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

Lenin in the Smolny

Lenin in the Smolny

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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

Peking Review 1958-1978

Always keep a firm grip on the rifle

Always keep a firm grip on the rifle

More on China …..

Peking Review

Soon after Chairman Mao made the Declaration of the of the People’s Republic of China in Tienanmen Square on 1st October 1949 the Communist Party of China decided that the production of a regular magazine, which would tell the world what the Chinese were attempting to create in their country, was of paramount importance. From January 1950 a magazine called People’s China was produced fortnightly until the end of 1957. This was superseded by the weekly magazine Peking Review.

Peking Review (in English) was first published in March 1958 and then continued, on a weekly basis, until the first issue of 1979 (January 5th) when it was re-branded as Beijing Review.

Unfortunately the new name also presaged a new direction. From being a revolutionary magazine, presenting the ideas and aspirations of a young (and relatively weak) Socialist state struggling along the road to the construction of Communism it has now become the open statement of aims of an outright capitalist and imperialist state – with global ambitions.

As Mao famously wrote; ‘a revolution is not a dinner party’ (Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan (March 1927), Selected Works, Vol. I, p. 28.) and this means that from the very beginning the new Socialist state had to face many obstacles. There is opposition from within and without the country, from within and without the Party. Those who might have played an important role in the past in the fight for liberation are not necessarily the ones who are needed to build a radically new society. All revolutionaries bring with them the baggage of the capitalist past – some find it more difficult than others to throw off that hindrance. 

A study of all revolutions shows this to be the case and, learning from the experience of the past, Chairman Mao promoted the Cultural Revolution (which started in 1966) to expose such elements within the Party and Government structure – at all levels. This means that in the early editions of Peking Review articles written by, or about, certain individuals who were later denounced and condemned appear. Not all of what they said at that time might have been incorrect but as the struggle to build Socialism intensifies the contradictions between them and the revolutionary wing of the Party and people will inevitably come into conflict. And all conflict must have a resolution.  

All the issues that covered the revolutionary period, which included important developments such as ‘The Great Leap Forward’; the collectivisation of the countryside; the industrialisation of a previously backward, feudal society; developments in education, social welfare, health and culture; and, especially, ‘The Great Socialist Cultural Revolution’ are all documented in the pages of Peking Review from 1958-1976.

Very soon after the death of Chairman Mao Tse-tung (Mao Zedong), on 9th September 1976, those achievements came under attack by the ‘capitalist roaders’ (represented by the arch-traitor to the Chinese workers and peasants, Teng Hsiao-ping (Deng Xiaoping) and not so gradually those achievements were turned into the ‘primitive accumulation’ of the present day Chinese billionaires.

For a look at the development of literature, art and culture during the Socialist period of China’s past you can do worse than have a look at the issues of Chinese Literature.

Available issues of Peking Review:

1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978

Beijing Review

From issue No. 1 of 1979 the weekly political and informative magazine Peking Review changed its name to Beijing Review. On page 3 of that number the editors made the open declaration of the change in the direction of the erstwhile ‘People’s Republic of China’.

By stating that the Communist Party of China (under the control then of Teng Hsiao-Ping/Deng Xiaoping ) sought ‘to accomplish socialist modernisation by the end of the century and turn China …. into an economically developed and fully democratic socialist country’ the CPC was openly declaring the rejection of the revolutionary path, which the country had been following since 1949, and the adoption of the road that would inevitably lead to the full scale establishment of capitalism.

More on China …..

28th May 1871 – the end of ‘Bloody Week’ of the Paris Commune

Summary execution of a petroleuse - note the vicious bourgeosie on the left

Summary execution of a petroleuse – note the vicious bourgeoisie on the left

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28th May 1871 – the end of ‘Bloody Week’ of the Paris Commune

On the 18th March 1871, the Parisian working class gave a lesson to the international proletariat that it was possible for the oppressed and exploited of the world to take the future into their own hands. On the 28th May, the last day of slaughter of those very revolutionaries, coming only 71 days after that momentous spring day of hope, through their martyrdom, they taught the working class of the world that the audacity of challenging the power of the ruling class came with a price. For the 28th May 1871 marked the end of ‘Bloody Week’, the end of the Paris Commune.

