Republication of: On the gravitational stability of the expanding universe

This is the republished English edition of a paper by E. Lifshitz, first published in 1946, in which the author investigates the gravitational stability of the non–stationary isotropic models of the universe. The paper has been selected by the Editors of General Relativity and Gravitation for re-publication in the Golden Oldies series of the journal. This republication is accompanied by an editorial note written by George F. R. Ellis, and by a brief biography of Evgenii Mikhailovich Lifshitz, written by Andrzej Krasiński.