryside to avoid the spies that are everywhere in a modern urban environment (then as now). Those two young people, as well as the older man in the middle, are all looking in the direction of the standing, slightly more mature male than the youngsters, as if he is in the process of making a presentation, making an argument. The young woman has her right hand on the open pages of a book and the older man, who is sitting down, also has an open book on his lap.

Who might be actually speaking at this moment is open to question. The standing young man on the right is making a sweeping gesture with his left hand and the man sitting down has his left arm raised as if he is wanting to say something. The woman is not contributing at this moment but is intently listening to what is being said. So I think this depicts a study group that’s taking place as such groups are illegal and so they have to leave the city to discuss and learn the theory of Revolution. Also note the satchel on the ground at the feet of the standing man on the left. Could this have contained the illegal books of Marxism he has brought to distribute to his ‘students’?

‘Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it.’

Karl Marx, Thesis on Feuerbach, see in the Appendix of Engels’s book ‘Ludwig Feuerbach And the Outcome of Classical German Philosophy’, pp73-75.

But it’s all very well knowing what to do and why. Next comes action, putting all that theory into practice.

Pantheon of the Working Class Movement - 03

Pantheon of the Working Class Movement – 03

And that’s what we see in the next pylon, the second one from the mausoleum, on the right. Here, again, we have four individuals, three men and a women, who are turning that theory into practice. They are all armed and in the process of fighting the forces of reaction. However, it’s slightly strange as the trees in the background would seem to indicate that they are still in the countryside but they are dressed as proletarians and would be more at home involved in an urban revolution, insurrection, than a protracted struggle in the countryside.

It’s even stranger when you look at the weapons they are using as these are weapons from the early 1940s, when the Soviet Red Army (with the assistance of local Communist Partisans) liberated Budapest from the German Nazis and their Hungarian collaborators. The man standing on the right is about to throw a stick grenade and in front of him is another man, kneeling, aiming and firing a rifle (I don’t know what type). Now these weapons were available from the 1914-1919 war onwards but what starts to date the image is the weapon that the woman is holding, although not yet pointing at the enemy.

(I have made a point of emphasising that in Albanian lapidars if a woman is depicted in an image, be it a statue, bas relief or mosaic often the men aren’t armed but the women are, so it’s good to see in Hungary that there was also the idea that women are fighters and not just passive, non-combatants who support in a more passive manner. Unfortunately many women seem to have forgotten that once you are armed you should never give up your weapons. If you do things will go backwards.)

Her weapon looks very much like the PPSh-41 submachine gun, an almost standard weapon for the Red Army and Partisans in the Great Patriotic War. You can see images of these in the hands of Red Army soldiers on the semi-circular bas reliefs on either side of the Monument to the Soviet Red Army in Liberty Square in the centre of Budapest.

But going back to the bas relief on the pylon, the last figure looks like an officer or Commissar. As in most 20th century armies the officers were distinguished by the fact they carried a revolver – but he also carries a submachine gun. It was almost certainly a mistake that this distinction between ranks became more evident in the Red Army after the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. (See my comment about only officers being commemorated on the Monument to the Soviet Red Army.)

The final two pylons are difficult to separate when it comes to chronology.

They both seem to depict the victory of Socialism. The war is over and the battle has been won.

Pantheon of the Working Class Movement - 07

Pantheon of the Working Class Movement – 07

On the left we have very well dressed men (3) and a women but they are not in a normal military uniform. There seems to be some sort of ceremony going on here – hence the formality of civilian dress – revolving around the raising of the flag. If we start from the right men one and three seem to be on a sort of guard duty. Man number two is holding a flag pole with his left hand and is straitening out the flag itself with his right so in this image the flag (obviously the Red Flag) plays the part of the background to tableau. The woman standing on the left is holding the top of the pole with her left hand and the ribbons to the ferule fall over her hand. Surmounting the pole is a star.

Pantheon of the Working Class Movement - 04

Pantheon of the Working Class Movement – 04

The final pylon shows the construction of Socialism. We have quite a bucolic scene. On the right there is a man digging the soil (I like the way the soil been raised is depicted here) and at the same time he is looking lovingly into the eyes of a young woman who is picking apples from a tree of abundance and collecting them in her apron. On the left we have a family of three. The mother, kneeling, with her arms around her daughter who has in her hands a book, an emphasis of education under all Socialist regimes – and also a reference back to one of the other pylons about a study session. They get support from the hand placed on the woman’s shoulder/back by her ‘husband’ dressed as an industrial worker.

Sculptural group;

Pantheon of the Working Class Movement - 01

Pantheon of the Working Class Movement – 01

This group of three, two men and a woman, are on the same level as the pylons but right in the centre of the mausoleum wall. The man in the centre, who looks the more positive by looking far into the future, is supporting another man who is either tired or injured, he can barely stand without this support. The woman on the right has her left arm raised in front of her face and I can’t work out its meaning. I suppose it could have the meaning of sadness, a mock hiding of the eyes to the scene of death but I’m not sure. At the same time she is gripping the left hand of the central male. I find this a somewhat strange pose to be found in as cemetery. Compare this with the group of three in Pogradec Martyrs’ Cemetery or the treating of a wounded Comrade in the sculpture in Përmet cemetery.

Behind the group, in large black metal lettering;

in Hungarian;

‘A kommunizmusért, a népért éltek’

which translates into English as;

‘They lived for Communism, for the people’

The sculptor was Olcsai-Kiss Zoltán (1895-1981). His name appears on two of the tableau, the two that are furthest from the mausoleum on the left hand side as you look at it.

Condition;

The pylons or the sculpture haven’t been damaged but there are signs of neglect. The environment for the three pylons on the right must be more humid and there is mould growth, especially the pylon in the middle, which is blackening the bas relief. The fact that the pylons on the left get more sun throughout the year is probably the reason they are free of this mould growth. And the covers that have been installed on top of all the pylons (for reasons I don’t understand) also allow for water to drip down and cause damage.

But the clearest sign of neglect is the small plant that is growing out of the wall, just above the head of the horse, in the pylon that’s closest to the mausoleum on the left. The fact that no one has done anything to cut this plant back speaks volumes.

The sculptural group looks like it could do with a good clean but I have been unable to find an image of what it was like at its inauguration in order to compare with what’s it’s like now.

Soviet plot;

Soviet War Memorial

Soviet War Memorial

Also worth a visit if you are in the cemetery is the Soviet Plot, Number 1, which can be found if you turn left and follow the track that runs parallel with the boundary wall of cemetery. In the centre there’s an obelisk with the coast of arms of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) on two faces surmounted by a three dimensional star. This plot holds the remains of those who fought in the liberation of Budapest in 1944-45 as well as those who died during the counter-revolution of 1956.