The Paris Commune of 1871 started when a group of washer-women thwarted a pre-dawn raid by the capitulationist and pusillanimous government forces who sought to rob the people of the artillery they had paid for in their attempts to prevent the fall of their city to the invading Prussians. What began as a self-defence action in the hills of Montemartre soon spread throughout the city and by the afternoon of March 18th barricades were being constructed and the revolution had begun.

18th March - Avenue Jean-Jaures

18th March – Avenue Jean-Jaures

In the post on the anniversary of the start of the Commune I listed what I consider to be some of the achievements of that, literally, world-changing event. For it was both in their achievements and failures of the Communards that later revolutionaries were to learn so much and which determined the manner in which they pursued the revolutions in their own countries, especially in Russia, Albania and China.

In studying revolutions there are both positive and negative lessons that need to be learnt. Failure to do so will lead to the same mistakes being made resulting in similar consequences. As the conditions in which a revolution takes place are always specific to the times and the conditions in a particular country it is inevitable that new mistakes will be made. That’s not a problem.

As Chairman Mao stated a revolution is not a dinner party (Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan, FLP, Peking, p8). Revolutions are uncontrollable, it becomes almost a living organism which has a mind of its own. An organised revolutionary party might be able, at times, to direct the flow of events but they are no more than desperate men and women trying to control a river in spate. Dig the channels in the right place at the right time and the water can be controlled. Make one slight mistake and the water will break the banks and all bets are off – until the next crucial moment is reached. If a revolution can be controlled it is not a revolution. This makes the achievements of the Communists in Russia, Albania and China all the more remarkable.

Before going on to the mistakes made by the Communards it’s worthwhile re-iterating some of the achievements in that short two and a bit months. In the first few days:

  • rents for dwellings abolished
  • articles that had been pawned declared not for sale
  • the wage differentials between men and women were abolished
  • officials would not get any more than a ‘working-man’s wages’
  • the church was separated from the state
  • church property was to be national property
  • religious iconography was to be removed from schools
  • the guillotine to be publicly burnt, as a symbol of the old regime
  • night work for bakers was abolished
  • planned the reopening of factories closed by owners and these to be run on a collective basis

Although many of these were in response to the grievances of the Parisian working class after decades of living under a corrupt system, added to which were the hardships as a consequence of a more than four-month siege of the city – during a hard winter – by the Prussian army many of those decrees would have resonance in Britain (and most other countries throughout the world) even now.

Housing is still a problem – highlighted in Britain by the Grenfell fire of 2016; wage differentials and the ‘gender pay gap’ have long been contentious issues (however, paying everyone the same, more or less, is an easier solution to crashing through ‘glass ceilings’ and has more rationale to it than paying over-paid women as much as even more over-paid men and would have a direct impact upon the poorest in our society who, nowadays, don’t even get the crumbs that fall from the table of the rich); recent events in the Republic of Ireland demonstrates how society can be distorted when the Church has a hand in controlling civil society – not to mention the role of religion in various parts of the world and the death and destruction that comes with it; general working conditions have become worse not better in the last couple of decades in most countries even though the Gross Domestic Product might be rising – the poor ALWAYS get proportionately less in such circumstances; employment is an issue which capitalism finds so difficult to deal with it’s not even considered of any importance in the political debate; and elected representatives of the Commune could be replaced at any time if they failed to live up to their promises – so no chance of the development of a so-called ‘Political Class’, a group of self-selected, self-serving, over-important opportunists who have gained control in too many countries.

The representative structure was for the working class and it was run by the working class. At the same time it’s important to make clear that the Commune was not a state of all the people. The bourgeoisie had run society for years and had failed – a bit like now – so the Parisian working class decided that it was time for a new class to be in control and purposely excluded certain sections of society. This was the first time in history where the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ was in action – something which Marx, Engels and, later, Lenin picked up and developed in their post 1871 theoretical writings and which Lenin sought to put into practice after the Great October Proletarian Revolution of 1917.

