In July 1917, when the Provisional Government issued a warrant for his arrest, Lenin fled from Petrograd; later that year, the October Revolution swept him to supreme power. In the short intervening period he spent in Finland, he wrote his impassioned, never-completed masterwork on The State and Revolution . . . This powerfully argued book offers both the rationale for the new regime and a wealth of insights into Leninist politics. It was here that Lenin justified his personal interpretation of Marxism, savaged his opponents and set out his trenchant views on class conflict, the lessons of earlier revolutions, the dismantling of the bourgeois state and the replacement of capitalism by the dictatorship of the proletariat. Immediately established as a standard text, it was selectively cited by leaders from Stalin to Gorbachev in support of programmes which differed in important ways. As both historical document and political statement, its importance can hardly be exaggerated.

This book contains four classic writings of Marxism by Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky. There is no better explanation of Marxism than in the words of its foremost thinkers. This volume includes: The Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels. Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by Frederick Engels. The State and Revolution by V. I. Lenin. The Transitional Programme by Leon Trotsky.

Vladimir Lenin created this hugely significant Marxist text to explain fully the inevitable flaws and destructive power of Capitalism: that it would lead unavoidably to imperialism, monopolies and colonialism. He prophesied that those third world countries used merely as capitalist labour would have no choice but to join the Communist revolution in Russia. GREAT IDEAS. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.

An impassioned firsthand account of the Russian Revolution
An American journalist and revolutionary writer, John Reed became a close friend of Lenin and was an eyewitness to the 1917 revolution in Russia. "Ten Days That Shook the World" is Reed's extraordinary record of that event. Writing in the first flush of revolutionary enthusiasm, he gives a gripping account of the events in Petrograd in November 1917, when Lenin and the Bolsheviks finally seized power. Containing verbatim reports both of speeches by leaders and of the chance comments of bystanders, and set against an idealized backdrop of soldiers, sailors, peasants, and the proletariat uniting to throw off oppression, Reed's account is the product of passionate involvement and remains an unsurpassed classic of reporting.

The Proletarian Revolution in Russia is an amalgamation of writings by Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky, edited and supplemented by political writer and activist Louis Fraina. Originally published one year after the February Revolution in 1917, this book details the rocky start of socialism and Marxism in Russia. With text comprised of first-hand recollections and analysis, Fraina aims to show the public the passion and conviction behind this fledgling socioeconomic system. VLADIMIR ILYICH LENIN (1870-1924) was a Russian political theorist, politician, and Communist revolutionary who served as the Premier of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1924. Lenin was a Marxist whose own theories sparked a movement, Leninism, which eventually combined to create Marxism-Leninism. His participation in anti-Tsar protests resulted in his dismissal from college and his exile from Russia for several years. When he returned in 1917, he played a key role in the October Revolution, which was the catalyst for the establishment of the Soviet Union in 1922. Lenin was a powerful speaker and influentual politician; his theories led to many different schools of thought after his death, including Stalinism, Trotskyism, and Maoism. LEON TROTSKY (1879-1940) was a Soviet politician, Marxist revolutionary and theorist, and founder and first leader of the Red Army. Trotsky joined the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party in 1917, before the October Revolution. He was the People's Commisary for Foreign Affairs in the early days of the Soviet Union before starting the Red Army. Because of this, Trotsky was a major leader in the Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War (1918-1920). After Stalin's rise to power, Trotsky was deported and removed from the Communist Party. He exiled to Mexico, where he was assassinated, and opposed Stalinism with ideas based on Marxism-Leninism, eventually forming the Trotskyism Marxist ideaologies.