Widely considered one of the most influential and controversial political figures of the 20th century, Vladimir Lenin engineered the Bolshevik revolution in Russia in and later took over as the first leader of the newly formed Union of Soviet Socialist Republics USSR. In , he adopted the last name Lenin while doing underground party work. His family was well-educated, and Lenin, the third of six children, was close to his parents and siblings.
His parents, both educated and highly cultured, invoked a passion for learning in their children, especially Vladimir. A voracious reader, Lenin went on to finish first in his high school class, showing a particular gift for Latin and Greek. But not all of life was easy for Lenin and his family. Two situations, in particular, shaped his life.
The first came when Lenin was a boy and his father, an inspector of schools, was threatened with early retirement by a suspicious government nervous about the influence public school had on Russian society. With his father already dead, Lenin now became the man of the family. His time there was cut short, however, when, during his first term, he was expelled for taking part in a student demonstration.
In January , Lenin declared himself a Marxist. Eventually, Lenin received his law degree, finishing his schoolwork in He moved to the city of Samara, where his client base was largely composed of Russian peasants. Their struggles against what Lenin saw as a class-biased legal system only reinforced his Marxist beliefs.
In time, Lenin focused more of his energy on revolutionary politics. He left Samara in the mids for a new life in St. Petersburg, the Russian capital at the time. There, Lenin connected with other like-minded Marxists and began to take an increasingly active role in their activities.
The work did not go unnoticed, and in December Lenin and several other Marxist leaders were arrested. The government also introduced a series of economic policies in an effort to put socialist principles into practice and to respond to Russia's pressing economic needs.
As part of this program, which came to be known as War Communism, the government began forcibly seizing grain and other food products from the peasantry in order to increase the supply of food to army troops and workers in the cities. In urban areas, factories were nationalized and workers were subject to strict discipline. While contending with civil war and economic upheaval at home, Lenin also turned his attention to the international arena.
In March he organized the Third International, popularly known as the Communist International, or Comintern, to promote world revolution according to the Russian communist model. The Comintern initially focused on Europe as the center for the future revolution. However, when a European upheaval failed to materialize, the Comintern shifted its attention to Asia, where it supported the cause of colonial peoples struggling against European imperialism. The policies of War Communism led to significant declines in Russia's agricultural and industrial output.
Widespread strikes and uprisings broke out in cities and rural areas, and by early mass unrest was threatening the stability of the Soviet government. The policy signified a temporary retreat from Lenin's goal of transforming the Soviet economy into a fully communist one. In May Lenin suffered a stroke. He recovered and resumed work three months later, but then in December he suffered a second stroke and it became apparent that his health was in serious decline.
That month the Soviet government declared the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics USSR , a federal union consisting of Soviet Russia and neighboring areas that were under Russian military occupation or ruled by branches of the communist movement.
Lenin became preoccupied with how the new USSR would be governed after his death. He favored a collective leadership to succeed him and was particularly concerned about the political infighting that had come to divide the party leadership and the Soviet government. In late and early Lenin dictated what became known as his "testament," in which he expressed regret at the direction the Soviet government had taken, with particular emphasis on its dictatorial manner and its complex bureaucracy.
In his dying days, Lenin recognised the danger of Stalin, and tried to stop his rise to power. He wrote a now-famous testament, in which he lambasted "Comrade Stalin" for having "unlimited authority concentrated in his hands, and I am not sure whether he will always be capable of using that authority with sufficient caution. Lenin was, of course, more right than he could have known.
Stalin, whom Lenin also described as "coarse" and "intolerable" would indeed go onto betray the ideals of the revolution, and victimise his own people.
That was a terrible crime, but not one which we can lay at the feet of Lenin. Stalin was bad. But here's the ugly truth: Lenin was the same.
No: Lenin erected the very apparatus of the police state, and simply passed the baton of brutality to Stalin. Lenin, says Ryan, was "the first and most significant Marxist theorist to dramatically elevate the role of violence as revolutionary instrument".
Consider that number for a moment. As Richard Pipes says, Lenin had such "utter disregard for human life, except where his own family and closest associates were concerned. At the time of the February Revolution, which overthrew the Tsar, the Bolsheviks were still relatively weak. Most of their leaders, including Lenin, were in exile in Switzerland. The chances of the Bolsheviks ever attaining power in Russia seemed remote.
But in late , Bolshevik leader Lenin decided that the conditions in Russia were ripe for revolution. At once he took control and direction over the Bolsheviks. He prepared to seize power using a clear plan:. Lenin's energy and drive convinced the Bolsheviks to agree on this course of action.
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