This area is very well cared for and I have no doubt this is all paid for by the Russian state and that the assurance that it will not be vandalised is part of the same agreement that covers the Monument to the Soviet Red Army in the centre of town.

Location;

Fiumei ut, which is close to Keleti mainline railway station.

GPS;

47.49698º N

19.08418º E

How to get there by public transport;

It’s only a few minutes walk from the Keleti railway station, which can be reached by Metro line 4. Or from the tram line that runs parallel with the river in Pest you can catch the Number 23 tram which takes you right past the main entrance on Fiumei ut.

27th March 1886 – Birth of Sergei Mironovich Kirov

Posted on by
Reply
Sergei M Kirov

Sergei M Kirov

More on the USSR

More on the ‘Revolutionary Year’

Sergei Mironovich Kirov 27th March 1886 – 1st December 1934

From The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979)

(Party pseudonym of S. M. Kostrikov). Born March 27th 1886, in Urzhum, in present-day Kirov Oblast; died December 1st 1934, in Leningrad. A prominent figure of the Communist Party and the Soviet state. Became a member of the Communist Party in 1904.

Kirov’s father belonged to the lower middle class (meshchanstvo). After his parents died, Kirov at the age of seven was placed in an orphanage. He studied at the Urzhum City School from 1897 to 1901 and the Kazan Mechanical and Technical School, from which he graduated in 1904; that same autumn he moved to Tomsk and worked as a draftsman with the city executive board. There Kirov became an active member of the Bolshevik group of the Tomsk Social Democratic organization. He was elected to the Tomsk Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) committee in July 1905 and organized an underground printing press and conducted party work among railroad workers in the summer of 1906. In October 1905, Kirov prepared and successfully led a strike at the important Taiga railroad station. He was repeatedly arrested in 1905 and 1906; in February 1907, having spent seven months in prison, he was sentenced to one year and four months of detention in a fortress.

After his release in June 1908, Kirov moved to Irkutsk, where he re-established the Party organization that had been smashed by the police. Evading police persecution, Kirov moved in May 1909 to Vladikavkaz (now Ordzhonikidze), assumed the leadership of the Bolshevik organization, and worked on the newspaper Terek. In November 1912 the newspaper published the article “Simplicity of Mores” over the signature S. Kirov, a surname that became his party pseudonym. In the period of the new revolutionary upswing in 1910–14 and during World War I, Kirov directed all Bolshevik political work in the Northern Caucasus; he was elected to the Vladikavkaz Soviet after the February Revolution of 1917. In October 1917, Kirov was a delegate to the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets and participated in the October armed uprising in Petrograd. Upon returning to Vladikavkaz, Kirov led the struggle of the working people of the Terek for Soviet rule. He attended the second oblast congress of the peoples of the Terek, held in Piatigorsk in February-March 1918, which proclaimed Soviet rule in the Northern Caucasus, and attended the Sixth All-Russian Congress of Soviets in November 1918 as a delegate of Terek Oblast.

In late December 1918, Kirov led an expedition transporting arms and ammunition through Astrakhan to the Northern Caucasus; he stopped in Astrakhan because the Whites had captured the Northern Caucasus by that time. He was then appointed chairman of the Provisional Military Revolutionary Committee of Astrakhan Krai in February 1919, becoming a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Eleventh Army on May 7th 1919, and a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Southern Troop Group of the Red Army on July 7th Kirov was one of the organizers and leaders of the defense of Astrakhan. From January 1919, Kirov and G. K. Ordzhonikidze directed the offensive of the Eleventh Army in the Northern Caucasus; after capturing Vladikavkaz on March 30th and Baku on May 1st the army helped the workers in Baku overthrow the Musavatists and restore Soviet power.

On May 29th 1920, Kirov was appointed plenipotentiary of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) in Georgia, where the Mensheviks had seized power, and on October 1st – 12th 1920, he headed the Soviet delegation in Riga concluding the peace treaty with Poland. Kirov became a member of the Caucasian Bureau of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik) RCP (B) after his return to the Northern Caucasus (October 1920). He was elected a candidate member of the Central Committee of the RCP(B) at the Tenth Congress of the RCP(B) in March 1921 and directed the work of the constituent congress of the Gorskaia Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) (Vladikavkaz) on April 16th – 22nd 1921. Elected secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan in early July 1921, Kirov was instrumental in the rehabilitation of the petroleum industry and was one of the founders of the Transcaucasion Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (December 1922). The Twelfth Congress of the RCP(B), held in April 1923, elected him to the Central Committee of the RCP(B).

At a crucial point in the struggle against the Trotskyite-Zinovievite opposition, the party sent Kirov to Leningrad, and in February 1926 he was elected first secretary of the Leningrad Province Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolshevik), ACP(B) and of the North-western Bureau of the Central Committee of the ACP(B) and a candidate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the ACP(B). Under his leadership the Leningrad organization made great strides in all fields of socialist construction. Kirov waged an uncompromising and principled struggle for party unity against all anti-party groupings, such as the Trotskyites, Zinovievites, and Bukharinites. He was elected to the Politburo of the Central Committee of the ACP(B) in 1930, to the Organization Bureau in 1934, also becoming its secretary, and to the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR. A passionate tribune totally committed to the cause of the Party, Kirov enjoyed tremendous prestige among and had the love of the Soviet people. On December 1st 1934, Kirov was killed by an enemy of the Communist Party in Smol’nyi Institute (Leningrad).

Kirov had been awarded the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner. He is buried in Moscow on Red Square at the Kremlin wall.

Sergei with JV Stalin

Sergei with JV Stalin

On December 1, 1934, S. M. Kirov was foully murdered in the Smolny, in Leningrad, by a shot from a revolver.

The assassin was caught red-handed and turned out to be a member of a secret counter-revolutionary group made up of members of an anti-Soviet group of Zinovievites in Leningrad.

S. M. Kirov was loved by the Party and the working class, and his murder stirred the people profoundly, sending a wave of wrath and deep sorrow through the country.

The investigation established that in 1933 and 1934 an underground counter-revolutionary terrorist group had been formed in Leningrad consisting of former members of the Zinoviev opposition and headed by a so-called “Leningrad Centre.” The purpose of this group was to murder leaders of the Communist Party. S. M. Kirov was chosen as the first victim. The testimony of the members of this counter-revolutionary group showed that they were connected with representatives of foreign capitalist states and were receiving funds from them.