Did the proposals and declarations of the Commune always work out as it was intended? No. Did they get some things wrong and follow an incorrect direction on some policies? Yes. But give them a break, many hadn’t had much formal education and it takes time for people to learn to do things in a new way – they weren’t given that time. Did opportunists and renegades from the working class get into positions of power which they then abused? Yes. These parasites exist in all societies and it will take decades of a new society before we can say that they definitely have been eliminated. Seventy one days was not long enough. Were they divided when unity was necessary? Yes. But that’s how things go. Either honestly or dishonestly people in such circumstances come to different conclusions over crucial matters. Here, again, time would have allowed the Commune to overcome (at least in part) some of these differences. But time there wasn’t.

But what is important is that they tried. They did not surrender when the going got tough – which happened very soon after the heady days of the recovery of the guns from the government troops. Many persisted, tried to make a difference to their community and many of them died for their tenacity and determination.

'The sacred revolt of the poor, the exploited and the oppressed'

‘The sacred revolt of the poor, the exploited and the oppressed’

Not only were working men involved in running society in a new way so were women – who also established women only debating clubs which used to meet in expropriated churches and which was a revival of a practice from the bourgeois French Revolution of 1789. They took up arms and enrolled in the National Guard and also played a major role in attempting to delay the entrance into the city of the murderous Versailles troops during ‘Bloody Week’. They were never ‘victims’ (as too many women claim today). They asked for nothing – they demanded and took.

But mistakes were made which led directly to the events of ‘Bloody Week’ from the 21st-28th May 1871.

Probably the most serious was that the Parisian Communards were too magnanimous – they didn’t recognise the viper they had in the nest, the government supporters and the bourgeoisie in general who would do any and everything to see the destruction of the new workers power. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the great Russian Marxist and Revolutionary, took this particular lesson of the Paris Commune on board and his seminal work on proletarian revolution, The State and Revolution, FLP, Peking, 1970, takes as its starting point the experience of the Parisians workers.

It’s strange that this soft approach towards the enemy within persisted throughout the period of the Commune. In the Declaration of the Commune, dated 29th March 1871, reference was made to the fact that if the people of the Commune didn’t deal severely with their enemies then they would become powerful enough to destroy the revolution or, at least, be able to undermine its advances. But little was done practically to avoid the counter-revolution.

However, in all revolutionary circumstances there will be those who call for leniency towards the deposed ruling class, either out of opportunism – in an effort to protect their own class interests under the guise of being revolutionary – or, more usually, out of naivete as many don’t realise what challenging power entails and that the deposed ruling class will never accept their loss of power and will wreak vengeance on all those that try. The naïve were to learn their lesson – but when it was too late to do anything about it.

Lax security meant that bourgeois counter-revolutionaries were able to allow the entry of the government, Versailles, forces inside the walls of the city on May 21st. Once inside the forces of reaction, composed mainly of ignorant and easily manipulated peasants, just carried out a blood-lust campaign of slaughter. One of the failings of the Commune was seen in the very instrument of their destruction – the workers of Paris had failed to communicate to the vast majority of the population of France the true importance of what they were trying to achieve in the capital. The interests of the peasants were with the workers but the reaction was able to convince these soldiers that they should stick with the theocratic, capitalist state.

Once the defences had been breached the Commune was reduced to fighting a rear-guard action. It was soon evident that with the actions of the government troops there was literally nothing to be lost in fighting to the death. No quarter was being given so none was asked. Many of those who surrendered were subject to summary execution – the vicious and degenerate bourgeoisie egging on the executioners. History often mentions the women knitting on the occasion of the execution of the aristocrats during the bourgeois French Revolution of the late 18th century but there is little mention the finely dressed bourgeois harridans who cackled and spat as young men, women and even children, were stood against a wall and shot.

Execution of a trumpeter

Execution of a trumpeter

The workers did fight and most notable, and for the bourgeois reaction the most notorious, were Les Petroleuses, the women who set fire to buildings in the city centre to slow down the advance of the murderous government forces. In this action there was also an idea of ‘if we can’t have these properties then neither shall you’. This was branded as mindless destruction by bourgeois commentators and the press.

