With a new introduction by Rob Sewell

“The pamphlet… outlined a broad plan of organization in which everyone would find a place for himself, become a cog in the revolutionary machine, a cog, which, no matter how small, was vital to the working of the machine. The pamphlet urged the necessity of intensive and tireless efforts to build the foundation that had to be built if the Party was to exist in deeds and not in words…” (Nadezhda Krupskaya, Reminiscences of Lenin.)

First published in early 1902, What Is To Be Done? remains a classic of Marxism on the building of the revolutionary party, setting out the party’s role as the organizer and director of the revolution.

The pamphlet was written as part of a conflict with the opportunism of the Economists who emphasized ‘bread and butter issues’ rather than theory. Lenin uses the book to explain the necessity of creating a centralized group of professional and dedicated revolutionary cadres before the “times of explosion and outbursts.” The history of the past 100 years has proven Lenin right: time and again the masses have been ready to struggle but let down by their leadership.

Today many working-class people are rejecting the status quo and beginning to look to socialist ideas as an alternative. It is the duty of Marxists to build an organization capable of offering a way forward, and What Is To Be Done? represents the essential guide to this work.

228 Pages