Vladimir Lenin's "The State and Revolution"

Vladimir Lenin's “The State and Revolution” puts forth Marx and Engels’ views on the state, its origin, the need for setting up the transition from capitalism to complete communism in stages and the inevitability of a revolution in the process of attaining the same. This work of Lenin also argues against the distortion of Marxism by theories from socialist theorists like Kautsky and quotes excerpts from the works of Marx and Engels to disprove such theories. 

Unlike the popular opinion that the “state” is needed for maintaining the order in the society, Marx and Engels expose the “state” as a product of the society due to irreconcilable class antagonisms - the state will wither away when the oppression by capitalists and bourgeois rule are overthrown as a result of the revolution by the proletariat and the society’s transition to become classless. The state includes the police, judiciary, administrative functions and this book explains how it favours the minority oppressors in the capitalist society. 

Marx’s theory of attaining an ideal society driven by complete communism from an existing capitalist society and its transition in stages is realistic and is a theory built on experiences from the Paris Commune and other proletariat revolutions across the world. The role of proletariat democracy and the destruction of the bureaucratic apparatus of the bourgeoisie in this transition is explained in detail drawing references from Marx and Engels and refuting the claims of Kautsky which are indirectly in favour of opportunism. 

Of late, there are claims that communism is an outdated principle and ideology. In India, in addition to the class based oppression, the ideology also faces a challenge to overcome caste based oppression. This book that is a commentary on Marx and Engels theories is a reminder that the ideology is still relevant and holds good for any society with any irreconcilable antagonisms.