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This book is correctly regarded as one of Trotsky's finest classics. It is a product of a sharp polemic within the American trotskyist movement during the period 1939-40. This was a dispute which touched on the very fundamentals of Marxism. It was for this reason that Trotsky himself participated in this struggle in the form of a series of articles and letters that are brought together in this volume.The issues covered concern the essence of Marxist theory and deal with such questions as: The class nature of the Soviet state. The defence of the Soviet Union against imperialist attack. Bolshevik principles of organisation. Dialectical Materialism.This book is Trotsky at his best: profound, concise and theorectically razor sharp.

The story of the Spanish revolution of the 1930s is quite well known to most people on the left, but there is a surprising level of ignorance concerning the events that occurred subsequently. History did not cease with the victory of Franco in 1939. And the story of how the Franco dictatorship was eventually brought down by the revolutionary movement of the Spanish workers is an inspiring one.Under the most difficult and dangerous conditions, Spanish workers launched a strike wave, which, in its intensity and duration, has no parallel anywhere. There was nothing remotely like this in Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy or Salazar's Portugal. This was a genuine revolution, which could and should have gone far further than it did. If it did not finally succeed, that was no fault of the working class. The Spanish revolution of the 1970s was shamefully betrayed by the leaders of the communist and socialist parties, who entered into an agreement with former fascists in order halt the movement in its tracks.Alan Woods participated personally in the last phase of this struggle and was a witness to some of its most decisive moments. Using a wealth of documentary material from the time and also new interviews with key participants in the events, he tears away the thick veil of lies, myths and half-truths to reveal what actually occurred.With new struggles and challenges on the order of the day in Spain and the rest of the world, it is the duty of all conscious workers and revolutionary youth to study the lessons of the past as a necessary precondition for victory in the future. This book is an important contribution to a necessary learning process and is obligatory reading for anyone who is interested in the struggle for socialism today.

"Marx was the best hated and most calumniated man of his time. Governments, both absolutist and republican, deported him from their territories. Bourgeois, whether conservative or ultra-democratic, vied with one another in heaping slanders upon him. All this he brushed aside as though it were a cobweb, ignoring it, answering only when extreme necessity compelled him. And he died beloved, revered and mourned by millions of revolutionary fellow workers - from the mines of Siberia to California, in all parts of Europe and America…"His name will endure through the ages, and so also will his work."Two hundred years after the birth of the great revolutionary Karl Marx, across the world, the capitalist system is in crisis and the working class are moving in to action to change their lives. In ruling class circles, no longer do they snidely declare the death of Marx. On the contrary, there is fear and consternation in their ranks. There has, therefore, never been a more urgent time to study his ideas.This short book, released for the two hundredth birthday of Marx, contains a series of articles on the man, his life, and his ideas: from an explanation of the philosophy of Marxism; to Marx's battles against petty-bourgeois anarchist ideas; to Trotsky's assessment of the Communist Manifesto. And much more!This book should be read by all class-conscious workers as the beginning of the study of the ideas of Marxism. As Lenin said, "without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement."

The Revolution Betrayed is one of the most important Marxist texts of all time. It is the only serious Marxist analysis of what happened to the Russian Revolution after the death of Lenin. In this book, Trotsky provided a brilliant and profound analysis of Stalinism, which has never been improved upon, let alone superseded. With a delay of 60 years, it was completely vindicated by history. Without a thorough knowledge of this work, it is impossible to understand the reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union and the events since then in Russia and on a world scale. This remarkable work predicted the fate of the USSR down to the last detail. In the period of so-called market reform, Russia experienced the biggest collapse in world economic history. Just in the first five years alone, the economy contracted by a staggering sixty percent. Such a drop is unprecedented in economic history. It was like a catastrophic defeat in war. The collapse of the USSR has led to social disintegration. The elements of barbarism have all reappeared. Poverty, beggary, drunkenness, drug addiction, prostitution, crime, epidemics have spread to an unparalleled degree. Sections of the youth are affected by lumpenisation. At the same time, the mafia capitalists have accrued massive wealth by plundering the former nationalised industries as well as the rich sources of oil and other resources. The bureaucratic degeneration of the Soviet Union and its eventual fall must be carefully studied, if we are to be able to answer the questions of the workers and youth. And the best explanation that can be found is in the pages of this wonderful classic of Marxism. Only the restoration of a nationalised planned economy can create the conditions for a revival of Russia's colossal productive potential. But this cannot mean a return to the old Stalinist regime. Only a regime of real workers' democracy, along the lines of October 1917, can provide Russia with a way out of the present impasse. As Trotsky points out in a most graphic and profound passage from The Revolution Betrayed, a nationalised planned economy needs democracy as the human body needs oxygen.

