Vladimir Lenin became the first leader of Soviet Union and was the first communist revolutionary who played a major role in the Russian Revolution. The socialists began the Russian Revolution and created The Socialist Revolutionary party. This created two different groups and ideas; The Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. The Bolsheviks (Reds) won the October Revolution in 1917, led by Lenin. Lenin exemplified the revolution as a seizure of political power by working class. Few years into the revolution, Lenin made some changes. Lenin realized that Russia lacked industry and had to modernize. So, he created the New Economic Policy. If one could travel back in time to early Soviet Russia they would want to go back in time during Vladimir Lenin’s reign because his New Economic Policy …show more content…
Victor Segre states, “... famine and the speculation were diminishing perceptibly. Restaurants were opening again and, wonder of wonders, pastries which were edible on sale as a rouble piece. The public was beginning to recover its breath, and people were able to talk about the return of capitalism,...” (Members of a Revolution) In other words, NEP allowed capitalism in a communist state. This reveals that Lenin's economic policy diminished famine and the people were benefiting from the NEP. The people could now sell their own products and benefit themselves without depending on the country,
Furthermore, one should travel to Lenin’s reign because the New Economic Plan allowed internal trade. According to Walter Duranty, “...NEP was that it allowed the free buying and selling of goods by any individual…” (I Write, As I Please.) In other words, the NEP allowed trade, to some private commerce, and state banks. This allowed for a new middle class to arise such as artisans, professional men, etc. Also, peasants began to rise to middle class. The importance of trading was to develop and make profit from the
During the 19th century, Russia was experiencing a series of changes with its entire nation and society overall. The government was trying to adapt themselves to them at the same time. It was not an easy time period for Russia whatsoever. Vladimir Lenin helped change this.
...ap between farmer’s income and industrial prices, as now farmers could not afford industrial equipment, so they therefore had fewer incentives to reproduce grain. The government’s response to this was to subsidise, so the peasant could now afford the machinery, but this then left an economic crisis has this meant they had less money to improve the economy. This indicated to Trotsky that the NEP solved some issue like famine, protests but the New Economic Policy was not capable of industrialising the economy.
In order to establish whether Lenin did, indeed lay the foundation for Stalinism, two questions need to be answered; what were Lenin’s plans for the future of Russia and what exactly gave rise to Stalinism? Official Soviet historians of the time at which Stalin was in power would have argued that each one answers the other. Similarly, Western historians saw Lenin as an important figure in the establishment of Stalin’s socialist state. This can be partly attributed to the prevailing current of pro-Stalin anti-Hitler sentiments amongst westerners until the outbreak of the cold war.
The Effect of the Bolshevik Rule on Russian Culture Bolshevik cultural policy was based on spreading their values to the population. They attempted to promote equality to create a classless society. In addition to removing class differences they attempted to give equal status to women and to young people. In order to encourage women to work state funded crèches were established and laws passed to give women parity in terms of pay with men. The state tried to destroy the old concept of families by legalising abortion and enabling people to obtain divorces much more simply.
From the very beginning Lenin felt that Russia did not need to participate in World War I because it was the main cause for Russia problems Lenin`s belief were developed from Karl Marx, the father of communism. Lenin believed that a government should really represent the people of Russia, therefore he aimed to overthrow the Russian government because it was said to be the cause of misery in Russia. After being put in exile for sedition, Lenin returns to Russia after news of the February Revolution. The revolution was created from built up tension and Russia being under repression and unrest for a long period time. As a result the Tsar abdicated from the Russian Empire and the making of a Provisional Government. This made Lenin's plan to overthrow the government much simpler.
In 1905 , Russia had a prerevolution that was put down of the Czar. Instead of learning from this prerevolution, Czar Nicholas II, made a very big mistake by in not introducing some reforms to correct the problems. So because of his actions, the situation grew worse. In 1917, the Russians were fighting in World War I. A good majority of the Russian people were weary and uncontent with the way the war was going and with the Czar's rule. This uncontent along with economic hardships caused riots and demonstrations to break out. The Czar called for the army to put down the revolution as they did in 1905. But the army joined the revolt and the Czar was kicked out of power soon afterwards. A temporary government was set up to decide on what kind of government Russia was gonna set up. Two political parties were set up. The Bolsheviks were one of the two. The leader of the Bolshevik party was a man named Lenin. Lenin was a firm believer of the theories and ideas of Karl Marx. So with his slogan of "Bread, Peace and Land", Lenin gained the support of the peasants and gained control of Russia and setup a communist state.
