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Russia is on the verge of a bourgeois revolution. The tsar is losing power and credibility by the day. The people of the nation are frothing at the mouth for change that will save their lives. Feudalism is breathing its last breath. However, the revolutionary movement is split in two. On one side stand the socialist revolutionaries, one-half of the Social-Democrats, and on the other side stand the reactionaries, the other half of the Social-Democrats. Before the party lies two paths. The path of least resistance to the capitalist bourgeoisie and the path of total worker control of society, socialism. Which path do the people want? Which path will the party choose? In this fiery polemic work, Lenin makes clear his argument. There must be a deviously clever strategy, but it must not stop at the bourgeois revolution. It must charge ahead to socialism! To complete freedom for the proletariat! His points are concise and clear. His criticism is sharp and cutting. He wastes no time and saves no feelings. His words ring ever true as they echo through time solemnly warning us of the dangers, he faced himself. Will we listen? Which path will we take? There are two tactics. One must be chosen.
This copy also includes a detailed commentary on Lenin’s text by lifelong communist Thomas Riggins. This commentary expertly analyzes the text from 1905 and provides a parallel to modern-day American Marxist politics. It is a must-read for all radicals.
Contributor Notes
THOMAS RIGGINS was born in West Palm Beach in 1942 and raised in Lake Worth, Florida. In high school, he read Why I Am Not A Christian by Bertrand Russell and was thus inspired to study philosophy. He became a civil rights activist in the 1960s when he was chairman of the Young People’s Socialist League at Florida State University and worked for the Congress of Racial Equality. He joined the Communist Party of the United States of America in the 1970s and was one of several hundred CPUSA members in 1991 to sign “An Initiative to Unite and Renew the Party” in the aftermath of the fall of the Soviet Union. At Florida State University he received his BA in Anthropology and Archaeology as well as his MA in philosophy. Later in the 1980s, he received a MPhil in philosophy at the City University of New York Graduate Center in addition to a PhD with a dissertation on Christopher Caudwell. He would go on later to teach for over twenty years at NYU and the New School of Social Research. He has written for multiple publications such as People’s World as well as Political Affairs where he was an associate editor. He served on the board of the Bertrand Russel Society and was president of the New York Corliss Lamont chapter of the American Humanist Association. He now writes articles and books for multiple online publications, primarily the Midwestern Marx Institute for Marxist Theory and Political Analysis. Some of his books include Reading the Classical Texts of Marxism, Eurocommunism, and The Outcome of Classical German Philosophy. He currently resides in New York City.
Paperback copies of this book can be purchased here: midwesternmarx.com/books