Lenin, << LEHN ihn >>, V. I. (1870-1924), founded the Communist Party in Russia and set up the world’s first Communist party dictatorship. He led the October Revolution of 1917, in which the Communists seized power in Russia. He then ruled the country until his death in 1924.
Lenin believed in the theories of the German social philosopher Karl Marx. According to Marx, capitalism, an economic system based on privately owned business, would eventually destroy itself. At first, industry and businesses would grow, and the owners would get rich. But the owners would pay such low wages to their workers that the workers would be unable to buy the goods that the system produced. As a result, economic depressions would occur. The depressions would worsen until the workers would revolt and take over the industries. Then, the workers would own the factories and the other means of production, and social classes would no longer exist.
Marx believed that such revolutions would occur in Western nations that had highly developed economies. But he was uncertain if Russia, which had a primarily agricultural economy at the time, would experience a revolution until it had developed an industrial, capitalist system. Lenin, however, was convinced that it would. But according to Lenin, workers and peasants could not carry out a revolution by themselves. He believed that a revolution would succeed only if led by a small political party of professional revolutionaries. This idea was Lenin’s most important addition to Marxist revolutionary theory. After the revolution, the party would control the government until it had built a classless Communist society.
Lenin established a pattern for Communist revolutions. First, he used force and terror to take control of the government. He established a new country, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) or Soviet Union, on the ruins of the Russian Empire. Then, he ruled as a dictator, banning all other political parties and all anti-Communist speeches and publications. After coming to power in Russia, Lenin hoped that other Communist revolutions would overthrow the governments of other countries. For this reason, he tried to help Communist movements in other nations. He thus formed and directed an international organization of Communists called the Comintern (Communist International).
Lenin was absolutely devoted to his Communist goals. However, he also dealt realistically with the political problems he faced. For example, Lenin tried to establish peaceful relations with governments opposed to Communism if such governments were too strong to be overthrown. He also permitted some private enterprise in Russia. This policy, known as the New Economic Policy, allowed the nation’s economy to recover from its depressed state after World War I (1914-1918), the Communist revolution of 1917, and the Russian Civil War (1918-1920). Lenin despised all religions. But because so many Russian citizens had religious beliefs, he did not try to close all the churches.
Many Communists have considered Lenin and Marx their greatest heroes. The Communists of the Soviet Union, for example, quoted Lenin’s words as a basis for their actions. His works are studied in non-Communist countries to provide an understanding of Communism. Lenin is often thought of only as a man of action. Some of his ideas, however, have ranked among the most powerful forces of modern times.
Early life
Boyhood.
Lenin was born on April 22, 1870, in Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk), a quiet town on the Volga River. His real name was Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. He adopted the name Lenin in 1901. The name may refer to the Lena River of Siberia.
Lenin’s father, Ilya Nikolayevich Ulyanov, was a teacher who became director of schools in Simbirsk province. Lenin inherited his father’s dark complexion, high cheekbones, and dark brown eyes. His mother, Maria Aleksandrovna Blank, was the daughter of a doctor. She was an educated woman and was deeply devoted to her children. Lenin had two brothers and three sisters. All the children, except one sister who died at the age of 20, became revolutionists.
Lenin had a pleasant childhood. He often imitated his brother Alexander, who was four years older. Lenin swam, hiked, fished, hunted, and played chess. His sister Anna recalled that he had no close friends.
Education.
Lenin learned to read when he was 5 years old. He was taught by a teacher who came to the Ulyanov home. Lenin entered school in 1879, at the age of 9, and became a brilliant student.
During Lenin’s youth, Russia was generally peaceful, though underground revolutionary movements grew within the country. The Russian government was an autocracy, a system in which one person holds supreme power. Czar Alexander III had come to power in 1881 after the assassination of his father, Alexander II. Russia was developing as an industrial country, though living standards remained low.
In 1886, Lenin’s father died. In 1887, Lenin’s brother Alexander was hanged for taking part in an unsuccessful plot to kill the czar. The tragedy of Alexander’s death deeply influenced Lenin. At his trial, Alexander said he had wanted to kill the czar to gain “political freedom” for the Russian people.
The 17-year-old Lenin finished school the year his brother was hanged. He won a gold medal for excellence in studies. In the fall of 1887, Lenin enrolled in the law school at Kazan University in Kazan. He was expelled three months later for taking part in a student meeting protesting the lack of freedom in the school. Lenin unsuccessfully applied several times for permission to reenter the university. In 1890, St. Petersburg University admitted Lenin as a student, but he was not permitted to attend classes. However, he was allowed to study on his own and to take examinations.
Lenin received a law degree from St. Petersburg University in 1891 and joined a law firm in Samara. By this time, he was absorbed in the study of Marxism.
Young revolutionist.
In 1893, Lenin relocated to St. Petersburg, Russia’s capital. There, he became a leading member of a Marxist organization called the Social Democrats. Lenin had the qualifications for leadership. He was highly intelligent and well educated. His writing was accurate, detailed, and clear.