The exposed members of this organization were sentenced by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the U.S.S.R. to the supreme penalty—to be shot.

…..

In a circular letter to Party organizations on the subject of the foul murder of S. M. Kirov, the Central Committee of the Party stated:

a) We must put an end to the opportunist complacency engendered by the enormous assumption that as we grow stronger the enemy will become tamer and more inoffensive. This assumption is an utter fallacy. It is a recrudescence of the Right deviation, which assured all and sundry that our enemies would little by little creep into Socialism and in the end become real Socialists. The Bolsheviks have no business to rest on their laurels; they have no business to sleep at their posts. What we need is not complacency, but vigilance, real Bolshevik revolutionary vigilance. It should be remembered that the more hopeless the position of the enemies, the more eagerly will they clutch at ‘extreme measures’ as the only recourse of the doomed in their struggle against the Soviet power. We must remember this, and be vigilant.

b) We must properly organize the teaching of the history of the Party to Party members, the study of all and sundry anti-Party groups in the history of our Party, their methods of combating the Party line, their tactics and—still more the tactics and methods of our Party in combating anti-Party groups, the tactics and methods which have enabled our Party to vanquish and demolish these groups. Party members should not only know how the Party combated and vanquished the Constitutional-Democrats, Socialist-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and Anarchists, but also how it combated and vanquished the Trotskyites, the ‘Democratic-Centralists,’ the ‘Workers’ Opposition,’ the Zinovievites, the Right deviators, the Right-Leftist freaks and the like. It should never be forgotten that a knowledge and understanding of the history of our Party is a most important and essential means of fully ensuring the revolutionary vigilance of the Party members.

From The History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolshevik), Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 19039, pp325-328.

SM Kirov addressing a meeting in the Ingush village of Bazorkino

SM Kirov addressing a meeting in the Ingush village of Bazorkino

IN THE NORTH CAUCASUS

In the North Caucasus the Bolsheviks were obliged to fight under extremely difficult conditions. The very intricate national situation, the antagonisms among the Cossacks, the strife between the higher caste of the Cossacks and the Mountain People, and between the Cossacks as a whole and the peasant settlers from other parts of the country, the national strife among the Mountain People, and the numerical weakness of the proletariat in the region – all this necessitated the employment of exceptionally cautious tactics. An example of thoughtful, Bolshevik handling of problems was set in the Terek Region in 1917 by Sergei Mironovich Kirov.

Kirov had been away in Petrograd on a mission on behalf of the Vladikavkaz Bolshevik organisation and the Vladikavkaz Soviet. He returned on September 2 and immediately plunged into revolutionary work. Every day, and sometimes several times a day, he addressed meetings of workers and soldiers. A brilliant speaker, and well read, he had a gift for illustrating his arguments with vivid metaphors and examples. His inspired speeches, breathing profound faith in the victory of the revolution, literally fired his audiences. In preparing the proletariat and the working people in the North Caucasus in general for armed insurrection Kirov attached enormous importance to propaganda activities among the poorer sections of the Mountain People, among whom he was already extremely popular.

The counter-revolutionaries among the Cossacks and Mountain People did their utmost to foment national strife. Rumours were deliberately spread in the Cossack stanitsas to the effect that the Bolsheviks were· inciting the Mountain People to set fire to and destroy the stanitsas. On the other hand, the mullahs and kulaks among the Mountain People spread the rumour that the shaitans (devils), the Bolsheviks, were urging the Cossacks to wreck their mosques and seize their wives and children. The poorer sections of the Mountain People and the Cossacks, however, knew Kirov as a courageous Bolshevik who had already on one occasion averted what had seemed an inevitable sanguinary collision. On July 6, the soldiers in Vladikavkaz, incited by the counter-revolutionaries, brutally assaulted the unarmed Mountain People who had come to market. The flames of national war threatened to engulf the city, the Cossack stanitsas and the auls, or mountain villages. Foreseeing the frightful bloodshed that would result in the extermination of the best revolutionary forces and the strengthening of the counter-revolutionary forces among the Cossacks’ and the Mountain People, Kirov went off alone to the Ingush village of Bazorkino, where preparations were in progress for an armed attack on Vladikavkaz and succeeded in revealing to the Ingush people the provocative designs of the counter-revolutionaries among the Cossacks and Mountain People. His courage and daring made such a profound impression upon them that they abandoned their intention of attacking the city. Through Kirov, the best representatives of the Ingush people, such as Sultan Kostayev and Yusup Albagachiev, made contact with the Vladikavkaz Soviet of Workers’ Deputies.

Kirov also established connections with the poorer sections of the Ossetian people through the Ossetian revolutionary party known as ‘Kermen’, which was formed in the summer of 1917. This party took its name from the legendary Ossetian hero, Kermcn, a slave, who had fought for his rights and had been treacherously killed by his oppressors. True, this organisation lacked a definite program and clung to a number of nationalist prejudices and fallacies, but it exercised considerable influence among the poorer sections of the Ossetian peasants. In May 1918 the best elements of the ‘Kermenists’ joined the Bolshevik Party and formed an Ossetian Area Bolshevik organisation.

By the autumn of 1917 the Vladikavkaz Party organisation had undergone considerable change. Under Kirov’s leadership, the Bolsheviks had won over the proletarian nucleus in the united Social-Democratic organisation, and from the very first days of the revolution had acted as an independent group. They were backed by the workers in the railway workshops and the Alagir Works.

The split in the Social-Democratic organisation occurred at the end of October 1917. At a general Party meeting held in Vladikavkaz, of the 500 members present, only eight supported the Menshevik platform. In face of this overwhelming defeat the Mensheviks withdrew from the meeting.

Thus, on the eve of the Great Proletarian Revolution the Vladikavkaz Bolsheviks were united in a strong and solid Party organisation. This was an extremely important factor in securing the victory of the Soviet regime in the North Caucasus. Already at the end of September the Bolsheviks had gained control of the Vladikavkaz Soviet.

On October 5 the Vladikavkaz Soviet elected Kirov as one of its delegates to the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets. He was also elected as a delegate to this Congress by the Nalchik Soviet. On October 21, after Kirov had left for Petrograd, the Vladikavkaz Soviet re-elected him in his absence a member of the new Executive Committee that was chosen that night.

From The History of the Civil War in the USSR, Volume 2, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1947, pp136-138

THE DEATH OF KIROV

1st December 1934

A great sorrow has befallen our Party. On December 1st, Comrade Kirov fell victim to the hand of an assassin, a scallawag sent by the class enemies.

