Here, with critical notes and context, are V.I. Lenin’s Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism and Nikolai Bukharin’s Imperialism and World Economy. They are both essential for understanding the nature of imperialism and war historically—and today.

V.I. Lenin (1870–1924) was a leader of the Russian Revolution and wrote extensively on the issues facing the working-class movement of his time.

Nikolai Bukharin (1888–1938) was a Bolshevik leader and intellectual, and later a Soviet politician until his execution at the hands of Stalin’s government.

Phil Gasper is a professor of philosophy at Notre Dame de Namur University in California. He writes extensively on politics and the philosophy of science and is a frequent contributor to CounterPunch. He is the author of Haymarket Books’ The Communist Manifesto: A Road Map to History’s Most Important Political Document.