Using Gramsci’s concept of ‘hegemony’ Alan Shandro offers an original interpretation of Lenin’s political practice and theory. Through a careful textual analysis of the writings of Lenin and his contemporaries, Shandro traces the ways in which Lenin’s political practice and theory led him to the ‘philosophical fact’ of hegemony. This original and groundbreaking investigation demolishes many of caricatures of Lenin’s role as political actor and thinker, and illuminates the underlying parameters of hegemony within the class struggle.