Under capitalism, the ruling class maintains its privileges and power through a bureaucratic state apparatus, in which members of the rich elite move freely between government and big business. We must put an end to this ‘revolving door’.

This month marks the 100th anniversary of the writing of Lenin’s great work The State and Revolution, written in the midst of the Russian Revolution to prepare the working class for taking power. To mark this important anniversary we reproduce here key extracts from an introduction of a new edition of this pamphlet, written by Alan Woods.

At their manifesto launch this week, the Green Party called for a “peaceful political revolution”, announcing a range of progressive reforms designed to challenge austerity and an economy “being run for the benefit of the few, not the many”. Matt Rider of the Swansea Marxists looks at the Greens’ manifesto promises and analyses how can we fight for these demands.