Lenin

Lenin Politics

Lenin brought about a period in Russian history unlike any other - one dedicated to Communism. His belief in his politics was so strong as to overthrow the provisional government and instate a Communist regime.

Lenin Communism

Lenin's ideas of Communism were heavily influenced by the political writer Karl Marx. Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto in 1848 and Das Kapital in 1867 to set out his political ideology of Communism, also called Marxism. Marx's political theories were based on his experience of living in Britain, which was living through a capitalist era.

Marx noticed that in Britain there was a growing divide between those who owned labour (e.g. factory owners) and those who provided it (e.g. factory workers). These two groups roughly corresponded to the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.

According to Marx's economic determinism, the proletariat (the workers) would rise up against the bourgeoisie (the owners) and establish a socialist government.

The subsequent proletariat or worker rulership would educate the middle classes that equality was better than private ownership. This socialist society would then evolve into a completely classless communist state. It is important to note that Marx's economic determinism was not a historically-based prediction for the future but rather an abstract theory on how a Communist state might be formed.

But unlike Britain, which had developed from feudalism to capitalism, Russia remained a feudalist society. In Russia, lack of industrialisation meant that there was a significant lack of a proletariat (industrialised workers). How did Lenin adapt Marx's abstract works to the on the grounds reality of Russia?

Fig. 1 Photograph of Karl Marx, the founder of Marxism.

Lenin adapted Marxism in Russia to show how the capitalist phase could be skipped. Lenin wanted a Communist party would represent the proletariat to lead the revolution against the aristocracy. The dictatorship of the Communist party would rely on the proletariat's and the peasants' cooperation to dictate the communist economy. It was an ambitious move that cemented the new ideology as "Marxist-Leninism".

A key difference between Marx and Lenin's drive toward Communism was that Marx believed it would happen organically after a series of revolutions, so the economy would create the communist politics, whereas Lenin was attempting to instigate the move to communism through force, meaning the politics would create the communist economy.

Lenin Politics Domestic changes

Lenin initially wanted to instate the Bolshevik party democratically. He set up the Constituent Assembly after the October Revolution in 1917 to create the new Russian Constitution. Elections were held on 25 November 1917 but the Bolsheviks received only a quarter of the vote. Their rival, the Socialist Revolutionary Party, received a majority of the Assembly with 40% representation.

At the Assembly's first meeting in January 1918, Lenin demanded that the Assembly be led by the Bolsheviks, and upon refusal, ordered that the Soviet-loyal Red Guard dissolve the proceedings. The Bolsheviks then declared Soviet rule with Lenin as the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars.

The Bolshevik consolidation of power was achieved through the forced dissolution of the Constituent Assembly and the actions of the Cheka, the secret police. This period was known as the Red Terror. The Russian Civil War broke out in 1918 to try and take down the Bolshevik government, lasting until 1921. Ultimately, it resulted in Lenin's formation of the USSR.

Lenin Imperialism

When Lenin took power in 1917, he immediately began to make his adapted Marxist ideology a reality. This included an anti-imperialist stance against the First World War, which he declared was a war to further entrench imperialism, of which the revolutionised Russia would not be a part. This took the form of a Peace Decree in November 1917, which instigated negotiations with the Central Powers regarding Russia's withdrawal from the First World War.

It was not until Lenin and the Bolsheviks were officially declared the head of the Russian Soviet government that the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk could eventually be signed in March 1918.

Lenin Economic Reform

A key slogan shouted by Russians throughout the October Revolution in 1917 was "Peace! Land! Bread!" Lenin took Russia out of World War One, achieving the first part of this popular slogan. Let's now look at how Lenin changed the Russian economy.

The Land Decree declared that all ownership of land was abolished and given to the peasants that worked the land. Many peasants took the land with violent force, which was permitted by Lenin, but damage to property was prohibited as it now belonged to the "whole people" of Russia. As peasants now had control of their land, they had theoretically secured the bread that was made from grain.

Fig. 2 Poster proclaiming "Long live the Russian Communist Party" 1923.

Lenin also decreed that workers would own the factories that they worked in and control the production through the creation of workers' soviets. Russia's industrial economy was now nationalised. However, the Civil War brought about different problems.

Lenin introduced a temporary policy known as "War Communism", which took absolute control of Russia's economy. He nationalised industry and manufacturing and acquired all of the grain production from the peasant farmers in order to send food to the Red Army (the Bolshevik army run by Leon Trotsky). Russia's output was reduced drastically, and although the Bolsheviks were victorious in early 1921, a famine that year killed roughly 5 million peasants due to the lack of grain. This caused great civil unrest and posed a threat to Lenin's government. Various peasant revolts and the Kronshtadt Rebellion in March 1921, where the Russian navy resisted Soviet rule, forced Lenin to partially reverse some of his policies.

Fig. 3 Photograph of Vladimir Lenin.

Lenin created the New Economic Policy (NEP) in March 1921 which allowed farmers to sell their surplus goods on a free market for profit. This was clearly a backwards step from socialism to elements of capitalism, but it proved popular as peasants could eat and sell their products and crawl back from famine. This created tension within the Soviet government as it threatened their communist ideologies. It also created a "Kulak" class of middle-class farmers who could now afford a more luxurious lifestyle, and "Nepmen" who bought products wholesale and sold them for profit, a capitalist process that was previously strictly forbidden under Soviet rule.

The uneasy first few years of Soviet rule had created factions within the government that threatened the Bolshevik decrees. Following the opposition to the NEP, Lenin declared the Decree Against Factionalism in 1921, which punished any groups which criticised the Party's decisions.

Lenin also introduced a number of social reforms:

Lenin Death

After a series of strokes, Lenin died in 1924. He successfully established the Soviet Union in 1922 and dictated Lenin's Testament, which outlined Lenin's concerns about the potential leaders who would take over. This included Trotsky, Stalin, Zinoviev, Kamenev and Bukharin. Lenin favoured a collective leadership using a combination of these candidates but died before he could declare his official successor.