I wish I had read this book earlier in life. I wish my brain was in a place to be able to read more things that didn't immediately grab my attention. I could only read if I was also hyperfocused on the story or knowledge to be read. This book is recommended reading for understanding Communist Theory. Lenin discusses quotes from Engels, Marx, et al and expounds on the topics they choose.
My takeaways after the first 2 chapters
why the state exists
The State only exists to moderate the violence of the exploitation class on the working class. The state divides us by race, religion, gender etc. That division is necessary to oppress workers to dilute our power and continue our subjugation to them. The modern day equivalent of the exploitation class is billionaires and those in high government power that maintain the structures of state oppression. Police, Prisons, Corporations and other tool of violence are the apparatus of the state to cause violence to oppress us.
It hasn't been mentioned yet but I'd bet money is also a tool of the state to oppress the working class by gatekeeping needed resources to live. That way the ensure the bottom classes are always bound by wage slavery to stay alive.
on moderates
While not directly addressed in the first two chapters, the moderate attitude of 'change takes time, ''it take longer to build than it does to destroy', 'we will get there eventually' that change is slow or the 'Politics is a strong and slow boring of hard boards'.
All my life i have heard we should be content to be denied basics of life. That the wealthy 'create jobs'. That communism has never worked. Yet along with the communist theory there is historical context on the writing's relevance to the then modern day. One could be forgiven reading the words from the late 1800's reads and confuse them with contemporary struggles with nation state power, wars, and oppression. I bet someone told Lenin that 'change takes time' whe struggling for the same basic needs a century and a half ago. I'm tired of waiting. I'm tired of these abusive humans hold the state separate and above society and wringing every last dollar out of us. I no longer believe "changes takes generations". That's loser talk.
Its late April 2026. The United States of America is run by a fascist dictatorship. A federal government of weak and abusive humans. To me, the true purpose of the United States Government lays bare, to maintain the status quo and make sure we are always in our place. There is no freedom here we can have unless the ruling elites allow it.
I'll write more later. had to get this up so my brain didn't see this as an undo-able task.
to be continued.
