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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.
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.
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
In the short-term it is clear that Trotsky had a huge significance in the development of Russia, shown clearly through both his letters and documents, and the opinions of those close to Trotsky. The significance is obvious through his role in the build up to the October Revolution, his negotiations with Germany through the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, his contribution to Bolshevik success in the civil war and his attitude towards terror and his failure to out maneuver Stalin to succeed Lenin. Trotsky was hugely significant in the build up to and during the October Revolution. The first reason was his ability to convince many of the Social Democrats that the revolution was a real possibility, not just a theoretical concept. This is evident through much of Trotsky’s work as the leader of the Petrograd Soviet in September 1917, which saw Trotsky re-invent the Bolshevik plan to seize power, curbing Lenin’s ruthless ambition as he aimed for the swift overthrow of Kerensky.
was able to hold on to leadership of the Soviet Union. He was able to
Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin were similar in what they claimed to be, but in actuality they were very different people. Although Stalin claimed that he followed Leninism, the philosophy that Lenin developed from Marxism, he often distorted it to follow what he wanted to do. While Lenin wanted to make a unified society without classes, with production in the hands of the people, while Stalin wanted to make Russia into a modern industrial powerhouse by using the government to control production. Lenin accomplished his goals through violence, because he thought achieving Communist revolution was worth using violence, with a ‘The ends justify the means’ mentality. Stalin also used violence to accomplish his goals, however Stalin used much more violence than was often necessary to accomplish his goals. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Socially, the adage is a slam. Stalin did not try to make the life of the average man or woman in the USSR at the time, any easier, or more pleasurable, so it is. evaluation that he was not a fit leader. Overall, in all categories of his regime, he did not succeed very well. many ways, and not enough for me to think of him as being good.
Lenin lead the first communist government in russia . When communist took over the city of petrograd , they decided to take out the provisional government . “Peace, bread and land” and “All power to the soviets” was said by Lenin to the cities workers with sayings such as these 2. In lenin's eyes he claimed that workers will and can not , be governed by themselves. Lenin promised to the Soviets that he would get his soldiers out of war plus he granted land ownership to the peasants and also gave them a opportunity to own shops in Soviet . The actual revolution only lasted two days. Trotsky had planned this and it was perfect execution . Trotsky held a speech in the city of petrograd to distract them while the red guards took over important parts of petrograd. Almost everything possible was captured. Lenin was like a spy during this revolution, he had to find the leaders of the provisional government and arrest them . At this time Alexander Kerensky was the president of the provisional
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.