Libertarian convert to Bolshevism, agitator, novelist, journalist, poet, pamphleteer, artist and political writer: Victor Serge was a revolutionary par excellence.

Rosa Luxemburg is probably the most popular Communist today, at least in the West.

The Bolsheviks have been the victims of more distortion, misrepresentation and outright lies than any other political movement in history. In the eyes of its critics (and sadly, some supporters) Bolshevism means a centralised, disciplined party where members are expected to follow the line of the party leadership at all times, where dissent is not tolerated, and the party acts somewhat in the manner of a drone army.

Marx's ideas on religion have been widely misrepresented and misunderstood. According to the myths, Marx saw religion as nothing but a false consciousness perpetrated by the ruling class to pacify the masses and aid their exploitation. Marxists are supposedly implacably hostile to religion, to political movements led by religious people and even to people's right to practise their religion.

One of the most common criticisms of Marxism is that it is inadequate when it comes to issues of oppression such as racism, sexism and homophobia. Some suggest that Marxism has neglected these questions or has "reduced" them to issues of class, suggesting that Blacks, women, gays and other oppressed groups should "subordinate" their struggles to the class struggle, or simply wait for the socialist revolution to solve their problems. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Hate the cops? You've probably got good reason - they're not on our side. One of the first things a political activist learns is that the state isn't neutral. At demonstrations, the police are there to keep us under control and protect our enemies. If they arrest us, the courts are slanted against us. If we elect a government we have hopes in, it moves to the right and does what business wants.

Economic crisis is a recurring feature of capitalism. Every economic boom ends in a slump, every "golden age" crumbles into recession. Marx wrote that "Modern bourgeois society, with its relations of production, of exchange and of property, a society that has conjured up such gigantic means of production and of exchange, is like the sorcerer who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells."

Marx's starting point was quite different from other accounts of history. His materialist interpretation of history aimed to provide the tools to understand historical change in order to play an active part in it.

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels is one of the most widely read books of all time, second only to the Bible. Unlike the Bible however, the Manifesto offers a sense of how human life can be improved in this world rather than waiting till the next. It captures with stunning accuracy the brutal nature of capitalism, with its glaring class divisions, its inbuilt crises, its tendency to globalisation and its exploitative heart.

"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread." Although Anatole France made this observation over 150 years ago it still describes the reality of the legal system today.

Every student of political science is taught that political ideologies are based on theories of human nature. Why must they be based on theories that are three hundred years out of date?

The daily life of the half million students at university in Australia mocks every fine notion of what university life should be about. The university mottoes proclaim their belief in the pursuit of truth and enlightenment, but in reality they are money-making machines which treat students as commodities to be trained to serve the needs of business and the state. No intellectual ethic, principle of education or student need will stand in the way of this mission.