In this classic text, Lenin brilliantly explains the fundamental principles of the materialist philosophy of Marxism. He defends them against idealist attacks from the subjective idealism of Machism, a philosophical trend, which at Lenin's time was becoming very fashionable, even within the workers movement.Step by step, layer by layer, quoting at length from the many trendy philosophical and scientific publications of the day, the book exposes idealism in all its guises. The aim was very simple: to bring out in the open the real difference between Marxist dialectical materialism and subjective idealism, which in the last instance always leads to some form of religious world outlook.Analysing the different shades and expressions of Machism internationally, Lenin stressed that "in every philosophical question raised by the new physics, we [trace] the struggle between materialism and idealism." And he showed that: "Behind the mass of new terminological devices, behind the litter of erudite scholasticism, we invariably discerned two principal alignments, two fundamental trends in the solution of philosophical problems. Whether nature, matter, the physical, the external world should be taken as primary, and consciousness, mind, sensation (experience - as the widespread terminology of our time has it), the psychical, etc., should be regarded as secondary - that is the root question which in fact continues to divide the philosophers into two great camps."

"Democracy for an insignificant minority, democracy for the rich - that is the democracy of capitalist society."The question of the state is not something that normally occupies the attention of most workers. This is no accident. The state would be of no use for the ruling class if people did not believe that it was something harmless, impartial and above the interests of classes or individuals. However, Marxism teaches us that the state is an instrument for the oppression of the exploited classes by the ruling class. The state cannot be neutral.Written in the summer of 1917, in the heat of the Russian Revolution, Lenin's State and Revolution is a key work of Marxism. Here, Lenin explains that, stripped of all non-essentials, the state is in the final analysis "groups of armed men": the army and the police, in defence of the ruling class.Today, after years of attacks, we see the working class and youth attempting to shake off capitalist oppression in all corners of the world, thus inevitably colliding with the state. However, as Lenin said, "without revolutionary theory, there can be no revolutionary movement." To establish socialism, the only solution to the problems faced by the world today, it will not be possible for the working class to use the state as it currently exists, but it needs to overthrow it. An understanding of the nature of the state is a necessary weapon in the hands of the working class. Lenin's State and Revolution, one of the most important works of the twentieth century, surveys the analysis of the state by Marx and Engels in the light of the experience of the Russian Revolution, to provide the definitive Marxist explanation on the question. All class-conscious workers should therefore read this book.

"What passing bells for those who die as cattle? Only the monstrous anger of the guns." -Wilfred Owen, 'Anthem for Doomed Youth'On 28 June 1914, two pistol shots shattered the peace of a sunny afternoon in Sarajevo. Those shots reverberated around Europe and shattered the peace of the whole world. This was the beginning of the Great Slaughter. Could it have been avoided?Alan Woods uses the method of Marxism to answer this question. He explains that, actually, whilst the individual can often play a role in history, to explain events such as wars, you must look at deeper causes.As well as dealing with the origin of the war, Woods traces the conflict through its development, looking at the role of all the major actors, and their imperialist aims. He shows how, in the midst of the despair of the trenches and the home front, a new consciousness was formed.He also makes the case that it was the German Revolution that brought the war to an end, and how a revolutionary wave swept across Europe. The book also looks at the Treaty of Versailles and how the victorious powers imposed the deal on not just Germany but the rest of Europe.Given the amount of nationalistic mystification from all sides about the First World War, a history of the subject from the standpoint of the world working class is essential.

On the bicentennial of his birth, Karl Marx's ideas are more relevant than ever. While he is perhaps best known for his writings on economics and history, anyone who wishes to have a fully rounded understanding of his method must strive to master dialectical materialism, which itself resulted from an assiduous study and critique of Hegel.Dialectical materialism is the logic of motion, development, and change. By embracing contradiction instead of trying to write it out of reality, dialectics allows Marxists to approach processes as they really are, not as we would like them to be. In this way we can understand and explain the essential class interests at stake in our fight against capitalist exploitation andoppression.At every decisive turning point in history, scientific socialists must go back to basics. Marxist theory represents the synthesized experience, historical memory, and guide to action of the working class. This new selection of writings on Marxist philosophy aims to arm the new generation of revolutionary socialists with these essential ideas.With an introduction by Alan Woods.Edited by John Peterson.