Czar Alexander III died in 1894, and his son, Nicholas II, became czar. From April to September 1895, Lenin traveled to France, Germany, and Switzerland to contact other Marxists. In December, Lenin was arrested in St. Petersburg by the czar’s police while preparing a revolutionary newspaper, The Workers’ Cause. After being held for more than a year, Lenin was exiled (expelled) to Siberia in 1897.
Exile in Siberia did not mean imprisonment. The government paid Lenin a small allowance, and he rented quarters in Shushenskoye near Abakan in central Siberia. Lenin enjoyed much freedom and continued his revolutionary writings. On July 22, 1898, Lenin married Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya, another exiled revolutionary. The couple had no children. While in Siberia, Lenin wrote one of his major works, The Development of Capitalism in Russia (1899).
Revolutionist leader
Beginnings of revolution.
In 1898, while Lenin was in exile, a number of secret Marxist groups in Russia joined together and formed the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. After Lenin’s exile ended in January 1900, he was permitted by the government to leave Russia. He went to Germany to help found the party newspaper, Iskra (Spark). Iskra was an illegal paper that had to be smuggled into Russia. The editors of Iskra also published Zarya (Dawn), which dealt with Marxist theory. It was in Zarya in 1901 that Vladimir Ulyanov began using the name Lenin. Many revolutionaries changed their names to confuse the police.
In 1902, Lenin wrote What Is to Be Done? This pamphlet described his ideas on party organization. In 1903, the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party split into two groups. Lenin became the leader of the bolshinstvo (majority), or, as this group came to be known, the Bolsheviks. The other group became known as the menshinstvo (minority), or Mensheviks.
The Bolsheviks wanted party membership to be limited to a small number of full-time revolutionaries. Lenin and his followers believed that for the revolution to succeed, trained professionals should lead the party, and the party should organize the proletariat (workers). The Mensheviks, on the other hand, wanted fewer restrictions on party membership and preferred democratic practices to dictatorship.
Revolt.
By the early 1900’s, a spirit of revolt against Czar Nicholas II had developed in Russia. The citizens wanted more political freedom, land for the peasants, social legislation and higher wages for the workers, and greater representation in the government. Many people also wanted an end to the war that Russia was fighting with Japan. See Russo-Japanese War.
On Sunday, Jan. 22, 1905, Father Georgi Gapon, a Russian Orthodox priest and labor organizer, gathered thousands of people for a peaceful march on the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. The unarmed marchers planned to present their requests to Czar Nicholas II. Troops fired on the crowd and killed or wounded hundreds of people. This Bloody Sunday caused more revolutionary unrest.
By autumn, strikes had paralyzed the country. These troubles led the czar to propose an elected legislature, called the Duma, and such basic rights as freedom of speech and the right to vote. The czar also pardoned political exiles.
The czar’s actions satisfied many of his opponents. More extreme revolutionaries, however, wanted a greater change. Lenin returned to Russia in November and called for a general revolt. A new wave of strikes began in Moscow on December 20 and was followed by strikes and revolts in other cities. However, by the end of December these revolts had been crushed. Years later, Lenin declared that “without the general rehearsal of 1905, the victory of the October Revolution of 1917 would have been impossible.”
Outcast.
From 1906 to 1908, Lenin spent most of his time writing revolutionary pamphlets and attending party congresses in England, Germany, and Sweden. Lenin found it too difficult to carry on revolutionary activities in Russia. After two years in Finland, he went to Switzerland and then to France. His main purpose was to keep the Bolshevik organization together. Lenin also tried to widen the separation between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. He claimed that the Mensheviks were not true revolutionaries.
In April 1912, in St. Petersburg, several Bolsheviks established Pravda (Truth), a revolutionary newspaper that was sold openly. To be closer to Russia, Lenin moved to Kraków (then in Austria-Hungary, now in Poland) and became Pravda‘s chief contributor.
World War I began during the summer of 1914. Germany declared war on Russia on August 1. The Austro-Hungarian government, which was allied with Germany, arranged for Lenin to go to Switzerland. As a neutral country, Switzerland did not take part in the war.
Some Russian revolutionaries wanted a Russian victory. Others wanted peace without victory for any country. Lenin believed the war could be an opportunity. If Russia lost the war, it might undergo a revolution. The German government secretly gave financial help to Lenin’s party. By this means, the Germans hoped to weaken the Russian war effort.
The road to power
The February Revolution.
By 1917, Russia had lost many battles in the war. Food shortages became common, and unrest mounted across the empire. The value of Russian money declined. Early in March (February on the old Russian calendar), bread supplies ran short in the capital (which had been renamed Petrograd in 1914). Long lines of women appeared before the bread shops. Russian workers went on strike. By March 9, about 200,000 strikers were demonstrating in Petrograd. The soldiers refused to maintain order. Soviets (councils) of workers and soldiers had sprung up in Russia during the revolution of 1905. On March 12, 1917, a group called the Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies was established in Petrograd.
