New biography: ‘In Defence of Lenin’ – pre-order now!

2024 will mark 100 years since the death of Lenin, one of history’s outstanding revolutionaries, who led the Bolshevik Party that took power for the Russian working class and peasantry in 1917. Next year, the International Marxist Tendency will celebrate Lenin’s life, legacy and works with a series of events and publications, foremost amongst them a brand new biography, In Defence of Lenin, now available to pre-order from Wellred Books!

John Reed, the author of Ten Days that Shook the World (an eyewitness account of the Russian Revolution and its aftermath), once said that Lenin was both the most loved and the most hated person alive. He was, and continues to be, cherished by tens of millions who aspire to change society for the better. He is hated with equal vehemence by the ruling capitalist class and their apologists, who cling desperately to the rotten existing order.

As the main leader of the Russian Revolution, Lenin was a man who changed the world. A convinced Marxist, and architect of the Bolsheviks, he translated the ideas of Marxism into reality. For daring to lead working people into victorious battle with the capitalists, and waging an unrelenting struggle to hold power for the workers’ state in the face of counter-revolution, civil war and imperialist strangulation, the bourgeoisie and their toadies can never forgive him.

Bourgeois historians continue to slander Lenin: painting him as a brutal, dictatorial monster whose actions condemned tens of millions to death and misery. The purpose of this new book (by Rob Sewell and Alan Woods, respectively editors-in-chief of socialist.net and marxist.com) is to set the record straight. Lenin was not only a towering revolutionary theorist and organiser, but a man of great humanity, driven by iron determination to free workers and the poor from the shackles of capitalist exploitation.

This book aims to draw out the significance of the real Lenin, not the slanderous caricature of the bourgeois historians, nor the empty icon erected by the Stalinist bureaucrats, with whom Lenin waged the final struggle of his life. Over two volumes, this book traces Lenin’s life and explains his ideas. It also features an appendix of writings by Lenin’s wife and comrade Krupskaya, in addition to a chronology, and over 250 images.

Given the ongoing capitalist crisis, Lenin ideas are gaining an increasingly wide echo. In many ways, he is more relevant today than ever before. We must arm ourselves with the many lessons of Lenin’s life and contributions to Marxist theory, to prepare ourselves for the battles to come, which will finish what he started over a century ago.

This two-volume treasure trove is a must-have for any serious communist revolutionary. Pre-order your copy today!