The death of Kirov is an irreparable loss, not only for us, his close friends and comrades, but also for all those who have known him in his revolutionary work, and have known him as a fighter, comrade and friend. A man who has given all his brilliant life to the cause of the working class, to the cause of Communism, to the cause of the liberation of humanity, is dead, victim of the enemy.

Comrade Kirov was an example of Bolshevism, recognizing neither fear nor difficulties in the realizing of the great aim, fixed by the Party. His integrity, his will of iron, his astonishing qualities as an orator, inspired by the Revolution, were combined in him with such cordiality and such tenderness in his relations with his comrades and personal friends, with such warmth and modesty, all of which are traits of the true Leninist.

Comrade Kirov has worked in different parts of the U.S.S.R. in the period of illegality and after the October Revolution – at Tomsk and Astrakhan, at Vladicaucase and Baku – and everywhere he upheld the high standard of the Party; he has won for the Party millions of workers, due to his revolutionary work, indefatigable, energetic and fruitful.

During the last nine years, Comrade Kirov directed the organization of our Party in Lenin’s town, and the region of Leningrad. There is no possibility, by means of a short and sad letter, to give an appreciation of his activities among the workers of Leningrad. It would have been difficult to find in our Party, a director who could be more successfully in harmony with the working class of Leningrad, who could so ably unite all the members of the Party and all the working class around the Party. He has created in the whole organization of Leningrad, this same atmosphere of organization, of discipline, of love and of Bolshevik devotion to the Revolution, which characterised Comrade Kirov himself.

You were near us all Comrade Kirov, as a trusted friend, as a loved comrade, as a faithful companion in arms. We will remember you, dear friend, till the end of our life and of our struggle and we feel bitterness at our loss. You were always with us in the difficult years of the struggle for the victory of Socialism in our country, you were always with us in the years of uncertainty and internal difficulties in our Party, you have lived with us all the difficulties of these last years, and we have lost you at the moment when our country has achieved great victories. In all these struggles, in all our achievements, there is very much evidence of you, of your energy, your strength and your ardent love for the Communist cause.

Farewell, Sergei, our dear friend and comrade.

J. Stalin, S. Ordjonikidze, V. Molotov, M. Kalinin, K. Voroshilov, L. Kaganovich, A. Mikoyan, A. Andreyev, V. Tchoubar, A. Idanov, V. Kuibyshev. Ia. Roudzoutak, S. Kossior, P. Postychev, G. Petrovsky, A. Ienoukidze, M. Chkiriatov, Em. Iaroslavski, N. Ejov,

Pravda

2 December 1934

In JV Stalin, Works, Volume 14, pp63-65

More on the USSR

More on the ‘Revolutionary Year’

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin – individual works, compilations, biographies – including earlier Collected and Selected editions

Posted on by
Reply
Lenin in the Smolny

Lenin in the Smolny

More on the USSR

The Great ‘Marxist-Leninist’ Theoreticians

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin – individual works, compilations, biographies and including earlier Collected and Selected editions

This page will include individual pamphlets of the works of VI Lenin as well as a more information about his life and work. Available elsewhere on the site are the Collected Works – a total of 47 volumes – which is the most extensive resource in the English language of the ideas of the leader of the Bolshevik Party and the first Socialist State.

(This is an on going project and other material will be added as and when it becomes available in a digital format. If you are after a particular pamphlet and it is not here at the moment then it might appear in the future.)

Collected and Selected Works

Collected Works of V. I. Lenin, 1930s International Publishers Edition, New York,

Volume 13, Materialism and Empirio-Criticism, 1927, 347 pages.

Volume 18, The Imperialist War, 1930, 499 pages.

Volume 21, Book 1, Toward the Seizure of Power, 1932, 305 pages.

Volume 21, Book 2, Toward the Seizure of Power, 1932, 353 pages.

VI Lenin: Selected Works, in 12 volumes, International Publishers, New York, late 1930s, arranged by period and by topic.

Although the later 45-volume Collected Works is more complete and more carefully prepared, this earlier set provides alternate translations which may be helpful in some cases. Plus, this set may facilitate identifying references to Lenin’s specific writings which point to these volumes. Further to that they were also produced at a time when the Soviet Union was following the Socialist Road and the translations were not subject to a Revisionist interpretation, which is the possibility with the versions published in the 1970s.

Volume 1: The Prerequisites of the Russian Revolution (1891-1899), International Publishers, New York, n.d. 1930s, 564 pages.

Volume 2: The Struggle for the Bolshevik Party (1900-1904), International Publishers, New York, n.d. 1930s, 587 pages.

Volume 3: The Revolution of 1905-1907, International Publishers, New York, n.d. 1930s, 649 pages.

Volume 4: The Years of Reaction and of the New Revival (1908-1914), International Publishers, New York, n.d. 1930s, 465 pages.

Volume 5: Imperialism and Imperialist War (1914-1917), International Publishers, New York, n.d. 1930s, 409 pages.

Volume 6: From the Bourgeois Revolution to the Proletarian Revolution (1917), International Publishers, New York, n.d. 1930s, 679 pages.

Volume 7: After the Seizure of Power (1917-18), International Publishers, New York, n.d. 1930s, 535 pages. Different scan, Volume 7: After the Seizure of Power (1917-18), Lawrence & Wishart, London, 1936, 536 pages.

Volume 8: The Period of War Communism (1918-1920), International Publishers, New York, n.d. 1930s, 473 pages.

Volume 9: New Economic Policy; Socialist Construction, International Publishers, New York, 1937, 521 pages.

Volume 10: The Communist International, International Publishers, New York, 1938, 345 pages.

Volume 11: The Theoretical Principles of Marxism, International Publishers, New York, n.d. 1930s, 779 pages.

Volume 12: Theory of the Agrarian Question, International Publishers, New York, 1938, 351 pages. Different scan, Volume 12: Theory of the Agrarian Question, International Publishers, New York, 1938, 349 pages.

VI Lenin: Selected Works, in 12 volumes, Lawrence and Wishart, London, late 1930s and mid 1940s. (Not complete set.)

Selected Works – Volume 3, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1936, 630 pages.

Selected Works – Volume 4, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1943, 338 pages.

Selected Works – Volume 6, Lawrence and Wishart, London, ND, late 1930s/mid 1940s?, 660 pages.

Selected Works – Volume 8, Lawrence and Wishart, London, ND, late 1930s/mid 1940s?, 460 pages.

Selected Works – Volume 9, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1946, 505 pages.

Selected Works – Volume 10, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1938, 333 pages.