Germany 1918-33 was one of the most tumultuous periods in history. Following the revolution in Russia, the German workers and soldiers attempted to seize power in November 1918. Unfortunately, the revolution was betrayed by the Social Democratic leaders.Further revolutionary convulsions rocked Germany from 1919 to 1923. By this time, a mass Communist Party had been formed, but following advice from Zinoviev and Stalin, a classical revolutionary opportunity in 1923 was missed.This was a blow, not only in Germany, but internationally. The German defeats served to strengthen the grip of the Stalinist bureaucracy in Russia. This resulted in zig-zags of policy between opportunism and ultra-leftism, which paved the way for the 'Third Period' with the Social Democrats regarded as the main enemy.With the rise of fascism, Leon Trotsky described Germany in 1931 as "the key to the international situation". "On the direction in which the solution of the German crisis develops will depend not only the fate of Germany herself (and that is already a great deal), but also the fate of Europe, the destiny of the entire world, for many years to come," he explained.Trotsky called for a United Front against fascism, but this was rejected by the Stalinists. This paved the way for the victory of the Nazis, leading to the Holocaust and the Second World War with its 55 million dead.In this book, Rob Sewell argues that all this was not inevitable, and analyses those events, drawing out the lessons for today.

This book is a classic of Marxism. It was highly recommended by Lenin as a 'text book' of scientific socialism. The book is a polemic by Engels against a German revisionist, Eugen Dühring, who challenged all the basic ideas of Marxism by counterposing his own 'scientific' theories within the social democratic party of Germany. Very reluctantly, Engels was forced to take up these ideas and in doing so explained in the clearest fashion the revolutionary theories of Marxism.The first popular exposition of Marxism as a whole, the titles cover the three parts - philosophy, political economy, socialism - and indicate the broad scope of this famous work.

Since Leon Trotsky's My Life was first published, it has been regarded as a unique political, literary and human document.Written in the first year of Trotsky's exile in Turkey, it contains the earliest authoritative account of the rise of Stalinism and the expulsion of the Left Opposition, who heroically fought for the ideas and traditions of Lenin.Trotsky's exile is the culmination of a narrative which moves from his childhood, his education in the 'universities' of tsarist prisons, Siberia and then his foreign exile - to his involvement in the European revolutionary movement, his central role in the tempestuous 1905 Revolution, the Bolshevik victory in October 1917 and the Civil War which followed. Trotsky's work concludes with the heroic struggle against Stalinism and his eventual exile and deportation from the Soviet Union."The publication of a new edition of my grandfather's autobiography, My Life, is an important step in establishing the truth," writes Esteban (Sieva) Volkov in the preface to this book. Esteban is the last remaining survivor and witness of the last chapter of Leon Trotsky's life in Mexico.The book also contains an introduction by Alan Woods, the author of many acclaimed works on the Russian revolutionary movement.

"This transformation of competition into monopoly is one of the most important - if not the most important - phenomena of modern capitalist economy."During the First World War, Lenin found himself isolated, but he was not afraid to fight against the stream. He dedicated all his strength to educating and training the Bolsheviks on the basis of the genuine ideas of Marxism. His masterpiece, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism, is an immortal monument to his work in the vital field of theory.No book has ever explained the phenomena of modern capitalism better. Indeed, all of Lenin's predictions concerning the concentration of capital, the dominance of the banks and finance capital, the growing antagonism between nation states and the inevitability of war arising out of the contradictions of imperialism have been shown to be true by the entire history of the last 100 years.The Communist Manifesto already explains that free competition inevitably gives rise to monopoly and the concentration of capital in a few giant enterprises. However, this process did not culminate during the life time of Marx and Lenin was in a position to analyse it in great details. Using the vast amount of statistics at his disposal, he outlines this process.Lenin further explains that in the stage of imperialist monopoly capitalism, the entire economy is under the domination of the banks and finance capital. Today, over one hundred years after it was first published, this domination is 100 times greater. Lenin's text therefore stands as required reading for anyone fighting to change society.

