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Similarities and differences between the character of lenin and stalin
Similarities and differences between the character of lenin and stalin
Similarities and differences between the character of lenin and stalin
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Lenin and Stalin had many characteristics in common, but many marked differences. Lenin’s character had many key strengths. One of his major strengths was that he was a great intellectual. Indeed Lenin was one of the leading Russian writers and thinkers of the period publishing many works. Lenin was unquestionably brilliant and a great organiser. He was also exceptionally hard working and one hundred percent dedicated to his cause. He had this natural ability to “seize the moment”. History illustrates so many times this was vital to the Bolshevik success. For example because of continuing war and famine, and break down of law and order, were not being dealt with by the Provisional Government, he knew they were a “weak target”. He seized the moment by ordering revolution. His leadership transformed the Bolshevik party from a small/minority party to take and hold power. Stalin’s character had many strengths but also weaknesses. In contrast to Lenin, Stalin was comparatively dull. He could not in any way match the intellectual ability of Lenin. However like Lenin, Stalin was a good organizer, and hard working and absolutely dedicated. Another positive aspect of Lenin’s character was that he was not vain, and an important strength was that he trusted his close colleagues and allies. For example Trotsky created the Red Army and Lenin showed his complete trust in Trotsky by giving him a free hand in military matters. These attributes contrast markedly with those of Stalin. Unlike Lenin, Stalin was rude and ambitious. He was very vain and excessively neurotic. For example, although he was the undisputed leader of Russia by 1930, he became terrified/neurotic that others wanted to overthrow him. He frequently got rid of rivals even if they were of no threat to him. Unlike Lenin, Stalin trusted no one and ran everything. One of the other great strengths of Lenin, was that he commanded great respect and personal loyalty. This loyalty allowed him to change policies even when they were unpopular within the Bolshevik Party. An example is the struggle over NEP (New Economic Policy).
Vladimir Lenin can be viewed as a very good leader. In Document 1, it states that “Factory workers in many countries stopped work for five minutes in homage”. This shows that many people were impacted by his death and that he affected the economy in various ways. Lenin used Karl Marx’s capitalistic views with communism to create collective farming, which was supposed to help increase the overall economy of the country after war and famine
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.
Ultimately it was his failure here that prevented him having any long-term significance, despite his huge short-term significance. ‘He had too many characteristics that made it extraordinarily hard to collectively work with him. But he was an industrious worker and a talented person, and for Lenin, that was the main thing’. Trotsky, despite his nuances and arrogance, was hugely significant in the short term through his brilliant tactics throughout the October Revolution where the Bolsheviks took control of Russia. Furthermore, his coordination of the Red Army was definitive in Bolshevik victory in the civil war, removal of opposition in the terror, and he played an under appreciated role in reclaiming of occupied Russian lands following the world war.
was able to hold on to leadership of the Soviet Union. He was able to
Leon Trotsky, to a large extent, made a meaningful impact in the early stages of his life, through to the Bolshevik consolidation period. However, after Stalin’s rise to power, Trotsky’s failed to continue to have a meaningful impact on his time. Trotsky was instrumental with the engagement and spread of socialist ideas prior to and in 1917 which had the most meaningful impact on his time due to the establishment of the first socialist state in the world. During the Bolshevik consolidation period, Trotsky continued to have a meaningful impact on his time as Commissar of Foreign affairs and Commissar of War, as it sustained the first socialist revolution. Although, upon his exile, despite continuing revolutionary activities Trotsky did not
Son of a poverty-stricken shoemaker, raised in a backward province, Joseph Stalin had only a minimum of education. However, he had a burning faith in the destiny of social revolution and an iron determination to play a prominent role in it. His rise to power was bloody and bold, yet under his leadership, in an unexplainable twenty-nine years, Russia because a highly industrialized nation. Stalin was a despotic ruler who more than any other individual molded the features that characterized the Soviet regime and shaped the direction of Europe after World War II ended in 1945. From a young revolutionist to an absolute master of Soviet Russia, Joseph Stalin cast his shadow over the entire globe through his provocative affair in Domestic and Foreign policy.