VI Lenin: Selected Works in Three Volumes, Progress Publishers, Moscow 1970/71.

Volume 1, 1970, 890 pages.

Volume 2, 1970, 818 pages.

Volume 3, 1971, 866 pages.

The Essential Lenin in two volumes, Volume 1, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1947. 768 pages.

VI Lenin – Selected works in one volume, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1969, 798 pages.

Individual books and pamphlets

The War and the Workers, speech May 27 1917, International, New York, 1929, Little Lenin Library No 24, 36 pages.

The Teachings of Karl Marx, International Publishers, New York, 1930, 48 pages.

The War and the Second International, (London, Martin Lawrence, 1931), Little Lenin Library, Volume Two, 63 pages. Two documents written in 1914, ‘The Collapse of the Second International’ and ‘The War and Russian Social-Democracy’.

The April Conference, International, NY, 1932, 62 pages. Little Lenin Library, Volume Ten. The Conference actually took place from 7th to the 12th May, 1917 (the backward Tsarist state used the Julian calender which was – in 1917 – 13 days adrift from the Gregorian calender used in most of Europe, hence the ‘April’ Conference of 24th to the 29th Old Calender took place in May).

Lenin on Religion, Martin Lawrence, London, N.D. 1930s?), Little Lenin Library, Volume Seven, 56 pages.

State and Revolution, Martin Lawrence, London, 1933, Little Lenin Library, Volume Fourteen, 96 pages.

‘Left wing’ Communism – an infantile disorder, an attempt at a popular discussion on Marxist Strategy and Tactics, Little Lenin Library, Volume 16, Martin Lawrence, London, 1934, 95 pages.

The Paris Commune, Martin Lawrence, London, 1935, Little Lenin Library, Volume Five, 62 pages.

Marx, Engels, Marxism, a collection of articles, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1936, 225 pages.

The Letters of Lenin, Elizabeth Hill and Doris Mudie, Chapman and Hall, London, 1937, 495 pages.

The Teachings of Karl Marx, Martin Lawrence, London, 1937, Little Lenin Library, Volume One, 47 pages.

Women and Society, an early collection of articles and excerpts, International, New York, 1938, 36 pages.

New data for VI Lenin’s ‘Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism’, E Varga and L Mendelsohn, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1938, 322 pages.

Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1939, 127 pages. Little Lenin Library, Volume Fifteen.(My copy is seriously damaged, particularly in one place, and so it was impossible to scan pages 82 and 83. In their place I have scanned the missing text from pages 709-711 from ‘The Essential Lenin in Two Volumes, Volume 1, London, Lawrence and Wishart, 1947’. It’s not exactly the same but the closest to the 1939 text I have been able to find.)

War and the Workers, International, NY, 1940, 32 pages. Little Lenin Library, Volume Twenty Four. A reprint of a lecture delivered by VI Lenin in Petrograd on May 27th, 1917, about a month after his return from exile. The manuscript was not discovered until twelve years afterwards and was published for the first time in the Moscow Pravda on April 23rd, 1929.

Left-Wing Communism, an Infantile Disorder, a popular essay on Marxian strategy and tactics, International Publishers, New York, 1940, 95 pages.

Ten Classics of Marxism, Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, International Publishers, New York, 1940, 785 pages.

The Tasks of the Proletariat in our Revolution, Lawrence and Wishart, ND, 1940?, Little Lenin Library, Volume Nine, 52 pages.

On Britain, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1941, 316 pages. Marxist-Leninist Library, Volume Eighteen, with two Prefaces by Harry Pollitt (1934 and 1941).

The Deception of the People by the Slogans of Equality and Freedom Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1942, Little Lenin Library, Volume Nineteen, 47 pages.

A Dictionary of Terms and Quotations – Compiled from the Works of VI Lenin by Thomas Bell, (London, Lawrence and Wishart, 1942), Little Lenin Library, Volume Twenty Five, 45 pages.

One step forward, two steps back, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1948, 115 pages.

Materialism and Empirio-Criticism, critical comments on a reactionary philosophy, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1948, 391 pages.

The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Government, FLPH, Moscow, 1951, 79 pages.

The National Pride of the Great Russians, FLPH, Moscow, 1951, 15 pages.

Marx, Engels, Marxism, FLPH, Moscow, 1951, 577 pages.

A Characterisation of Economic Romanticism, Library of Marxist-Leninist Classics, FLPH, Moscow, 1951, 232 pages.

The State and Revolution, FLPH, Moscow, ND, 1951?, 218. (Some markings.)

On Britain, FLPH, Moscow, 1959, 624 pages.

Report on Peace – delivered at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, October 26 (November 8) 1917 and Home and Foreign Policy of the Republic – report of the All-Russian Ventral Executive Committee and the Council of People’s Commissars to the Ninth All-Russian Congress of Soviets December 23, 1921, FLPH, Moscow, early 1960s?, 290 pages.

In commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the birth of VI Lenin the Foreign Languages Press in Peking produced a series of books with quotations from the extensive works of the leader of the October Revolution and First Socialist State on various topics pertinent at the time of the struggle against Soviet Revisionism and the restoration of capitalism in the USSR.

This approach to the works of Lenin, where significant quotations were taken from longer works, was the principal that was followed later with the production of the ‘Little Red Book’ of quotations from the works of Chairman Mao at the beginning of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.

We are aware of six volumes in this series.

On War and Peace, 2nd ed., FLP, Peking, October 1960, 84 pages.

On Proletarian Revolution and Proletarian Dictatorship, 2nd ed., FLP, Peking, October 1960, 89 pages.

On the National Liberation Movement, 2nd ed., FLP, Peking, October 1960, 58 pages.

On the Struggle Against Revisionism, 2nd ed., FLP, Peking, October 1960, 98 pages.

On Imperialism, the eve of the Proletarian Social Revolution, 2nd ed., FLP, Peking, October 1960 91 pages.

On the Revolutionary Proletarian Party of a New Type, 2nd ed., FLP, Peking, October 1960, 79 pages.

The National Liberation Movement in the East, FLPH, Moscow, 1962, 348 pages.

Lenin’s Fight Against Revisionism and Opportunism – compiled by Cheng Yen-shih (Peking, FLP, 1965), 275 pages

Against dogmatism and sectarianism in the working class movement, Progress, Moscow, 1965, 235 pages.

On War and Peace – Three articles, FLP, Peking, 1966, 108 pages.

On Culture and Cultural Revolution, Progress, Moscow, 1966, 297 pages.

