My opinions on the USSR and to be honest most communist governments of the twentieth century are at best conflicted, at worst confused. I am a deep anti capitalist in every fibre of my being, but also we are dealing with regimes with death tolls in the millions; something went wrong somewhere there.

However, as a pure Marxist argument for the state question, and for insights from someone who was a genuinely brilliant individual, State and Revolution is about the best resource you could have. He answers right about every question you could have about how Marxists handle the state issue. Do I think it’s entirely feasible and that the entire argument is watertight? Saying the USSR ended up pretty state capitalist, it’s hard to say. What I will say, however, is that I think the socialists have it most bang on that the state cannot disappear, but it cannot continue. It must be phased out by being made irrelevant.

We live in an era where the state is both everywhere and nowhere, and that even grasping it as a thing that could even be smashed feels impossible. Lenin inspires hope in me though, as I feel the revolutionary spirit he had and that the people, with the right combination of structure and gusto, could be their own masters at some point.

Read if you have any interest in how communist revolution is supposed to work in theory.