The writer Emile Zola condemned the Communards for what he saw as pointless destruction of a beautiful city. He changed his mind slightly on learning of the scale of slaughter in subsequent days but at the same time his attitude that property was sacrosanct pervaded the ideas of many opponents of the activity of Les Petroleuses. Such an attitude exists to this day and can be seen whenever there are riots against the present capitalist system – whether politically motivated or just out of sheer frustration and anger about injustices in the society – where property is destroyed. Many, including the working class, in capitalist societies have an idea of the sanctity of property and no concept at all about the reasons for the ownership of such property.

Despite all efforts to hold them back the government troops were soon in control of increasingly large areas of the city and the slaughter continued. By the end of the week the ‘conservative’ estimate was that around 30,000 men women and children were murdered by the peasant Versailles troops. No proof was needed for active participation in the Commune, being in the wrong place and the wrong time was enough to merit the bullet or the bayonet of the soldiers.

But this was the aim of the reactionary forces. They were not concerned about capturing, taking to trial, convicting and punishing those who might have been elected members or active supporters of the Commune. The vary fact that the working class had permitted such an organisation and structure to exist in the first place was enough to deserve the death sentence. The reaction were not just thinking of those 70 days when the working class of Paris had taken control from their traditional rulers they were concerned that the working class of France (and indeed, the rest of the capitalist world) would be aware of the penalties for acting above their ‘station’.

Marx wrote about the importance of the working class being an independent armed force even before the blood of the Communards had been washed from the city’s streets;

All this chorus of calumny, which the Party of Order never fail, in their orgies of blood, to raise against their victims, only proves that the bourgeois of our days considers himself the legitimate successor to the baron of old, who thought every weapon in his own hand fair against the plebeian, while in the hands of the plebeian a weapon of any kind constituted in itself a crime. Karl Marx, The Civil War in France, FLPH, Peking, 1966, p99

The workers had taken up arms to better their condition and they were crushed by superior arms so that in future workers would be content to act within the bounds set by the ruling class itself. Fights and struggles around who should rule by depending upon the ballot box was to be the norm. It didn’t matter if people were to die in such internecine and tribal struggles (which is happening in many parts of the world even into the 21st century) as long as such fighting doesn’t challenge parliamentary cretinism – the belief that only by a cross on a piece of paper can society ever move forward.

By the 28th May the only fighting combatants of the Commune found themselves surrounded at the Père Lachaise cemetery, to the east of the city. One hundred and forty-seven were summary shot and buried in a trench – beside which today exists a simple monument to those murdered in that Bloody Week.

Communard's Wall - Pere Lachaise

Communard’s Wall – Pere Lachaise

The repression didn’t finish when the shooting stopped. Thousands were arrested and about another 100 were shot ‘after due process. Many workers were imprisoned in various parts of France and 4,000 or so transported to New Caledonia, one of a group of islands that was part of the French Empire in the Pacific, 1,200 kilometres east of Australia, which at the time was a penal colony. (It’s still a French dependency to this day.) Included in their number was Louise Michel – probably the only ever decent anarchist.

Women of the Commune at Chantiers prison

Women of the Commune at Chantiers prison

Many lessons were taught in that short period of time in the spring of 1871 – both positive and negative – but, unfortunately, the example of the wrath and brutality of the ruling class has had a greater influence over the proletariat of the world than the shining example of courage, audacity and true freedom.

Only in a few cases have the workers (and this time in an alliance with the peasantry) got off their knees and attempted to establish a new world order. Internal problems and mistakes in those countries (and here I specifically talking about Russia, China, Albania – and perhaps Vietnam) led to the eventual demise of the socialist goal but the lack of proper, meaningful support in, especially, the so-called ‘advanced’ industrial countries meant that the burden, which would have been light if spread more widely, had to be taken on a relatively few shoulders.

Nonetheless, the same issues which caused the Parisian workers to take up arms and establish the Commune are the same under which most workers and peasants throughout the world still have to endure. There is no doubt they will rise and take control, but they will have to do so in a position of weakness, as did the Communards, as history has shown us that revolutions only occur at times of severe crisis – which inevitably mean not the best of circumstances under which to build socialism.

In 1848 Karl Marx and Frederick Engels wrote:

The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. (Karl Marx and Frederick Engels,The Manifesto of the Communist Party, FLP, Peking, 1968, p76).

What was true 160 years ago is as true today as it was then.

Eternal glory to the martyrs of the Paris Commune!

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