Revolution, democracy, socialism : selected writings / V.I. Lenin ; edited and with an introduction by Paul Le Blanc.

Part of Pluto's 21st birthday series Get Political, which brings essential political writing in a range of fields to a new audience.This is an entirely new collection of Lenin's writing. For the first time it brings together crucial shorter works, to show that Lenin held a life-long commitment to freedom and democracy. Le Blanc has written a comprehensive introduction, which gives an accessible overview of Lenin's life and work, and explains his relevance to political thought today.Lenin has been much maligned in the mainstream, accused of viewing 'man as modeling clay' and of 'social engineering of the most radical kind.' However, in contrast to today's world leaders, who happily turn to violence to achieve their objectives, Lenin believed it impossible to reach his goals 'by any other path than that of political democracy.'This collection will be of immense value to students encountering Lenin for the first time, and those looking for a new interpretation of one of the 20th century's most inspiring figures.

TEN REASONS FOR NOT READING LENIN by Paul Le Blanc 1. Lenin 2. Lenin's Critics 3. His Time and Ours 4. Further Reading LENIN'S SELECTED WRITINGS, 1895-1923 I. Marxist Program and Revolutionary Organization 1. 1895-6: Draft and Explanation of a Program of the Social Democratic Party 2. 1897-9: The Development of Capitalism in Russia 3. 1899: Our Program 4. 1899: Our Immediate Task 5. 1899: Fuse Socialism with the Workers' Movement II. Birth of Bolshevism 6. 1900: The Urgent Tasks of Our Movement 7. 1902: What Is To Be Done? 8. 1903: To the Rural Poor 9. 1904: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: Reply to Rosa Luxemburg 10. 1904: Against Subordination to Liberals III. 1905: Challenges of the Revolutionary Upsurge 11. 1905: The Beginning of the Revolution in Russia 12. 1905: A Militant Agreement for the Uprising 13. 1905: Two Tactics of Social Democracy in the Democratic Revolution 14. 1905: Our Tasks and the Soviet of Workers Deputies 15. 1905: Socialism and Religion IV. Creation of the Bolshevik Party 16. 1906: Freedom to Criticise and Unity of Action 17. 1909: Break with Ultra-Left Bolsheviks 18. 1912: Final Break with the Mensheviks 19. 1914: Report to Brussels V. Imperialist War, National Liberation, Revolutionary Democracy 20. 1913: The Historical Destiny of the Doctrine of Karl Marx 21. 1915: Socialism and War 22. 1915: The Revolutionary Proletariat and the Right of Nations to Self-Determination 23. 1916: Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism 24. 1917: Statistics and Sociology VI. 1917 Revolution 25. 1917: Letters on Tactics 26. 1917: The State and Revolution 27. 1917: To the Population: Take Power in Your Own Hands 28. 1918: Dissolution of the Constituent Assembly VII. World Revolution 29. 1918: Letter to American Workers 30. 1919: The Third International and Its Place in History 31. 1920: Left-Wing Communism, An Infantile Disorder 32. 1921: Speech on Tactics of the Communist International VIII. Reaching for Socialism, Resisting Bureaucracy 33. 1919: Tasks of the Working Women's Movement 34. 1919: Comments to Congress on Adult Education 35. 1920: On the Trade Unions 36. 1921: The Party Crisis 37. 1923: Better Fewer, But Better Index