To fully understand Lenin’s analysis of freedom and state, it is important to realize that the basis of his philosophy derives directly from the works of Marx, especially The Communist Manifesto. According to Marx, freedom is limited to the bourgeoisie, leaving the proletariat exploited and without freedom. The bourgeoisie controls the means of production, such as capital, allowing them to exploit the proletariat by paying them the “minimum wage” barely sufficient enough to keep them in “bare existence as a laborer” (216). In other words, owning

Though the absence of the state is a necessary condition, there are certain economic conditions that must be present in order for freedom (that is, freedom from exploitation) to truly exist. Lenin discusses the system of democracy as a state, since it “recognizes the subordination of the minority to the majority” classes (238). However, it would be incorrect to say that Lenin is opposed to democracy in general. On the contrary, Lenin believes that democracy is an essential element in the transition from capitalism to communism. Lenin expands his analysis by stating that “democracy means equality,” expressing his belief that true democracy (socialist democracy) allows all individuals to be socially equal beings (242). In incorporating the two concepts of democracy as a class-suppressing state and as a system of equality, Lenin’s conclusion is clear. He makes the conclusion that in the development of democracy, class warfare will ensue as part of the nature of the state. In the end, when the bourgeoisie is obliterated, all of society will be ruled by one class: the proletariat. In this new class-free society, Lenin asserts, everyone will be socially equal. By this, Lenin means that when society becomes so accustomed to social cooperation without exploitation and suppression, everyone will have “actual equality,” adopting the rule coined by Marx: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” (242). By referring to this rule, Lenin believes that because capitalism no longer

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