Subject: Politics & Society
The Transitional Program
A 1938 programmatic document connecting immediate demands with questions of class power. Read it in its historical context.
Preface: A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
The 1859 preface frequently cited in discussions of historical materialism. Read its argument alongside concrete examples and consider the limits of mechanical interpretations.
The State and Revolution
A work on the state, class and revolution written in 1917 and published in 1918. Read it as a polemic formed under particular historical conditions.
Reform or Revolution
A polemic on the relationship between struggles for reform and revolutionary transformation. The source edition includes publication notes and a contents list.
The capitalist state
The state comprises administrative, legal and coercive institutions. Marxist analysis examines how these institutions relate to class structures and the maintenance of property relations.
Reform or revolution?
Reforms can improve lives and extend rights. The reform-or-revolution debate asks whether gradual reforms can overcome capitalist relations, or whether a change in class power is necessary.
Lenin and revolutionary organisation
Debates about revolutionary organisation concern strategy, internal democracy, leadership and relationships with the working-class movement. Read Lenin’s works in relation to the political circumstances and practical problems they addressed.
The transitional programme
Transitional demands seek to connect immediate needs with questions of economic and political power. Trotsky’s 1938 text emerged from particular historical circumstances and requires contextual reading.
Introduction to Marxism
A structured introductory course on Marxist method, history and economics. Read it on the original portal; this record is not a copy or full translation.
Manifesto of the Communist Party
A programmatic text first published in February 1848. The linked edition identifies its translators and publication history.