Vladimir Lenin: Visionary Or Extremist

Lenin: Visionary or Extremist

Vladimir Lenin was a leading member of the Bolshevik Party, as well as a major player of global events during and after the Russian Revolution. As a key player in the political arena during events leading up to and past World War I, Lenin’s rise to power is of unparalleled significance. He changed many things, both in Russia and across the globe. While many view him as a monstrous figure, there were still several results of his reign that can be seen as good, at least in the long run.

Born on April 22, 1870 in Simbrisk Russia, the boy named Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov was set to live a truly fascinating life. Son of a former Serf and the daughter of a Jewish physician, Vladimir was a middle child with five other siblings.

Although he did do many good things, they just often get overshadowed by his darker doings. When it came time to go through with the promises he had made to improve quality of life, it became clear that Lenin had little idea how to do so. Lenin lacked a clear vision for his economic model, because of this, factories and production were paralyzed, making a poor situation worse. The situation had become so dire that he made a declaration of war communism to keep his army fed and well stocked despite his starving people. When he found that he could not repair the economy, he reintroduced private enterprise into the system, which helped a fair bit in reviving the economy. He, however, had an ulterior motive in this decision; by nationalizing private production, much of his opposition was undermined. His attempts at fixing the country ranged from mildly successful to downright bizarre, even banning the word trade to force different ways of doing business. These strange ideas and ways of ruling can be summed up in the quote from Leonard Schapiro, calling him a “strange and troubled genius,” but went on to say “whose personal impacts on events both in his own country and in the world outside may well have been greater than that of any

Food and other agricultural goods were regularly confiscated under the prodrazvyorstka. All citizens were told to work, and this was enforced by the Labor Committee, it was work or die, and many worked themselves to death because of this. Russia hit one of its lowest points in 1921 when the Famine struck, five million people died because of the abhorrent conditions created by Lenin’s short sighted and destructive regime.

Lenin’s longest lasting and greatest accomplishment came near the end of his reign, the creation of the USSR, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Founded in 1922 by the formal signing of the Treaty of Creation, it was at the time of its existence the largest country in terms of area, with over a hundred different nationalities contained within its borders. The USSR lasted until 1991 when it was transformed into the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Lenin never took breaks from his rule, and as a result, his health faltered very quickly. Between 1922 and 1924, he suffered from four strokes, the last of which was fatal. Even after death, he was, in many ways, still the face of Russia. The Bolsheviks turned him into a spiritual figure, and a cult form in his worship. “Lenin is alive in the soul of each individual Party member. Every member of our Party is a particle of