What the ‘Friends of the People’ are and how they fight the Social-democrats, Progress, Moscow, 1966, 218 pages.

Essential works of Lenin, edited and with an introduction by Henry M Christman, Bantam Books, New York, 1966, 372 pages.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, a biography, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1966, 590 pages.

Karl Marx, a Brief Biographical Sketch with an Exposition of Marxism, FLP, Peking, 1967, 63 pages.

On Youth – Selection of articles from VI Lenin’s Works, (Moscow, Progress, 1967), 298 pages.

The Right of Nations to Self-determination, Progress, Moscow, 1967, 80 pages.

A characterisation of economic romanticism, Progress, Moscow, 1967, 143 pages.

Socialism and War, Progress, Moscow, 1967, 55 pages.

Lenin’s Prediction on the Revolutionary Storms in the East, FLP, Peking, 1967, 15 pages.

On the National and Colonial Questions – Three articles, FLP, Peking, 1967, 40 pages.

On the so-called Market Question, Progress, Moscow, 1968, 51 pages.

Socialism and Religion, Progress, Moscow, 1968, 7 pages.

May Day. May Day action by the Revolutionary Proletariat, Progress Moscow, 1968, 31 pages.

Lecture on the 1905 Revolution, Progress, Moscow, 1968, 19 pages.

Revolutionary Adventurism, Progress Moscow, 1969, 40 pages.

The Tasks of the Youth Leagues, this speech includes Lenin’s most extensive comments on morality and the Marxist-Leninist view of ethics, (Moscow, Progress, 1969), 19 pages.

Party work in the masses, Progress, Moscow, 1969, 170 pages.

On Religion, Progress, Moscow, 1969, 85 pages.

One step forward, two steps back, the crisis in our Party, Progress, Moscow, 1969, 231 pages.

What is to be Done? Progress, Moscow, 1969, 207 pages.

On the Road to Insurrection, N. Lenin (sic), Communist Party of Great Britain, London, n.d., late 1960s?, 519 pages.

The State, (Peking, FLP, 1970), 25 pages. A lecture delivered at the Sverdlov University, July 11th, 1919.

Lenin, Comrade and Man, Progress Publishers, Moscow, ND., 1970s?, 193 pages.

Lenin on Ireland, Irish Socialist Library, New Books, Belfast, 1970, 35 pages.

Letters on Tactics – a Collection of Articles and Letters, (Moscow: Progress, 1970), 104 pages.

‘Left-wing’ Communism – An infantile Disorder, FLP, Peking, 1970, 133 pages.

On the Paris Commune – Selection of articles from VI Lenin’s Works, (Moscow, Progress, 1970), 141 pages.

Two tactics of Social-democracy in the Democratic Revolution, FLP, Peking, 1970, 167 pages.

On Workers’ Control and the Nationalisation of Industry, Progress, Moscow, 1970, 260 pages.

On Lenin, (Dublin, ICO, 1970), 28 pages. 4 articles. The organiser and leader of the Russian Communist Party (On the Fiftieth Anniversary of Lenin’s Birth). Sketches (Comrade Lenin’s Convalescence). On the Death of Lenin (Speech delivered at the Second Congress of Soviets of the USSR, 26th January, 1924). On Lenin (Speech delivered at a Memorial Evening of Kremlin Military Students, 28th January, 1924). Irish Communist Organisation.

On Utopian and Scientific Socialism, articles and speeches, Progress, Moscow, 1970, 254 pages.

Two tactics of Social-Democracy in the Democratic Revolution, Progress, Moscow, 1970, 132 pages.

Two tactics of Social-democracy in the Democratic Revolution – selected quotes.

Where to Begin. Party Organisation and Party Literature. The Working Class and its Press – 3 Articles. Progress, Moscow, 1971, 54 pages.

Can the Bolsheviks Retain State Power, Progress, Moscow, 1971, 63 pages.

The Third International and its place in history, Progress, Moscow, 1971, 51 pages.

Speeches at the Eighth Party Congress, Progress, Moscow, 1971, 86 pages. Held in Moscow from 18th – 23rd March, 1919.

On Peaceful Coexistence, articles and speeches, Progress, Moscow, 1971, 144 pages.

Between the Two Revolutions, Articles and Speeches of 1917, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1971, 558 pages.

Marxism on the State, (Moscow, Progress, 1972), Preparatory material for the book ‘The State and Revolution’. 134 pages.

Materialism and Empirio-Criticism, FLP, Peking, 1972, 466 pages. Lenin’s major study of materialist philosophy together with strong criticism of its idealist opponents within the Russian revolutionary movement, published in 1908.

About the Press, a collection of articles and excerpts, International Organisation of Journalists, Prague, 1972, 483 pages.

The Revolutionary Phrase, ‘Left-Communist’ mistakes at the Brest Peace, articles and speeches, Progress, Moscow, 1972, 171 pages.

Lenin about the press, International Organisation of Journalists, Prague, 1972, 483 pages.

Speeches at Congresses of the Communist International, 1919-1922, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1972, 158 pages.

The State and Revolution, FLP, Peking, 1973 The Marxist teaching on the State and the Tasks of the Proletariat in the Revolution. 151 pages.

Lenin and Gorky, letters, reminiscences, articles, Progress, Moscow, 1973, 432 pages.

On the Foreign Policy of the Soviet State, Progress, Moscow, 1973, 481 pages.

How Lenin wrote for the Masses, Three articles, including one from Chairman Mao Tse-tung and one from Nadezhda Krupskaya and one from VI Lenin, (New Era Books, London, 1974), 26 pages.

Marxism and the Liberation of Women, Quotations from Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, VI Lenin, Joseph Stalin and Mao Tse-tung, Union of Women for Liberation, London, n.d., mid-1970s?, 64 pages. Includes a statement of aims of the Union of Women for Liberation.

A caricature of Marxism and Imperialist Economism, (Moscow, Progress, 1974) 61 pages.

Marx, Engels and Lenin on the Irish Revolution, Historical reprints No. 3, Ralph Fox, Cork Workers Club, Cork, 1974, 36 pages.

Lenin on the Jewish Question, International Publishers, New York, 1974, 160 pages.

Economics and Politics in the era of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, (Peking, FLP, 1975), 14 pages.

What is to be done?, FLP, Peking, 1975, 252 pages.

What is to be Done, an alternative digital version, n.p., n.d., 129 pages.

On Marx and Engels, FLP, Peking, 1975, 98 pages.

The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1975, 145 pages.

The Tasks of the Youth Leagues, FLP, Peking, 1975, 22 pages. Speech delivered at the Third All-Russian Congress of the Russian Young Communist League, October 2nd, 1920.

