Preface
This list comprises the canonical works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin, systematized by theoretical sections. No secondary literature can replace direct reading of the classics due to inevitable reduction in theoretical precision and loss of dialectical method. One of the few exceptions is D. I. Rosenberg's commentary on Capital, which serves a didactic function in mastering complex material without simplifying it.
Please note that working with primary sources requires basic preparation. When studying dialectics, it is advisable to possess fundamentals of formal logic. Knowledge of world history is also required—key events, dates, and preconditions of bourgeois revolutions, the French Revolution, the Revolutions of 1848, the Paris Commune, the October Revolution, and imperialist wars.
In the course of studying Marxism, we recommend viewing Soviet films from the 1930s-1950s: the Maxim trilogy, And Quiet Flows the Don , and others. Most films are available with translation (subtitles or dubbing). We also recommend reading fiction—Reed, Steinbeck, Sholokhov, London.
The index is organized thematically. Works within each section follow the logic of Marxist thought development.
We recommend studying Marxism-Leninism independently only up to a certain point. "I study—therefore I struggle" is an illusion of struggle. Marxism is also a guide to action.
Dec. 2025
Classical Marxist Literature 1. Introduction to Marxism
Author
Works
What is Covered
Marx, Engels
Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848)
class struggle, proletariat, communist program
Engels
Principles of Communism (1847)
scientific socialism, distinction from utopianism
Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (1880)
historical materialism, dialectics, scientific socialism
Lenin
Karl Marx (1914)
brief biography, overview of doctrine
The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism (1913)
philosophy, political economy, scientific communism
Stalin
The Foundations of Leninism (1924)
systematization of Leninism, party, strategy
Concerning Questions of Leninism (1926)
development of theory, polemic with opposition
History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks): Short Course (1938)
party history, main stages of struggle, theory and practice
2. Marxist Philosophy Dialectical Materialism
Author
Works
What is Covered
Marx
Theses on Feuerbach (1845)
philosophy of praxis, materialism against contemplation
Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844
alienation of labor, species-being of man
Engels
Anti-Dühring (1878)
dialectics, materialism, critique of idealism, political economy of socialism
Dialectics of Nature (1873-1883)
dialectics in natural science, role of labor in anthropogenesis
Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy (1886)
critique of Feuerbach, Hegel's dialectics, materialist inversion
Lenin
Materialism and Empirio-criticism (1909)
theory of reflection, partisanship in philosophy, critique of Machism
Philosophical Notebooks (1914-1916)
notes on Hegel, dialectical logic, unity of opposites
Letters to Gorky (1913-1914)
critique of god-building, philosophical materialism
On the Significance of Militant Materialism (1922)
tasks of philosophical work, alliance with natural scientists
Stalin
Dialectical and Historical Materialism (1938)
laws of dialectics, base and superstructure, social being
Historical Materialism
Author
Works
What is Covered
Marx
The German Ideology (1845-1846, with Engels)
materialist conception of history, base and superstructure, ideology
A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy. Preface (1859)
base and superstructure, socio-economic formations
Engels
The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884)
primitive communism, emergence of classes, state as organ of class domination
Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (1880)
succession of socio-economic formations, materialist conception of history
Letters on Historical Materialism
base and superstructure, relative autonomy of superstructure
Lenin
Certain Features of the Historical Development of Marxism (1910)
peculiarities of Marxism's development in different countries
Imperialism and the Split in Socialism (1916)
economic roots of opportunism, labor aristocracy
Stalin
Dialectical and Historical Materialism (1938)
laws of social development, base and superstructure, role of productive forces
Marxism and Problems of Linguistics (1950)
base and superstructure, language as social phenomenon
3. Capitalism and Its Crisis Political Economy of Capitalism
Author
Works
What is Covered
Marx
Wage Labour and Capital (1847)
commodity, value, wages, capital
Value, Price and Profit (1865)
labor theory of value, surplus value, wages
A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (1859)
commodity, money, value
Capital, Volume I (1867)
commodity fetishism, surplus value, accumulation, primitive accumulation
Capital, Volume II (1885, ed. Engels)
circulation of capital, reproduction schemas
Capital, Volume III (1894, ed. Engels)
rate of profit, tendency of rate of profit to fall, ground rent, finance capital
Theories of Surplus Value (1861-1863)
history of political economy, critique of bourgeois theories
Engels
Reviews of Marx’s Capital (1867-1868)
popularization of Capital's main ideas
Additionally:
Imperialism
Author
Works
What is Covered
Lenin
Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1916)
monopoly capital, finance capital, export of capital, parasitism, decay
The Development of Capitalism in Russia (1899)
analysis of capitalism in agrarian country, class structure
Historical Analysis of Revolutions
Author
Works
What is Covered
Marx
The Class Struggles in France, 1848 to 1850 (1850)
application of historical materialism to revolutionary events, class forces
The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1852)
Bonapartism, class contradictions, ideology
The Civil War in France (1871)
Paris Commune, first dictatorship of the proletariat, lessons of the Commune
Engels
The Peasant War in Germany (1850)
class struggle in early bourgeois revolutions, role of peasantry
The Actual Causes of the Passivity of the French Proletariat (1851)
analysis of French proletariat's defeat
Preface to The Civil War in France (1891)
formula of dictatorship of the proletariat, lessons of the Commune
Lenin
A Great Beginning (1919)
definition of classes, class consciousness, socialist emulation
4. Proletarian Power Theory of the State
Author
Works
What is Covered
Lenin
The State (lecture 1919)
essence of the state, bourgeois state, proletarian state
The State and Revolution (1917)
