This year marked the centenary of Lenin’s death. In order to reclaim the real legacy of one of history’s greatest revolutionaries, we dedicated a series of articles to some of Lenin’s most important texts throughout 2024.
The aim of the
Lenin in a Year
series was to shine a light on the immense contributions that Lenin made to Marxist theory and practice throughout his life, by highlighting both his most famous, but also some of his lesser-known writings. These works contain invaluable lessons for communists today in the struggle for the liberation of humanity from the shackles of capitalism and imperialism, which all serious revolutionaries should be encouraged to study.
The contributions to the
Lenin in a Year
series have proven immensely popular with readers of marxist.com, with every article giving useful and engaging insights into Lenin’s works. We publish below the full collection of articles from the series – in chronological order – and encourage readers to make the most of this resource in the future, in order to make a serious study of Lenin’s life and work.
1894
What the “Friends of the People” Are and How They Fight the Social-Democrats
1899
The Development of Capitalism in Russia
1901
Where to Begin?
How the foundations of Bolshevism were laid
What Is To Be Done?
How Lenin built a battle organisation
1904
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
A house divided – how Bolshevism and Menshevism first took form
1905
Two Tactics of Social-Democracy
The ‘Two Tactics’ of the 1905 Revolution – a line is drawn between Bolshevism and Menshevism
1908
Materialism and Empirio-criticism
In Defence of Materialism
1909
The Faction of Supporters of Otzovism and God-Building
Marxism under attack after the 1905 revolution – Lenin fights back
1913
The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism
1914
The Right of Nations to Self-Determination
How Lenin fought for workers’ unity in the ‘prison house of nations’
1916
Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism
understanding reality in order to transform it
1917
April Theses
rearming the Bolsheviks for power
The Tasks of the Proletariat in Our Revolution
The State and Revolution
rekindling communism
The Impending Catastrophe and How to Combat It
Lenin’s transitional programme – “Perish or forge full steam ahead”
1918
The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Government
"Left-Wing" Childishness and the Petty-Bourgeois Mentality
The Bolsheviks in power – Lenin’s revolutionary realism against ultra-left despair
The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky
“A most learned armchair fool”
1919
Economics And Politics In The Era Of The Dictatorship Of The Proletariat
Lenin in power – how the class struggle continued after the workers took power