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Rekindling communism the significance of Lenins The State and Revolution

Marxist Theory · 2026-05-13

Core Argument

The article argues that Lenin's The State and Revolution is not merely a historical document but a living theoretical weapon for the present conjuncture. Its central thesis is that the Marxist theory of the state — specifically, the necessity of smashing the bourgeois state apparatus and replacing it with a dictatorship of the proletariat organised through soviets or similar organs of workers' democracy — constitutes the fundamental dividing line between revolutionary communism and reformist opportunism. The article claims that the theoretical capitulation to bourgeois democracy, which Lenin identified and fought in 1917, has been reproduced in every subsequent generation of the workers' movement, from the Second International's betrayal in 1914 through to the failures of Syriza, Corbynism, and the DSA today. The argument is that without this theoretical clarity, every movement to the left of social democracy will inevitably be absorbed and neutralised by the capitalist state.

Theoretical Grounding

The analysis is grounded in the classical Marxist theory of the state as developed by Marx and Engels and systematised by Lenin. It draws directly on Engels' The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State for the proposition that the state is a product of irreconcilable class antagonisms — "special bodies of armed men" that arise to keep class conflict within the bounds of "order," meaning the order of the ruling class. The article then deploys Marx's analysis of the Paris Commune, particularly the insight from The Civil War in France that the working class "cannot simply lay hold of the ready-made state machinery, and wield it for its own purposes."

The theoretical framework is explicitly anti-reformist. It positions Lenin's concept of the dictatorship of the proletariat as "the touchstone on which the real understanding and recognition of Marxism should be tested" — a direct quotation from Lenin that the article uses to demarcate genuine Marxism from its bourgeois and petty-bourgeois distortions. The article also engages with the Marxist theory of the state's "withering away," insisting that this can only occur after the revolutionary destruction of the bourgeois state and the expropriation of the capitalist class, not through gradual reform within existing parliamentary frameworks.

The analysis sits firmly within the Leninist tradition of the revolutionary communist movement, rejecting both the social-democratic gradualism of Bernstein and the "centrist" evasions of Kautsky, who the article argues avoided the essential question of whether the working class should smash the bourgeois state or merely seek to govern within it.

Conjunctural Relevance

The article connects Lenin's 1917 analysis to the present moment through a series of concrete observations about the functioning of contemporary capitalist states:

  • The media as an instrument of class rule: The article cites the servile attitude of British Prime Ministers towards Rupert Murdoch's media empire as evidence that "who's vote really counts in British so-called 'democracy'" is the capitalist class, not the working class.

  • The Truss episode as a demonstration of capitalist discipline: The brief premiership of Liz Truss in Britain is used to show how any government that threatens capitalist profitability will be confronted with economic instability and toppled — in Truss's case by her own party — to "stabilise the economy."

  • The revolving door between state and capital: The article notes the seamless movement between top civil service positions and major capitalist monopolies and banks, arguing that this ensures the state bureaucracy is "completely aligned with the interests of the class of which they are a part."

  • The persistence of dual power: The article argues that in every revolution where the working class has stood at the fore, "embryonic organs of workers' power have been thrown up alongside the old state apparatus" — strike committees, self-defence committees, or other ad hoc organisations — creating the situation of "dual power" that Lenin analysed in 1917.

  • The failure of contemporary left reformism: The article explicitly names Syriza in Greece, Jeremy Corbyn in Britain, Bernie Sanders and the DSA in the United States as movements that, despite calling themselves "democratic socialists," have "ended in failure" because they see parliamentary democracy as something above class division rather than an instrument of class oppression.

Where the Argument Continues

The article is part of a broader corpus within the Revolutionary Communist International's theoretical output. The argument continues in several directions:

  • The question of the contemporary form of the workers' state: The article sketches the features of the dictatorship of the proletariat but does not develop how these would apply in advanced capitalist countries with highly developed state apparatuses and entrenched parliamentary traditions. This is addressed in other IDOM articles on the strategy for revolution in the imperialist heartlands.

  • The analysis of "democratic socialism": The article names Syriza, Corbyn, and the DSA as failures but does not provide a detailed analysis of why these movements degenerated. This is taken up in Against the Stream episodes and IDOM articles examining the Greek experience, the Labour Party under Corbyn, and the trajectory of the DSA.

  • The question of the party: The article concludes by stating the need to "re-establish the real traditions of communism and found a new worldwide party of revolution" but does not develop the organisational conclusions. This connects to the broader Marxist literature on the vanguard party, particularly Lenin's What Is to Be Done? and the RCI's own programmatic documents.

  • The state under actually existing socialism: The article briefly mentions Lenin's struggle against the budding Soviet bureaucracy but does not develop an analysis of why the USSR degenerated into a bureaucratic caste society. This is a major theme in Trotsky's The Revolution Betrayed and in ongoing IDOM analyses of the Stalinist degeneration.

Connections

  • Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto: The article positions The State and Revolution alongside the Manifesto as a foundational text for the communist movement.

  • Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State: The theoretical foundation for the analysis of the state's class character.

  • Marx, The Civil War in France: The source for the analysis of the Paris Commune as the prototype of the workers' state.

  • Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte: Cited for the proposition that the next revolution must smash the bureaucratic-military machine, not transfer it from one hand to another.

  • Lenin, What Is to Be Done?: The companion text on the question of the revolutionary party, which the article gestures towards but does not develop.

  • Trotsky, The Revolution Betrayed: The essential text for understanding why the Soviet state degenerated, which the article touches on in its reference to Lenin's struggle against the bureaucracy.

  • IDOM articles on Syriza, Corbyn, and the DSA: For the conjunctural analysis of contemporary left reformism that the article names but does not develop in detail.

Key Quotes

  1. "Only he is a Marxist who extends the recognition of the class struggle to the recognition of the dictatorship of the proletariat. This is the touchstone on which the real understanding and recognition of Marxism should be tested."

  2. "Democracy for an insignificant minority, democracy for the rich – that is the democracy of capitalist society."

  3. "The democratic republic is 'the best possible shell for capitalism,' as the most effective instrument for the class rule of the bourgeoisie."

  4. "The state will be able to wither away completely when society adopts the rule: 'From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs'... Marx calls this the 'higher stage of communism.'"

  5. "The struggle to free the working people from the influence of the bourgeoisie in general, and of the imperialist bourgeoisie in particular, is impossible without a struggle against opportunist prejudices concerning the 'state'."

  6. "Under socialism all will govern in turn and will soon become accustomed to no one governing."