Marx's Capital revolutionised the subject of political economy. Written over 150 years ago, it revealed for the first time the real workings of capitalism. It was, however, met with a wall of silence from mainstream economists and the establishment. Despite this, Capital became regarded in the labour movement as the Bible of the working class.Basing himself on the most advanced material of the age, Marx was able to explain the mysteries that the classical economists were incapable of resolving. What is value? Where does profit come from? How are workers exploited? Why does the system face periodic crises?Marx was able to answer these questions by analysing the main contradictions of capitalism. He was able to explain how the system would eventually reach its limits and enter into decline and demise.Like other sciences, political economy has its own terminology, which can sometimes be difficult to digest. Those prepared to overcome such hurdles, however, will find that Marx's Capital contains a veritable feast of ideas and a new way of looking at the world.Written by authors from the International Marxist Tendency, this book is intended to help guide readers through the pages of volume one of Capital. The aim is to bring out the main themes and ideas contained within Marx's economic writings.Understanding Capital allows us to understand the crisis-ridden world around us today - and, most importantly, how we can radically transform it."The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways," Marx famously asserted. "The point, however, is to change it."

This book answers the questions: - What was the class composition and class nature of the Chinese Communist Party when it took power in 1949? - What forces pushed the Mao regime, despite its explicitly class-collaborationist strategy, to take measures which were objectively socialist and to establish the Chinese workers' state? - The Chinese Revolution was a practical test of both Trotsky's theory of permanent revolution and Mao's theory of uninterrupted revolution by stages. Which theory matched reality? - The degeneration of the Chinese People's Republic has confirmed that without a political revolution, a Stalinist regime will inevitably return to capitalism, but how did that process unfold? The author also argues that the policies adopted by the Chinese Communist party towards women were a direct measure of its revolutionary commitment. Throughout the book, how the activities of the CCP impinged upon the mass of Chinese women is used as a measure of its socialist credentials. This book also describes how the return to capitalism has meant that many of the gains made by Chinese women have been, and are being, taken away.

In this epoch of instability, crisis, war and ever-growing inequality, Marxism is becoming an increasingly attractive proposition to millions of workers and young people around the world. The old mole of revolution, to use Karl Marx's own phrase, is burrowing deep into the foundations of society. And yet we are repeatedly told that Marxism is either irrelevant, or out-dated, or even dead. Yet, if that were true, why are so many books and articles churned out year-on-year attacking Marxism? Clearly the powers that be are rattled or indeed frightened by these "dead" ideas. So what is this set of ideas that frightens them so much? Marxism - or scientific socialism - is the name given to the body of ideas first worked out by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels more than 150 years ago. In their totality, these ideas provide a fully worked-out theoretical basis for the struggle of the working class to attain a higher form of human society - socialism. This book is aimed specifically at newcomers to Marxism. A bestseller now in its second edition, it comprises introductory pieces on the three component parts of Marxist theory, corresponding broadly to philosophy, social history and economics: dialectical materialism, historical materialism and Marxist economics. Complementing these introductions are key extracts from some of the great works of Marxism written by its most outstanding figures - Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky.

The debate between Marxism and Anarchism is decades old. It is no accident that when the class struggle again boils to the surface this debate is revived. This collection of classic and contemporary writings will go a long way toward clarifying the Marxist perspective on Anarchist theory and practice, and the need for a revolutionary party. Its publication marks an important step forward in the theoretical arming of a new generation of class fighters in the US - in preparation for the momentous struggles ahead. This volume includes essays by Engels, Lenin, Trotsky and others on various topics related to anarchism, among them: - Marx vs Bakunin - Engels on Authority - Why Marxists Oppose Individual Terrorism - Direct Action - Anarcho-Syndicalism - Kronstadt - The Spanish Revolution

From 1918 to 1933 revolution and counter-revolution followed hot on each others' heels. The barbarity of the Nazis is well-documented. Less well-known are the events that preceded Hitler's rise to power. Rob Sewell gives a picture of the tumultuous events - the 1918 revolution, the collapse of the Kaiser's regime, the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic, the Kapp putsch in 1920, the French occupation of the Ruhr in 1923 and the ensuing revolutionary upheavals culminating in the abortive Hamburg uprising, finally Hitler's rise to power in 1929-33. Above all this book shows in the decisive and tragic role of the German workers' leadership the answer to one of the key questions of the modern era: How was it possible for the mightiest labour movement in Europe to be trampled under the iron heel of fascism? This edition features several new articles by Rob Sewell, including an analysis of the pre-revolutionary situation Britain faced in 1919.