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On the Participation of the People in Government
293 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1979
3 people want to read
About the author
Vladimir Ilich Lenin
2,771 books1,893 followersVladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, leader of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks), statesman and political theorist. After the October Revolution he served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until his death in 1924 and of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death in 1924.
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February 2, 2026
As the most democratic form of state organisation in history and the most robust form of the dictatorship of the proletariat, a considerable amount of the works contained in this volume are dedicated to outlining the day-to-day operation of the Soviet form of state, from problems like how enterprises on the ground should be organised up to how the Council of People’s Commissars should conduct itself in relation to the masses, and everything in between.
In this respect, this book is a great description of the Soviet form of proletarian dictatorship through the works of its primary theorist and how it constitutes an improvement over the Commune form of government. In this respect, Lenin speaks in a few of the works contained about the lessons of the Paris Commune (as well as the parliamentary system as a whole) and its shortcomings, particularly as pertains to the tired bourgeois notion of “separation of powers”, allowing the working class and its deputies in the Soviets to take the power of administration directly into hand rather than tying up urgently needed measures behind needless barriers and bureaucratic axioms. Moreover, Lenin gives a brilliant exposition of the function of the local Soviets and how the party and trade unions should conduct themselves in relation to them, with the trade unions playing the role of a “school of communism”, against syndicalist talk (“rediscovered” by Tito, Khrushchev, Mao, etc.) about the need for decentralisation of enterprises and the autonomy of industrial organisations from the party and state. In this respect, although much of the elaboration on the state functions most clearly applies to the Soviet form of state, there is much, in principle at least, that universally applies to all forms of the proletarian dictatorship, like the roles of the party and trade unions, methods of education of the working class, the relationship of enterprises to the state, the unification of state power, etc.
Of course, as the title of this book should imply, the most outstanding character of this volume is in how it details how socialist democracy allows for the greatest measure of participation of the popular masses in governance and unfetters their capacity for creativity in political and economic life. Even beyond Lenin’s writings on organs that may be exclusive to the Soviet form of government, there is much, from his writings on the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspectorate to the conduct of elections and even the composition of the Party’s Central Committee, to be found that can just as well have been observed in the post-WWII People’s Democracies like Poland and Bulgaria — not without reason did Stalin tell Georgi Dimitrov that “You can do without a Soviet regime… the regime of the people’s republic can fulfill the major task of the dictatorship of the proletariat” — and will undoubtedly prove invaluable in socialist states, whatever form of proletarian dictatorship arises there, to come lest the mistakes of the Paris Commune be repeated.
An invaluable resource in shattering myths about the “totalitarian” structure of Soviet power and the state system of the proletarian dictatorship.
In this respect, this book is a great description of the Soviet form of proletarian dictatorship through the works of its primary theorist and how it constitutes an improvement over the Commune form of government. In this respect, Lenin speaks in a few of the works contained about the lessons of the Paris Commune (as well as the parliamentary system as a whole) and its shortcomings, particularly as pertains to the tired bourgeois notion of “separation of powers”, allowing the working class and its deputies in the Soviets to take the power of administration directly into hand rather than tying up urgently needed measures behind needless barriers and bureaucratic axioms. Moreover, Lenin gives a brilliant exposition of the function of the local Soviets and how the party and trade unions should conduct themselves in relation to them, with the trade unions playing the role of a “school of communism”, against syndicalist talk (“rediscovered” by Tito, Khrushchev, Mao, etc.) about the need for decentralisation of enterprises and the autonomy of industrial organisations from the party and state. In this respect, although much of the elaboration on the state functions most clearly applies to the Soviet form of state, there is much, in principle at least, that universally applies to all forms of the proletarian dictatorship, like the roles of the party and trade unions, methods of education of the working class, the relationship of enterprises to the state, the unification of state power, etc.
Of course, as the title of this book should imply, the most outstanding character of this volume is in how it details how socialist democracy allows for the greatest measure of participation of the popular masses in governance and unfetters their capacity for creativity in political and economic life. Even beyond Lenin’s writings on organs that may be exclusive to the Soviet form of government, there is much, from his writings on the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspectorate to the conduct of elections and even the composition of the Party’s Central Committee, to be found that can just as well have been observed in the post-WWII People’s Democracies like Poland and Bulgaria — not without reason did Stalin tell Georgi Dimitrov that “You can do without a Soviet regime… the regime of the people’s republic can fulfill the major task of the dictatorship of the proletariat” — and will undoubtedly prove invaluable in socialist states, whatever form of proletarian dictatorship arises there, to come lest the mistakes of the Paris Commune be repeated.
An invaluable resource in shattering myths about the “totalitarian” structure of Soviet power and the state system of the proletarian dictatorship.
Displaying 1 of 1 review