Skip to content

LeninLives IMT celebrates Lenin 100 years after his death

Marxist Theory · 2026-05-13

Core Argument

The article's central thesis is that Lenin's theoretical and political legacy remains indispensable for the revolutionary movement today, precisely one hundred years after his death. It argues that the bourgeoisie has systematically distorted Lenin's ideas — through both overt slander and the false claims of Stalinist and reformist parties — and that the task of genuine Marxists is to recover the "real Lenin" and "real Leninism" for a new generation radicalised by war, poverty, and oppression. The article asserts that this recovery is not an academic exercise but a precondition for building revolutionary parties capable of leading socialist revolution. The launch of In Defence of Lenin and the year-long #LeninLives campaign is presented as the opening salvo in this struggle, with the British section's planned launch of a Revolutionary Communist Party as the concrete organisational expression of this theoretical work.

Theoretical Grounding

The analysis draws on the classical Marxist tradition as developed by Lenin, particularly his conception of Marxism as "a guide to action" rather than a dogma. This formulation, which Lenin himself took from Engels, grounds the entire argument in the dialectical relationship between theory and practice. The article positions itself within the Leninist tradition of party-building, emphasising that revolutionary organisation must be founded on theoretical clarity and determination — a direct inheritance from What Is To Be Done? and the organisational principles of Bolshevism.

The theoretical framework is explicitly anti-dogmatic: Lenin's greatness is located not in the mechanical application of fixed formulas but in his capacity to apply the Marxist method to novel historical conditions. This situates the article within the broader Marxist tradition's insistence on the concrete analysis of concrete conditions, while simultaneously defending the universality of Lenin's contributions — on imperialism, the state, philosophy, and the national question — as enduring tools for the present conjuncture.

The article also implicitly draws on the Trotskyist tradition's critique of Stalinism, distinguishing "genuine Leninism" from the bureaucratic degeneration that claimed Lenin's mantle. This is not elaborated theoretically in the text but is a settled political position of the tradition.

Conjunctural Relevance

The article connects Lenin's legacy to the current moment through several concrete observations. It notes that young people in Britain and internationally face a world of "war, poverty and oppression" with no reference point of anyone standing up against the atrocities they have witnessed throughout their lives. This is a direct reference to the crisis of political representation — the absence of any mass party offering a revolutionary alternative — which the article argues creates the objective conditions for a turn toward communism.

The specific data points are modest but indicative: 150 people gathered in central London, over 3,000 live stream views within 24 hours, watch parties across multiple countries, and 4,000 copies of In Defence of Lenin dispatched worldwide. These figures are presented as evidence of a growing layer of communist youth seeking theoretical orientation.

Geopolitically, the article's international character — with events in Pakistan, Sweden, Mexico, Canada, Italy, and Ireland — reflects the IMT's analysis that the crisis is global and that the revolutionary response must be correspondingly internationalist. The founding of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RKP) in Sweden and the refoundation of the Mexican section as the Revolutionary Communist Organisation (RCO) are presented as concrete steps toward building Leninist parties in the present.

Where the Argument Continues

The article is primarily a campaign launch and organisational report, so its theoretical argument is gestured toward rather than developed. The argument continues in several directions:

  • In Defence of Lenin (the book by Rob Sewell and Alan Woods) is the extended theoretical defence and biography that the article promotes. This is the primary text where the argument is fully elaborated.

  • The #LeninLives campaign website (lenin.red) is positioned as the ongoing repository of study materials, reading guides, and responses to myths about Lenin.

  • The article announces a year-long focus on Lenin's theoretical contributions across marxist.com, covering his writings on war, imperialism, the women's question, the state, and philosophy. These will presumably be developed in subsequent articles.

  • The broader IMT corpus — including Bolshevism, the Road to Revolution by Alan Woods, and the regular output of marxist.com — provides the theoretical context for the party-building perspective outlined here.

  • The article does not develop the economic analysis underlying the turn toward Leninism. This would be found in other IDOM articles on the crisis of capitalism, the tendency of the rate of profit to fall, and the current conjuncture of war and inflation.

Connections

The article connects to several key texts and thinkers:

  • Lenin's own works, particularly What Is To Be Done?, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, The State and Revolution, and his philosophical notebooks. These are the theoretical foundations the article calls comrades to study.

  • Trotsky's writings on Lenin, especially The Young Lenin and his biographical sketches, which represent the Trotskyist tradition's claim to Lenin's authentic legacy against Stalinist distortions.

  • Alan Woods' Bolshevism, the Road to Revolution, which is explicitly referenced as a handbook for party-building on the Leninist model.

  • The broader Marxist tradition on the party question, including Marx and Engels' writings on organisation and the debates within the Second and Third Internationals.

  • Contemporary IDOM articles on the crisis of capitalism and the radicalisation of youth, which provide the economic and political context for the turn toward Leninism that this article announces.

Key Quotes

  1. "Lenin didn't see Marxism as a dogma, he saw it as a guide to action."

  2. "The bourgeoisie is anxious to bury Lenin and they have been trying to for a long time, but they have failed."

  3. "In the sum total of Marxism, which is a colossal treasure house of ideas, a prominent place is occupied precisely by the enormous contribution made by Lenin."

  4. "For young people, there is no reference point anywhere of anybody standing up against the atrocities that have been committed throughout their life."

  5. "Our party's aim is the complete liberation of anyone who slaves away to make money for their bosses, at the cost of their health, at the cost of their happiness, at the cost of their being able to live a full life… Our aim is not half measures, it is socialist revolution."

  6. "We must build a party, as Lenin did, a Bolshevik Party, on the principles of theory and understanding. We have to have determination. We have to have courage."