Against Right Wing and Left Wing Opportunism, Against Trotskyism, Progress, Moscow, 1975, 600 pages.

On bourgeois democratic revolution, Novosti, Moscow, 1975, 135 pages.

On the Soviet State Apparatus, articles and speeches, Progress, Moscow, 1975, 447 pages.

On the struggle against Revisionism, Proletarian Publishers, San Francisco, 1975, 98 pages. (Markings throughout.)

Differences in the European Labour Movement, Progress, Moscow, 1976, 11 pages.

One step forward, two steps back, FLP, Peking, 1976, 316 pages.

Marx, Engels, Marxism, Progress, Moscow, 8th rev. ed. 1968 [1976 printing], 515 pages. Most pages well-scanned; a small number too light but mostly legible.

Against revisionism, Progress, Moscow, 1976, 600 pages.

On the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, Progress, Moscow, 1976, 370 pages.

Speeches at Party Congresses, 1918-1922, Progress, Moscow, 1976, 383 pages.

On Scientific Communism, Marx, Engels and Lenin, Progress, Moscow, 1976, 537 pages.

A Great Beginning, FLP, Peking, 1977, 32 pages. Heroism of the Workers in the Rear, ‘Communist Subbotniks’.

The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism, published in March 1913, (Peking: FLP, 1977), 18 pages.

Last letters and articles, Progress, Moscow, 1977, 70 pages.

Lenin – Selected Works, Progress, Moscow, 1977, 782 pages.

Marx, Engels, Marxism, Progress, Moscow, 1977, 180 pages.

On Dialectical Materialism, Marx, Engels and Lenin, Progress, Moscow, 1977, 422 pages.

The Woman Question, Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, International Publishers, New York, 1977, 96 pages.

On the emancipation of women, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1977, 136 pages.

Lenin and National Liberation in the East, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1978, 468 pages.

Alliance of the Working Class and the Peasantry, Progress, Moscow, 1978, 447 pages.

On Literature and Art, Progress, Moscow, 1978, 335 pages.

On Trade Unions, a collection of articles and speeches, Progress, Moscow, 1978, 540 pages.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back (The Crisis in Our Party), Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1978, 230 pages.

The Revolutionary Phrase, ‘Left-Communist’ mistakes on the Brest Peace (Articles and Speeches), Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1978, 171 pages.

Against imperialist war, Progress, Moscow, 1978, 397 pages

On Participation of the People in Government, a collection of articles and excerpts, Progress, Moscow, 1979, 302 pages.

On the development of heavy industry and electrification, Progress, Moscow, 1979, 203 pages.

On Britain, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1979, 541 pages.

On the Slogan for a United States of Europe. The Military Programme of the Proletarian Revolution, (Moscow, Progress, 1980) 29 pages. Two articles.

On the October Revolution, Novosti, Moscow, 1980, 120 pages.

On the question of dialectics, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1980, 126 pages.

On Organization, Proletarian Publishers, Chicago, ND – 1980s?, 235 pages. (Lots of markings and underlining throughout.)

Lenin versus Trotsky and his followers, Novosti, Moscow, 1981, 127 pages. (Pages 106-107 missing.) A late Revisionist compilation of quotes from VI Lenin attacking the ‘enemies from within the Party’.

On the United States of America, a collection of articles and excerpts, Progress, Moscow, 1982, 636 pages.

On State Capitalism during the transition to Socialism, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1983, 269 pages.

On State Capitalism during the transition to Socialism – selected quotes

Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, Progress, Moscow, 1983, 127 pages.

For those who find 127 pages too much here are some selected quotes from this edition of ‘Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism’.

On Religion, Progress, Moscow, 1984, 83 pages.

Marxism on the State, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1984, 134 pages.

Lenin’s ‘On Co-operation’, S Serayev, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1984, 75 pages.

On Lenin’s ‘The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky’, VM Gavrilov, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1984, 116 pages.

About the Younger Generation, Novosti, Moscow, 1985, 55 pages.

Experience of the CPSU, its world significance, Progress, Moscow, 1985, 588 pages.

On Socialist Ideology and Culture, Progress, Moscow, 1985, 223 pages.

Some selected quotes from ‘On Socialist Ideology and Culture’.

On national liberation and social emancipation, Progress, Moscow, 1986, 342 pages.

Introduction to Marx, Engels, Marxism, Progress, Moscow, 1987, 109 pages. Poor scan, some crooked pages, but fully legible.

Lenin’s ‘What Is To Be Done?’, V. P. Filatov, Progress, Moscow, 1987, 116 pages.

Materialism and empirio-criticism, Progress, Moscow, 1987, 384 pages.

On Lenin’s ‘The State and Revolution’, V. Gavrilov, (Moscow, Progress, 1988). A revisionist interpretation of one of Lenin’s most important works. 106 pages.

On Lenin’s ‘Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, I Rudakova, (Moscow, Progress, 1988). A revisionist interpretation of one of Lenin’s most important works. 106 pages.

The Civil War in France: The Paris Commune, Karl Marx and VI Lenin, International Publishers, New York, 1988, 182 pages.

Lenin’s Economic Writings, edited by Meghnad Desai, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1989, 372 pages.

Learning with Lenin, selected works on education and revolution, Derek R Ford and Curry Malott, Information Age Publishing, Charlotte, 2019, 651 pages.

Two Tactics of Social Democracy in the Democratic Revolution, Foreign Languages Press, Paris, 2021, 149 pages.

On the Communist Press, Lenin, Stalin and Mao Tsetung, Canadian Communist League (Marxist-Leninist), n.d., 200 pages.

The teachings of Karl Marx, November 8th Publishing House, Toronto 2022, 47 pages.

On religion, November 8th Publishing House, Ottawa 2023, 83 pages.

The Life of VI Lenin

Leninism or Trotskyism, Grigory Zinoviev, Joseph Stalin, Lev Kamenev, originally published by the Workers’ Party of America, Daily Worker Publishing, Chicago, 1925. This version FLPH, Moscow, 1949, 75 pages.

Reminiscences of Lenin, Clara Zetkin, Modern Books, London, 1929, 78 pages.

Lenin, by R Palme Dutt, Hamish Hamilton, London, 1933, 96 pages. A short biography by a British Communist.

Lenin on the Woman Question, Clara Zetkin, International Publishers, New York, 1934, 31 pages.

Lenin in action, the early days of Soviet power, personal reminiscences of Lenin in the Revolution of October 1917, by J Stalin and others, Martin Lawrence, London, 1934, 64 pages.

