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Lenin impact on russia
Role of lenin in russian revolution
Life for peasants under bolshevik rule
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Lenin's Rule and Effect on USSR
It has been said, by Winston Churchill no less, that “The Russian
people’s worst misfortune was his birth; their next was his death.”
There is much truth in this statement, because Churchill was able to
see that as Lenin matured, so did his policies, and these lead to
improving conditions for the Russian people. As Lenin matured as a
leader, so did his policies; as Lenin died his policies died with
him. When Lenin first found himself with power over the Soviets, he
was in a Civil war, and from such a situation arose War Communism.
Over time however, Lenin was able to see the flaws of this policy and
had the maturity to admit that he may have made a mistake. From this
the New Economic Policy was born, and conditions in Russia improved
immensely. However, Stalin did not have such a capacity to see error,
and reverted to pure communism, undoing all of the good work that
Lenin had finally managed to achieve.
Before Lenin can be seen as the leader of Russia under the Bolshevik
party, we must see Lenin as an opportunist. He was ruthless in all of
his dealings, and capitalised on every opportunity that came
knocking. He used the conditions in Russia at the time, namely the
fear and despair created by Germany in WWI. Bolshevik slogans such as
“Peace, Bread, Land” (Welles ,O. Ten days that shook the world
[Video]) soon became popular, and before long, the Bolsheviks had
gained widespread support within the cities. Lenin was, however,
foolish in his approach to the Revolution, in that he had not learnt
that the peasants were the real force to reckon with, not the
workers. As far as Lenin could se...
... middle of paper ...
...kipedia.org/wiki/New_Economic_Policy (Online: Accessed
on 30 April 2005)
* Phillips, E. Class Notes. (2005)
* “Russian Revolution. Lenin in October 1917” Available at:
http://www.stel.ru/museum/Russian_revolution_1917.htm (Online:
Accessed on 30 April 2005)
* T.E.E. Revision Centre. (2004) A Revision Guide for T.E.E.
History- Revolutions: The Russian Revolution T.E.E. Revision
Centre: Perth
* Tuohy, C. (1997) “Speech on the Nationalisation of the Banks”
Available at: http://www.ex.ac.uk/Projects/meia/Lenin/Archive/1917
(Online: Accessed on 30 April 2005)
* “War Communism” (2005) Available at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_communism (Online: Accessed on 30
April 2005)
* Welles, O. 10 Days that Shook the World [Video] Granada
Television
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 February of 1917 a group of female factory workers and led a revolt in which the Tsar was dethroned, only to be replaced by a provisionary government composed of the Russian elite. When this government did not live up to its promises of an end to Russian involvement in World War I, the Bolsheviks (“majority”), a revolutionary movement led by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the provisionary government in what bacame known as the October revolution.
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.
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.
Lenin’s pragmatic leadership was the most considerable factor in helping to fortify Bolshevik power. His willingness to take power in October/November 1917 and the successes of the move, through his right-hand man, Trotsky, was critical as it helped give him unquestioned authority within the party despite members of the Central Committee i.e. Zinoviev and Kamenev who suggested industrialisation needed to occur first. This highlighted Lenin’s communist ideology in practice which was essential to the Bolsheviks maintaining power. Following the failure of the Provisional Government, Lenin recognised that it was the Bolshevik’s priority to legitimise their government. As a result, issues of ‘Peace, Bread and Land’ were addressed through the issuing of a number of decrees in late 1917 including decrees on land, peace, Workers’ Rights as well as reforms to marriage and religion. ...
Lenin had read Karl Marx and his many works, such as the Communist Manifesto, Marx’s famous Communist pamphlet, which stated “The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. WORKING MEN OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!”, (38) and Das Marx, Marx’s long essay on his entire Communist economic plan. Although Marx thought that Communism would start in advanced, industrial countries, such as the U.S. and Britain, not a backwards country such as Russia, Lenin still used Marx’s ideas to overthrow the Tsar and bring Communism to power, and influence his Leninsm. “He spent whole days studying Marx, making digests, copying passages, jotting down notes,” wrote Yasneva.
Temkin, G. (1998). Karl Marx and the economics of communism: Anniversary recollections. Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 31(4), 303–328. doi:10.1016/S0967-067X(98)00014-2
The effects of the purges on the political structure and community of the USSR can be described (as Peter Kenez asserts) as an overall change from a party led dictatorship to the dictatorship of a single individual; Stalin. Overall power was centred in Stalin, under whom an increasingly bureaucratic hierarchy of party officials worked. During the purges Stalin's personal power can be seen to increase at the cost of the party's. It could be argued that this increasing power for the single leader drawn from his party was due to the need for fast, decisive and unquestioned leadership of the type needed in battle. After all Russia was portrayed by the Soviet propaganda machine as being at war with its own industrial backwardness as workers were urged to industrial `fronts'. If the period of the 1930s is considered, it was a time of crisis. The building tension due to the rise of Nazi Germany making European foreign politics a risky place to navigate, the economic onslaught at home in Russia and the economic depression in the rest of the world making the times harsh. This change then could be argued as being beneficial to the USSR as only a single individual can provide the strong leadership needed, amongst a large group of individuals disputes would hinder the decision making process. However, the idea of the...
In 1917 the Bolshevik’s overthrew the Provisional Government causing Lenin to be elected chairman of the new government under Bolshevik rule. Russia was the first state to be under socialist rule in the world. Lenin was able to defeat a weak government and seize power. Lenin, with the help of Leon Trotsky, led the Bolsheviks into a new age in Russian history. The two halted any opposition set on conquering them after they took power. They defeated the “White Army”, consisting of anyone who opposed the Bolshevik government. These groups were the Mensheviks, Social Democrats, loyalist to Tsar Nicholas II, Constitutional Democrats or (Kadets), Social Revolutionaries and those in favor of the Provisional Government. On top of all of these groups who were against Lenin, he had to fight off the advancing German Army who was getting closer to Petrograd (St. Petersburg).
On March 3, 1918 Russia lost 1/3 of its fertile farm lands, 1/3 of its
The Similarities of Tsarist and Communist Rule in Russia Both forms of government did depend on high degree of central control. However, some Tsars and Stalin exerted more central controls than others. Stalin’s stronger use of central control created differences between the two forms of government. The Tsars used different levels of central control.
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.
middle of paper ... ... Exploring the October revolution and the establishment of communism, Richard Pipes concludes that the origin of communism can be traced back to the distant past of Russia’s history. Pipes states that Russia had entered a period of crisis after the governments of the 19th century undertook a limited attempt at capitalisation, not trying to change the underlying patrimonial structures of Russian society. (Pipes, 1964) An unrelenting series of war’s, unnecessary hunger and famine and the selfish greed of the ruling elite.
Along with this massive group of opponents, Lenin also faced acute starvation as little grain was being produced and this lead to high inflation and so quick action was needed if Lenin was to keep his promise of bread to the people. The... ... middle of paper ... ... private ownership and the militaristic rule over factories was stopped. Money was reinstated and anyone could set up a shop and sell or hire goods for a profit.