In the beginning Josef Stalin was a worshiper of his beloved Vladimir Lenin. He followed his every move and did as he said to help establish and lead the Bolshevik party. Much of the early part of his political career was lost due to his exile to Siberia for most of World War I. It wasn’t until 1928, when he assumed complete control of the country were he made most of his success. After Lenin’s death in January 1924, Stalin promoted his own cult followings along with the cult followings of the deceased leader. He took over the majority of the Socialists now, and immediately began to change agriculture and industry. He believed that the Soviet Union was one hundred years behind the West and had to catch up as quickly as possible. First though he had to seal up complete alliance to himself and his cause.
His reign was during the peak of the Soviet Union 's power. Stalin was a cruel and harsh leader who was fascinated by power. He had incredible power and great influential skills. Many of Joseph 's associates and comrades said that he was magnificent because of his crazed way of leading, and even they tended to fear him. He was always determined to stay in control, and he came up with schemes and plans to eliminate anything he disliked.
to a conclusion about whether there is justification in what he did to achieve his goals and goals. During his time in power he dictated many new policies and several of the policies created by Lenin, were thrown. out. Then the snares are gone. He was ruthless and cold-heartedly showed no one mercy during his reign, but because of him and some of the cruel policies that he enforced, Russia became a super power.
Joseph Stalin was a realist dictator of the early 20th century in Russia. Before he rose to power and became the leader of Soviet Union, he joined the Bolsheviks and was part of many illegal activities that got him convicted and he was sent to Siberia (Wood, 5, 10). In the late 1920s, Stalin was determined to take over the Soviet Union (Wiener & Arnold 199). The main aspects of his worldview was “socialism
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov better known as Lenin. Lenin was an important part in Soviet Union history . lenin had a determined goal , he wanted power . Lenin was so powerful , he took the practice communism and made it reality throughout Soviet plus other countries he had an influence on. Lenin believed that communism could solve the problems of society , because his brother was killed by a tsarist regime. He started as a politician and war general , he later became the leader of the Soviet Union. Before Lenin was the leader a man named Stalin Ruled Soviet . Lenin despised Stalin , Lenin then started to take control of the states he created.
Joseph Stalin is a polarizing figure. Decades after his death his legacy still continues to create debate about his tumultuous years as the leader of the Soviet Union. This is evident throughout the four documents while some praise Stalin as impeccable others criticize his policies and lack of political, economic, and social progress during his regime. Even though Stalin was behind various violations of human rights he was able to maintain the Soviet Union during a time of turmoil both domestically and internationally as a result he has earned notoriety as a great leader and advocate for Marxist ideology.
To decide on Lenin’s importance, regarding Bolsheviks success in the November Revolution of 1917, we need to identify the factors that we can take into account. These include Lenin’s April Thesis, his effective use of “Peace, Land, Bread” and his ability to convince the Bolshevik central committee for an immediate revolution. However, over the course of the essay we will see that it’s not just Lenin’s leadership that was the reason for Bolshevik success, we also have the mistakes of the Provisional Government and its overall weakness. By starting with Lenin’s April Thesis we can analyse its key points which structured around the idea of “No Support for the Provisional Government” from which it developed into a campaign to give all power to the Soviets, or in reality the Bolsheviks. The April Thesis basically outlined the plan for the November revolution and essentially set the Bolsheviks onto a path that would put them into the best possible position to take power when the time came, The April Thesis essentially gives us an insight into the amount of planning that Lenin put into the seizure of power and without the April Thesis it’s possible that the Bolshevik party would not have such an established purpose.
time up to 1917 he was not even in Russia, he did what he could and
Every Day Stalinism, by Sheila Fitzpatrick gives the real accounts of life under the control of Joseph Stalin. Fitzpatrick states her claim as to how Stalin remained in power for over twenty-five years by using methods of oppression and by implementing modernity.