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Study companion

The State and Revolution

V. I. Lenin · 1917

A complete, free study companion to Lenin's argument about class power, the Paris Commune, and the transition beyond the state. Read all six completed chapters, both prefaces, and the postscript through 27 ordered units with original summaries, key claims, discussion prompts, and glossary entries. Written in 1917 and first published in 1918; the linked MIA edition includes the later addition to Chapter II. Source text is read externally.

Start reading →Open source text ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Read the source text on its original site, then use this guide to revisit the argument and discuss the questions. Times are estimates; allow extra time for group discussion.

Reading sequence

  1. Prefaces — Why the State Becomes an Urgent QuestionAbout 8 minutes
  2. Chapter I, §1 — Class Conflict and the Origin of the StateAbout 10 minutes
  3. Chapter I, §2 — Coercive Institutions Apart from the PopulationAbout 10 minutes
  4. Chapter I, §3 — Class Rule, Wealth, and the Democratic RepublicAbout 12 minutes
  5. Chapter I, §4 — Revolutionary Replacement and the Withering of PowerAbout 14 minutes
  6. Chapter II, §1 — Workers as a Ruling ClassAbout 14 minutes
  7. Chapter II, §2 — What the French Revolutions ChangedAbout 18 minutes
  8. Chapter II, §3 — What Lenin Finds Distinctive in Marx's TheoryAbout 8 minutes
  9. Chapter III, §1 — Learning from the Paris CommuneAbout 10 minutes
  10. Chapter III, §2 — Institutions Intended to Prevent Official PrivilegeAbout 14 minutes
  11. Chapter III, §3 — Representation Beyond ParliamentarismAbout 18 minutes
  12. Chapter III, §4 — Coordination Through Communal InstitutionsAbout 10 minutes
  13. Chapter III, §5 — Political Emancipation and Productive LabourAbout 8 minutes
  14. Chapter IV, §1 — Housing and the Tasks of a TransitionAbout 10 minutes
  15. Chapter IV, §2 — Authority, Organisation, and the Anarchist DisputeAbout 12 minutes
  16. Chapter IV, §3 — Engels's Letter to BebelAbout 9 minutes
  17. Chapter IV, §4 — Programme Demands and Concrete State FormsAbout 17 minutes
  18. Chapter IV, §5 — Keeping Public Servants AccountableAbout 14 minutes
  19. Chapter IV, §6 — What Would It Mean to Go Beyond Democracy?About 8 minutes
  20. Chapter V, §1 — Studying a Future Society Through Its OriginsAbout 8 minutes
  21. Chapter V, §2 — Democracy During the Political TransitionAbout 13 minutes
  22. Chapter V, §3 — Equal Rules and Unequal ConditionsAbout 12 minutes
  23. Chapter V, §4 — The Conditions for Distribution According to NeedAbout 22 minutes
  24. Chapter VI, §1 — A Dispute That Avoids the StateAbout 7 minutes
  25. Chapter VI, §2 — Revolutionary Language and an Unchanged ApparatusAbout 19 minutes
  26. Chapter VI, §3 — Pannekoek, Kautsky, and the Meaning of ConquestAbout 20 minutes
  27. Postscript — An Unfinished Chapter and an Open Historical QuestionAbout 4 minutes