On March 3, 1918 Russia lost 1/3 of its fertile farm lands, 1/3 of its
Stalin continued even once he was successful in accomplishing those goals, as he did not stop hurting people, but if anything it gave him more power to hurt people even more. But, at the end of the day, although Lenin ruled for only a very short time, he did raise the standard of living, though there maintained a large amount of hardship. Stalin, however, transformed the USSR from a peasantry to an industrialized nation in less than a decade, he did it on the backs of his millions of victims, who died because of his harsh policies and many purges. Lenin made a series of policies throughout the beginning of the Revolution and through his short time in public office that came to be collectively known as ‘Leninism’. There were many things that influenced Leninism, such as Karl Marx.
The Russian Revolution (1917) was a series of economic and social upheavals in Russia, involving first the overthrow of the tsarist autocracy, and then the overthrow of the liberal and moderate-socialist Provisional Government, resulting in the establishment of Soviet power under the control of the Bolshevik party.
Rule of Lenin vs the Tsar The beginning of the 20th century saw a great change in the political structure of the Russia. A country once led under an autocracy leadership. was suddenly changed into a communist state overnight. Dictatorship and communism are at separate ends of the political spectrum. This study so clearly shows both involve the oppression of society and a strict regime in which people are unable to voice their opinions.
How significant was Lenin’s leadership in the Bolshevik Consolidation of power in 1924? Lenin's leadership was a crucial factor in consolidating Bolshevik power up until his death in 1924. His pragmatic leadership helped gain some initial support as well as giving him unquestioned authority within the party. Furthermore, his push for the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk to help save the revolution from foreign invasion was crucial and his practicality was further exemplified through War Communism and the introduction of the New Economic Policy (NEP). The use of terror under Lenin's rule was also highly effective in removing political dissidents and exerting Bolshevik authority through coercive measures like the Cheka and the Red Terror.
Joseph Stalin became leader of the USSR after Lenin’s death in 1924. Lenin had a government of abstemious communist government. When Stalin came into government he moved to a radical communist society. He moved away from the somewhat capitalist/communist economy of Lenin time to “modernize” the USSR. He wanted to industrialize and modernize USSR. He had overworked his workers, his people were dying, and most of them in slave labor camps. In fact by doing this Stalin had hindered the USSR and put them even farther back in time.
Over the next few years, Russia went through a traumatic time of civil war and turmoil. The Bolsheviks’ Red Army fought the white army of farmers, etc. against Lenin and his ways. Lenin and the Bolsheviks won and began to wean Russia of non-conforming parties eventually banning all non-communist as well as removing an assembly elected shortly after the Bolshevik’s gain of power. Lenin’s strict government, however, was about to get a lot stricter with his death in 1924.
According to most historians, “history is told by the victors”, which would explain why most people equate communism with Vladimir Lenin. He was the backbone of Russia’s communist revolution, and the first leader of history’s largest communist government. It is not known, or discussed by most, that Lenin made many reforms to the original ideals possessed by many communists during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He revised Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles’ theories to fit the so-called ‘backwardness’ of the Russian Empire. Lenin’s reforms were necessary to carry out a socialist revolution in Russia, and the contributions he made drastically changed the course of history. It can be assumed that, the Soviet Union would not have been as powerful if it was not for Lenin’s initial advocacy of violence and tight organization.
Lenin remained adamant that this was not a permanent back track to capitalism, it was a temporary measure, and once the economy picked up the NEP would be eradicated. The NEP’s results were unexpected. The starvation in the towns and cities, which had driven some to cannibalism, was over and life began to flow back into the cities. Grain became so readily available that the prices dropped, causing more unwillingness to sell grain. The government responded by bringing prices down on industrial goods to balance the problem.