Can there ever be a peaceful transition from capitalism to socialism? According to Vladimir Lenin, leader of the Bolsheviks and eventual head of the Soviet Union, workers must seize the state in a violent revolution. The task does not end here. Workers must reconstruct the state into a “dictatorship of the proletariat” in order to prevent a bourgeois counter-revolution. Eventually, once the bourgeoise have been repressed and all classes have been abolished, the state will wither away. Communism will have been achieved.Lenin presents this argument as the true and original interpretation of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. In State and Revolution, written in 1917, Lenin takes aim at those who he regards as distorting Marxism. Violent revolution and a dictatorship of the proletariat are absolutely necessary to bring about socialism and eventually communism. This is a seminal work of political theory, which influenced not only the Soviet Union but also the Chinese Communist Party and other Marxist-Leninist organisations. Of course, no work is beyond reproach. In this episode of Ideas Matter, Louis and Alex turn a critical eye towards Lenin’s masterpiece. What follows will surely bother both Marxists and non-Marxists alike. Enjoy. To contact the podcast, you can email [email protected] and Twitter: @ideasmatterpod

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