Lenins electoral strategy from Marx and Engels through the Revolution of 1905 : the ballot the streets or both Can the electoral and parliamentary arenas be used toward revolutionary ends This is precisely the question that held Lenins attention from 1905 to 1917 and to which he said yes. This is the first book length study of this sorely neglected side of his politics which was intimately linked to his better known party building project and writings on the peasantry. This volume the second of two details his efforts to lead the deputies of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party in the Third and Fourth State Dumas Russias first experiment in representative democracy from 1907 to 19017 from counterrevolution to the Revolution of October of 1917. Issues such as whether to take part in the Dumas how to combine legal and illegal work how to ensure party leadership of its Duma deputies how to employ the Duma to forge the worker peasant alliance and most importantly to do anti war work when the First World War began all had to be addressed. The answers Lenin provided increasingly put him at odds with Western European Social Democrats foreshadowing the historic split in the international Marxist movement in 1914. Bolshevik success in 1917 the book argues can be traced to what was learned in that more than decade long experience lessons for todays protester Can the electoral and parliamentary arenas be used toward revolutionary ends This is precisely the question possibly more than any other that held Lenins attention for a decade 1905 to 1915 and to which he gave an affirmative reply. This is the first book length study of this sorely neglected side of his politics that was intimately linked to his better known party building project and writings on the peasant question. It looks in detail at his Can electoral and parliamentary arenas be used toward revolutionary ends This is precisely the question that held Lenins attention from 1905 to 1917 leading him to conclude that they could and would. This book explores the time in which Lenin initiated his use of the electorate beginning with the Marxist roots of Lenins politics and then details his efforts to lead the deputies of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party in the First and Second State Dumas concluding with Russias first experiment in representative democracy from 1906 to 1907. During this time Lenin had to address such issues such as whether to boycott or participate in undemocratic elections how to conduct election campaigns whether to enter into electoral blocs and the related lesser of two evils dilemma how to keep deputies accountable to the party and how to balance electoral politics with armed struggle. Lenin later said that the lessons of that work was indispensable for Bolshevik success in 1917 which shows that this thorough analysis of the time period is crucial to any understanding of Leninism