PUBLISHED to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Lenin’s birth and conceived in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan, Lenin 150 (Samizdat) is an outsanding collection of essays, poems and photos.

Lively, thought-provoking and informative, its roots are in the ideas of a group of young communists living and working in Kyrgyzstan, a country which has retained many of its Soviet-era buildings, statues and monuments, with Johann Salazar’s excellent photography providing a fitting complement to the text.

Joffre Eichhorn’s introduction not only sets the scene but concludes with a fitting call to arms, while Alain Badiou’s characteristically gentle and philosophical essay shows how central Lenin has become to our understanding of what we mean by politics.