Marxist theory of the state, dictatorship of the proletariat, withering away of the state, critique of opportunism
On "Democracy" and Dictatorship (1918)
bourgeois and proletarian democracy
The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky (1918)
critique of social democracy, dictatorship of the proletariat
The Tasks of the Proletariat in Our Revolution (1917)
dual power, transition to socialist revolution
The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Government (1918)
transitional period, economic management, state capitalism
Better Fewer, But Better (1923)
state apparatus, bureaucracy, cultural backwardness
Stalin
The Foundations of Leninism (1924)
theory of dictatorship of the proletariat, the state
Concerning Questions of Leninism (1926)
strengthening of the state under socialism
Report to the 18th Congress of the C.P.S.U.(B.) (1939)
functions of socialist state
Party, Strategy and Tactics
Author
Works
What is Covered
Lenin
What Is To Be Done? (1902)
party of new type, democratic centralism, revolutionary consciousness, spontaneity and consciousness
Where to Begin (1901)
tasks of the party, all-Russian newspaper
Letter to a Comrade on Our Organizational Tasks (1902)
democratic centralism, organizational principles of the party
Profession of Faith (1904)
organizational questions, critique of Menshevism
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back (1904)
democratic centralism, organizational principles, struggle against Menshevism
Two Tactics of Social-Democracy in the Democratic Revolution (1905)
strategy in bourgeois-democratic revolution, hegemony of the proletariat
The April Theses (1917)
program of revolution, "All Power to the Soviets"
"Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920)
revolutionary tactics, compromises, united front, parliamentarism
Once Again on the Trade Unions (1921)
role of trade unions under dictatorship of the proletariat, struggle against syndicalism
Stalin
The Foundations of Leninism (1924)
strategy and tactics, party, national question
Concerning Questions of Leninism (1926)
building socialism in one country
5. Socialism
Author
Works
What is Covered
Marx, Engels
Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848)
communist society, transitional period
Engels
Principles of Communism (1847)
character of communist society
The Elberfeld Speeches (1845)
communist society
Marx
Critique of the Gotha Programme (1875)
two phases of communism, distribution under socialism and communism
Lenin
The Great Initiative (1919)
socialist construction, communist subbotniks
The State and Revolution (1917)
transition from capitalism to communism, withering away of the state
On the Slogan for a United States of Europe (1915)
possibility of victory of socialism in one country
The Tax in Kind (1921)
transition to NEP, alliance of town and country, state capitalism
On Cooperation (1923)
cooperative plan, path to socialism
Stalin
On the Social-Democratic Deviation in Our Party (1926)
socialism in one country
Concerning Questions of Leninism (1926)
building socialism in the USSR
Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR (1952)
political economy of socialism, transition to communism
6. Struggle Against Hostile Currents Critique of Opportunism and Revisionism
Author
Works
What is Covered
Marx
Critique of the Gotha Programme (1875)
critique of Lassalleanism, opportunist formulations
Lenin
Marxism and Revisionism (1908)
critique of Bernsteinism, revisionism in philosophy and economics
Marxism and Reformism (1913)
reformism as bourgeois current in labor movement
"Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920)
critique of left doctrinairism
Imperialism and the Split in Socialism (1916)
social-chauvinism, opportunism
The Collapse of the Second International (1915)
bankruptcy of the Second International, social-chauvinism
Stalin
Concerning the Social-Democratic Deviation in Our Party (1926)
right deviation, Trotskyism
The Foundations of Leninism (1924)
critique of Menshevism and opportunism
Concerning Questions of Leninism (1926)
struggle against Trotskyism and right deviation
Trotskyism or Leninism (1924)
essence of Trotskyism, permanent revolution
Critique of Anarchism
Author
Works
What is Covered
Engels
On Authority (1872)
critique of anarchism, necessity of authority in transition
Lenin
Anarchism and Socialism (1901)
critique of anarchism, question of the state
The State and Revolution (1917)
Marxism and anarchism on the state
Stalin
Anarchism or Socialism? (1906-1907)
critique of anarchism, materialism against idealism
7. Specific Questions The National Question
Author
Works
What is Covered
Lenin
On the Question of National Policy (1914)
national program of Marxists
Critical Remarks on the National Question (1913)
critique of nationalism, proletarian internationalism
The Right of Nations to Self-Determination (1914)
right to secession, struggle against national oppression
On the National Pride of the Great Russians (1914)
internationalism, struggle against great-power chauvinism
The Discussion on Self-Determination Summed Up (1916)
polemic with Rosa Luxemburg, self-determination and imperialism
The Question of Nationalities or Autonomisation (1922)
critique of Great Russian chauvinism, national policy of the USSR
Stalin
Marxism and the National Question (1913)
definition of nation, national question and social democracy
The Foundations of Leninism (1924)
national and colonial question
The National Question and Leninism (1929)
development of national question under socialism
The Woman Question
Author
Works
What is Covered
Engels
The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884)
historical forms of family, oppression of women under capitalism
Lenin
On the Tasks of the Women's Workers' Movement in the Soviet Republic (1919)
involvement of women in socialist construction
War and Militarism
Author
Works
What is Covered
Lenin
Socialism and War (1915)
attitude toward imperialist war, social-chauvinism
The Defeat of One's Own Government in the Imperialist War (1915)
revolutionary defeatism
A Painful but Necessary Lesson (1918)
Brest peace, tactics of retreat
What Next? (1915)
tasks in relation to opportunism and social-chauvinism
Religion
Author
Works
What is Covered
Marx
Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right. Introduction (1843–1844)
critique of religion as opium of the people
Lenin
Socialism and Religion (1905)
class roots of religion, party attitude
The Attitude of the Workers' Party to Religion (1909)
tactics on religious question, freedom of conscience
Classes and Parties in Their Attitude to Religion and the Church (1909)
class function of religion, attitude toward clericalism
Practic
Literature