The State and Revolution by Vladimir Lenin

The next few years saw Lenin moving around Europe frantically. He hid out in Finland disguised as a farmer and popped back up in Geneva in 1908. At this time the tsarist began to exact revenge on the revolutions through “execution and exile” labeled the “black reaction.” Workers organizations were dissolved although Lenin vehemently continued to skillfully promote illegal and legal tactics within his Bolshevian congresses and the Duma. He desperately wanted to avoid compromise with the petty-bourgoise amd maintained the Bolshevik ideal of “workers, masses, proletariat, vanguard, and army.” Lenin continued to read radical literature and publish works promoting his vision. Figas comments that “in its fight for the party, for its ideological purist and genuine Marxist philosophy Lenin was impeccable.” Lenin believed that 1905 was only a precursor to bigger things and thanks to his tireless work and “24 hour devotion” to the revolution the Bolsheviks maintained their course, rallied the working class, and took on a fight against the autocracy.
1910 again saw a clash between workers and tsarist forces in Petersburgh. Lenin continued his “iron logic” as Russia braced for War against Germany because of its alliance with France. Lenin saw war as an excellent opportunity for peasant soldiers to turn their arms against the establishment. Lenin declared a “War on the War” and urged people to “turn imperialism into civil war.” “WWOrk for the defeat of you own government in the war” he wrote. His book “Imperialism, the highest stage of Capitalism” criticized capitalist explotation and asked for the adoption of socialism that departed from “colonies, monopolies, priveleges, and national oppression of every kind.” Not surprisingly, the Russi...

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...s and declared that Lenin was the only authority they would recognize. Nearly 23,000 soldiers were sent to trial or transferred. At this point the signs were clear that “If Lenin and Trotsky want to take Petrograd, nothing can stop them.”
Deemed a threat to the state, Lenin was again forced into exile and labeled a “German spy” by the opposition. For some time he hid away as a Finnish haymaker and wrote his “The State and Revolution.” During this time his party continued created a compromise with the frightened Korensky (leader of the provisional government) which created an opening for the Bolsheviks to seize power. Afraid of missing out on the action, Lenin returned to Russia and took control of the “Red Guard” on October 24. Lenin, the master strategist and orator, was able to maneuver the Red Guard into taking over central positions in the city and eventually