Vladimir Lenin
Born Ulyanov, Lenin became the leader of the Bolsheviks. In his early life, Lenin’s brother was executed for plotting against the tsar in 1887. With this motivation, Lenin became a radical and joined the Marxist SD’s. Lenin’s ideology of a small, professionally run movement helped him gain discipline and secrecy among his leading groups. Lenin dreamed of a communist government in which equality was the basing concept. Lenin’s ideas led to the formation of the Bolshevik faction of the SD’s. This eventually became its own party and ultimately challenged the Provisional Government for control of Russia in 1917.
LIAM
LIAM
During the February Revolution, Vladimir Lenin had been living in exile in Switzerland. Though historians disagree about specifics, they concur that the government of Germany deliberately facilitated Lenin’s return to his homeland in the spring of 1917. Without question, the German leadership did so with the intent of destabilizing Russia. The Germans provided Lenin with a guarded train that took him as far as the Baltic coast, from which he traveled by boat to Sweden, then on to Russia by train. There is also evidence that Germany funded the Bolshevik Party, though historians disagree over how much money they actually contributed. Lenin arrived in Petrograd on the evening of April 3, 1917. His arrival was enthusiastically awaited and a large crowd greeted him and cheered as he stepped off the train. To their surprise, however, Lenin expressed hostility toward most of them, denouncing both the provisional government and the Petrograd Soviet that had helped to bring about the change of power. Although a limited sense of camaraderie had come about among the various competing parties ever since the February Revolution, Lenin would have nothing to do with this mentality. He considered any who stood outside his own narrow Bolshevik ideal to be his sworn enemies and obstacles to the “natural” flow of history.
ALEX P
ALEX P
Lenin’s life was heavily influenced by the execution of his older brother in 1887. After being watched by the Okhrana for most of his life (due to his brothers execution), Lenin felt a need to lead a revolution and destroy people’s faith in the Tsar. Lenin’s ideology was seen starting to develop during the famine of 1891-92, when Lenin didn’t want to provide aid in the hopes that peasants would “reflect on the fundamental facts of capitalist society”. His ideology made him a significant revolutionary leader due to his ‘single-minded’ beliefs. Lenin also believed that only the revolutionary elite should drive the revolution and was convinced that the revolution shouldn’t be spontaneous. On April 3 Lenin returned from exile and attacked the Provisional Government which was described by Sukhanov as being unforgettably ‘thunder-like’. The next day (April 4) Lenin released his article ‘The April Thesis’ which was on of his most extreme articles, voicing his opinions on who should hold power in Russia, and in turn almost destroyed his credibility.
MADDIE
Analysing The Russian Revolution Richard Malone
A People’s Tragedy Orlando Figes
The 20th Century: Lenin and Trotsky CBS News
MADDIE
Analysing The Russian Revolution Richard Malone
A People’s Tragedy Orlando Figes
The 20th Century: Lenin and Trotsky CBS News
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (adopted the name ‘Lenin’ while in 1901 while on exile in Siberia) was born into a middle class family, and after his father died in 1886, his brother Alexander joined a student revolutionary group, devised a plot to assassinate the Tsar. In March before, 1887, before the plan could be carried out, Alexander was arrested; and executed on May 20. Because of the loss of his father and the execution of his brother, Lenin lost faith in God and in the authority of the Russian state. Lenin was admitted to Kazan University to study law and political economy; but almost immediately became involved in student political demonstrations. He was placed under constant police surveillance throughout his studies, and was even told to study by himself as he may ‘contaminate’ other students. Lenin started to read about Marxism. In 1893, he moved to St. Petersburg where we met his wife and other revolutionaries. He and his revolutionaries planned to publish an illegal newspaper, The Worker’s cause, but they could publish, they were arrested and exiled to Siberia. After Lenin’s term in exile ended in February he began publishing Iskra his revolutionary newspaper. In April 1902, Lenin moved to London to develop his ideas on party organisation. It was here he came to believe strongly in ‘professional revolutionary’. He stated “there could not be any democracy or free discussion in an underground org. because of the need for secrecy”. In 1902, he published what is to be done in which he presented his views. This would later become a revolutionary bible for his followers. He joined the Bolsheviks in 1903, where he became very politically active, fighting the Mensheviks. Lenin played no role in the 1905 revolution, and was again exiled in 1906-17. During this time, he again began writing another evolutionary newspaper meaning the truth, and once the February revolution broke out in 1917, he was allowed to come back to Russia through Germany. He arrived on April 3, 1917 and radically altered the course of the Bolshevik party from supporting the Provisional Government to seeking exclusive power; promising an end to the hated war, to redistribute land in the countryside, and to solve the chronic food shortage. He then followed with his April Thesis where he portrayed extremely radical ideas, leading him to be declared “a madman”. After the Bolsheviks were almost destroyed during the July days, the support of the party grew immensely, and Lenin had the fire power to capitalise on the revolutionary situation in Russia.
JACK
JACK