Russia: From Proletarian Revolution to State-Capitalist Counter-Revolution is a selection of writings by the Marxist-Humanist philosopher Raya Dunayevskaya, which begins with an examination of Lenin’s Hegel Notebooks, his philosophic preparation for proletarian revolution, followed by a section on “What Happens After” the revolution--the first years post 1917. Analyses of Trotsky, Stalin, Bukharin, and Luxemburg are presented. A key section is “Russia’s Transformation into Opposite: The Theory of State-Capitalism.” Opposition to Russian state-capitalism such as the 1953 East Germany Revolt and the 1956 Hungarian Revolution are described. Mao’s China as another form of state-capitalism, as well as the Sino-Soviet conflict, is discussed. The study ends with a “battle of ideas” with other analyses of the Revolution and its aftermath.

From Workers' State to State Capitalism.

Over sixty years ago, C.L.R. James and a small circle of collaborators making up the radical left Johnson-Forest Tendency reached the conclusion that there was no true socialist society existing anywhere in the world. Written in collaboration with Raya Dunayevskaya and Grace Lee Boggs, this is another pioneering critique of Lenin and Trotsky, and reclamation of Marx, from the West Indian scholar and activist, C.L.R. James. Originally published in 1950, this definitive edition includes the original preface from Martin Glaberman to the third edition, C.L.R. James’ original introductions to three previous editions and a new introduction from James’ biographer Paul Buhle.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin is among the most enigmatic and influential figures of the twentieth century. While his life and work are crucial to any understanding of modern history and the socialist movement, generations of writers on the left and the right have seen fit to embalm him endlessly with superficial analysis or dreary dogma. Now, after the fall of the Soviet Union and “actually-existing” socialism, it is possible to consider Lenin afresh, with sober senses trained on his historical context and how it shaped his theoretical and political contributions. Reconstructing Lenin, four decades in the making and now available in English for the first time, is an attempt to do just that. Tamás Krausz, an esteemed Hungarian scholar writing in the tradition of György Lukács, Ferenc Tokei, and István Mészáros, makes a major contribution to a growing field of contemporary Lenin studies. This rich and penetrating account reveals Lenin busy at the work of revolution, his thought shaped by immediate political events but never straying far from a coherent theoretical perspective. Krausz balances detailed descriptions of Lenin’s time and place with lucid explications of his intellectual development, covering a range of topics like war and revolution, dictatorship and democracy, socialism and utopianism.Reconstructing Lenin will change the way you look at a man and a movement; it will also introduce the English-speaking world to a profound radical scholar.