Lenin, D Manulisky, International Pamphlets Number 2, Modern Books, London, 1939, 16 pages.

We have met Lenin, compilation of reminiscences from those who had meetings with Lenin, FLPH, Moscow, 1939, 75 pages.

Lenin – A Biography, Hutchinson, London, ND, early 1940’s?, 204 pages. Prepared by the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute, Moscow. Published by authority of ‘Soviet War News’. Issued by the Press Department of the Soviet Embassy in London. The closest to an official Soviet biography of VI Lenin available.

My Recollections of Lenin, Klara Zetkin, FLPH, Moscow, 1956, 92 pages.

Reminiscences of Lenin, NK Krupskaya, FLPH, Moscow, 1959, 570 pages.

Pages from Lenin’s life, L Fotieva, FLPH, Moscow, 1960, 220 pages.

VI. Lenin – a Short Biography, translated into English from the 6th Russian edition prepared by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism, CC of the CPSU, 1968. Progress, Moscow, 4th revised edition 1969, 234 pages.

They Knew Lenin, reminiscences of foreign contemporaries, Progress, Moscow, 1968, 287 pages.

Lenin and the Revolution in the East, Novosti, Moscow, 1969, 120 pages.

Lenin through the eyes of the world, letters and comments from abroad, Progress, Moscow, 1969, 184 pages.

Leninist Standards of Party Life, I Pronin and M Stepichev, Progress, Moscow, 1969, 146 pages.

Fine Drawings of Lenin, a collection published by the Communist Party of Germany on the 100th anniversary of the birth of Lenin (1970). 12 pages (missing two drawings).

Lenin as head of government, V Drobizhev, Novosti, Moscow, 1970, 179 pages.

Lenin, James Maxton, Men of Destiny, Heron Books, London, 1970?, 173 pages.

Lenin and India, edited by G Adhikari et al, People’s Publishing House, Delhi, 1970, 236 pages.

Lenin and the Russian Revolution, Christopher Hill, Penguin, London, 1971, 180 pages.

Lenin’s Teachings and Cause are Immortal, from the record of the Scientific and Theoretical Conference held in Moscow in January 1974 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Lenin’s death, Novosti, Moscow, 1974, 40 pages.

Lenin – Life and Work, by V. Zevin and G. Golikov, (Moscow, Novosti, 1975), 228 pages. A revisionist biography of VI Lenin. Second edition, 1977.

Lenin and Modern Natural Science, edited by M. E. Omelyanovsky, Progress, Moscow, 1978, 432 pages.

Lenin: Life and Works, a chronology of Lenin’s life, by Gerda and Hermann Weber, MacMillan, London, 1980, [Originally published in Munich in German in 1974], 240 pages.

Leninism and the agrarian and peasant question, Volume 1, Lenin’s agrarian programmes for the Three Russian Revolutions, Progress, Moscow, 1981, 514 pages.

Leninism and the agrarian and peasant question, Volume 2, historical experience of the CPSU in carrying out Lenin’s co-operative plan, Progress, Moscow, 1981, 597 pages.

The Central Lenin Museum, Moscow – a guide. (Moscow, Raduga, 1986), 160 pages. A guide to the now destroyed Museum dedicated to the life and work of VI Lenin.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Pages from his life, Volume 1, with reminiscences of his associates, Novosti, Moscow, 1990, 174 pages.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Pages from his life, Volume 2, The First Russian Revolution 1905-07, Novosti, Moscow, 1990, 173 pages.

On the so-called ‘Lenin Testament’. A pamphlet produced by W.B. Bland (then of the Communist League UK) of a presentation given to the Stalin Society (UK) in 1991. The ‘Lenin Testament’ was a document that was used by Trotskyites and other anti-Bolsheviks in an attempt to usurp the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolshevik) after the death of Comrade Lenin in 1924. In an effort to maintain Party unity the document was presented to 13th Party Congress in May 1924 where it was overwhelmingly rejected as having no importance in the choice of the Party leadership, with not even Trotsky voting for it.

Reminiscences of Lenin, Nadezhda Krupskaya, International Publishers 1970, this version published as an e-book by the Anarcho-Communist Institute, 2015, 425 pages.

VI Lenin – on the Woman Question, Clara Zetkin’s recollections of Lenin, November 8th Publishing House, Ottawa 2023, 47 pages.

Compilations from the works of VI Lenin with other great Marxists

A Handbook of Marxism, with selections from the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, International Publishers, New York, 1935, 1082 pages,

Strategy and Tactics of the Proletarian Revolution, (N.Y., International, 1936), 95 pages. Consists of a series of brief extracts mostly from the works of Lenin, Stalin and from some reports of the Comintern.

The Dictatorship of the Proletariat, articles and extracts from the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, compiled and arranged by V. Bystryansky and M. Mishin, ‘Readings in Leninism’ series, (NY: International, 1936), 132 pages.

Lenin and Stalin on Youth, (London, Lawrence and Wishart, 1940), Little Lenin Library, Volume Twenty One, 48 pages.

Lenin and Stalin on The State, (London, Lawrence and Wishart, 1942), Little Lenin Library, Volume Twenty Three, 48 pages.

Dialectical and Historical Materialism, edited by LL Sharkey and S Moston, Current Book Distributors, Sydney, 1945, 152 pages.

On Scientific Communism, Marx-Engels-Lenin, Progress, Moscow, 1967, 537 pages.

Selections from V. I. Lenin and J. V. Stalin on the National and Colonial Question, Calcutta, 1970, 244 pages.

Selected Writings by Marx, Engels, and Lenin On Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism, International Publishers, New York, 1972, 362 pages.

K. Marx F. Engels V. Lenin On Historical Materialism – a collection, Progress, Moscow, 1972, 751 pages.

Marx, Engels and Lenin: On the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, a collection of quotations, (Peking: FLP, 1975), 52 pages. (Some underlining.) This collection also appeared in Peking Review on February 28, 1975.

Marx, Engels, Lenin On Communist Society – a collection, Progress, Moscow, 1978, 157 pages.

Last letters and articles of VI Lenin and On Lenin by JV Stalin, November 8th Publishing House, Ottawa, 2022, 152 pages.

V.I. Lenin and J.V. Stalin, Marxism and Revisionism, November 8th Publishing House, Toronto, 2022, 119 pages.

Lenin and Stalin on the development of the National Question, M.D. Kammari, November 8th Publishing House, Ottawa, 2023, 153 pages.

More on the USSR

The Great ‘Marxist-Leninist’ Theoreticians