Among the most influential political and social forces of the twentieth century, modern communism rests firmly on philosophical, political, and economic underpinnings developed by Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, later known as Lenin. For anyone who seeks to understand the twentieth century, capitalism, the Russian Revolution, and the role of Communism in the tumultuous political and social movements that have shaped the modern world, the works of Lenin offer unparalleled insight and understanding. Taken together, they represent a balanced cross-section of his revolutionary theories of history, politics, and economics; his tactics for securing and retaining power; and his vision of a new social and economic order.This volume contains four works ("New Economic Developments in Peasant Life," "The State and Revolution," "Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism," "Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder" and "What Is to Be Done? (Burning Questions of Our Movement)" Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (1870 - 1924), better known by his alias Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1924 and of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1924. Under his administration, Russia, and later the Soviet Union, became a one-party Marxist-Leninist state governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Ideologically a Marxist, he developed a variant of it known as Leninism.