Introduction¶
Core Argument¶
The present period is the most turbulent in capitalism's history, marked by rising poverty, unprecedented wealth concentrated in the hands of the 1%, deteriorating working conditions, unaffordable housing, and catastrophic climate change. Imperialist powers clash, producing instability and war, while this volatility drives political realignments as people abandon established parties. Marxism offers a scientific method for understanding that capitalism's internal mechanisms generate these crises and that the system itself must be abolished.
Four key texts are introduced. The Communist Manifesto (1848) accurately predicted capitalism's global expansion, periodic crises, and the concentration of capital, identifying the working class as the system's "grave diggers." Socialism: Utopian and Scientific presents dialectical materialism, contrasting utopian socialism with Marx and Engels' scientific method that grounds socialism in class struggle and historical necessity.
Lenin's The State and Revolution (1917) was written during the Russian Revolution when the question of state power was paramount. In July 1917, mass demonstrations in Petrograd raised the Bolshevik slogan 'All Power to the Soviets!' The Provisional Government ordered troops to fire on the crowd, shut down Bolshevik papers, and forced Lenin into hiding. The reformist-led soviets had become appendages to the government, risking brutal reaction. Lenin's work argues that the state is not a neutral arbiter but arose as an instrument of the ruling propertied class to oppress the producers. The modern executive is a committee for managing the bourgeoisie's common affairs. The working class cannot simply take over the ready-made state machinery; it must be smashed and replaced by a workers' state governed by armed workers, with free elections, recall of officials, no official paid more than a skilled worker, no standing army, and administrative tasks rotated among all. This semi-state governs the transition to communism and will wither away once classes are abolished.
The Stalinist bureaucracy usurped political power in the Soviet Union. Trotsky argued for a 'political revolution' preserving the October 1917 conquests – a centralised planned economy – while reconquering power for the working class. Transitional demands address immediate problems: a sliding scale of wages counters inflation; a sliding scale of hours tackles unemployment by sharing available work. These demands link to the necessity of overthrowing capitalism through socialist revolution. The illusion that gradual reform was possible has broken down. Since 2008, austerity has left the average EU citizen £3,000 worse off. Achieving a 60% debt-to-GDP ratio would require permanent austerity destroying healthcare, education, social housing, and pensions. New left political forces (Podemos, SYRIZA, Corbyn's Labour, Sanders) emerged around 2014-15 but massively disappointed workers and youth, leading many to see capitalism as the problem and turn to Marxism as the rational, scientific explanation of the crisis. Marx's dictum that the point is to change the world, not just interpret it, captures the essence of revolutionary communism.