Czar Nicholas II abdicated (gave up the throne) on March 15. The Duma, which had been elected in 1912, formed a democratic government. Prince Georgi Lvov, a Russian political leader, became prime minister. For a time, the Petrograd soviet shared control of Russia with the government. However, the Bolsheviks soon demanded that all governing power be given to the soviets.
Return from exile.
The Bolsheviks were disorganized at the time of the February Revolution. Some of them wanted to accept the Lvov government and end the feud with the Mensheviks. Others opposed both the Lvov government and the Mensheviks.
Lenin, who was still in Switzerland, sought to return to Russia. German officials were willing to allow Lenin to travel through Germany on the way to Russia. However, they also were afraid that, while in Germany, Lenin might stir up German workers. For this reason, the Germans made Lenin stay inside a single railroad car while he traveled through Germany. On April 16, 1917, Lenin arrived in Petrograd. He received a hero’s welcome from the people.
In Petrograd, Lenin called for the overthrow of the Lvov government and for an end to Russia’s participation in World War I. Lenin quickly regained leadership of the Bolsheviks, but he was unable to gain enough popular support to seize control of the Lvov government. In July 1917, following a series of violent demonstrations in which the Bolsheviks played a prominent role, the government was reorganized under Alexander Kerensky. On July 19, the Russian government ordered Lenin’s arrest as a German agent. Lenin fled to Finland, and his followers escaped or were jailed.
While living in Finland, Lenin wrote The State and Revolution (1917), one of his most important works. He described how to organize a revolution and what kind of government to establish after power had been seized. In September 1917, Lenin wrote to the leaders of the Bolsheviks and declared that the time for speechmaking was over. It was time for action. “History will not forgive us if we do not assume power now,” Lenin wrote.
The October Revolution.
In October 1917, Lenin returned to Petrograd. He urged the Bolshevik Party’s Central Committee, its main decision-making body, to begin a revolt immediately. Kerensky’s government and leadership were weak. Leon Trotsky, the Bolshevik president of the Petrograd soviet, gained control over some government troops. Russian Navy crews also agreed to support the Bolsheviks and revolt against the provisional (temporary) government. The Bolsheviks decided to act.
With little violence, the Bolsheviks seized Petrograd on November 7 (October 25 on the old Russian calendar). Kerensky fled. The struggle for Moscow was more violent than in Petrograd, but by November 15, the Bolsheviks also held that city. Henceforth, the Bolsheviks controlled the Russian government. They had come to power with the help of a simple slogan: “Bread, peace, land.” This slogan had little to do with the theories of Marx. But it had real meaning to starving families, soldiers sick of war, and peasants hungry for land.
Lenin the dictator
The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets opened on Nov. 8, 1917, with delegates from most parts of the country. The congress, controlled by the Bolsheviks, appointed a Council of People’s Commissars. Lenin was made chairman of the council and thus became head of the new Russian state. At Lenin’s first appearance before the congress, he requested permission to ask Germany for a three-month truce. He also asked for the abolition of private landownership. The congress approved both requests. The Bolsheviks started peace talks with Germany, and nationalized (put under government control) all privately owned land. Peasants had already seized much privately owned land prior to the Congress’s decision.
Lenin hardly had time to begin nationalizing industry, banks, and private business, when he found himself battling to stay in power. The Russian Army had fallen apart, the German Army was advancing into Russia, and forces that opposed the Bolsheviks were gathering in many parts of the country.
Lenin insisted on ending the war with Germany at any price. He believed that such action was necessary if the Bolsheviks were to stay in power. On March 3, 1918, Russia and Germany signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The treaty required Russia to give up territory including Bessarabia (now mainly in Moldova), Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and the Polish land that had been ruled by Russia. Germany agreed to allow the Russian government to continue ruling the rest of Russia. On March 12, Lenin moved Russia’s capital from Petrograd to Moscow, partly so that his government would be farther from German power. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a serious defeat for Russia. But after Germany lost World War I in November 1918, the treaty became invalid.
In 1918, at Lenin’s suggestion, the Bolsheviks changed the name of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party to the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks).
Rule by terror.
In December 1917, Lenin signed the decree that established the Cheka, a political police force, and set up rule by terror. Opponents of the Bolsheviks were imprisoned, murdered, or sent to prison camps where many prisoners died. In July 1918, the Bolsheviks murdered Czar Nicholas II and his family. Lenin described his dictatorship as “power, based directly upon force, and unrestricted by any laws.”
On Aug. 30, 1918, after speaking to the workers at a Moscow factory, Lenin was shot by Dora Kaplan, a member of the Social Revolutionary Party. Lenin was hit by two bullets but recovered in several weeks. Kaplan was executed. To discourage other attempts, the Bolsheviks executed hundreds of hostages.
Civil war.
The revolution had spread quickly in the large cities of central Russia. But resistance in distant regions developed into civil war. In January 1918, the Bolsheviks formed the Red Army, which was commanded by Trotsky. It was named for the color of the flag of the world Communist movement. The forces opposing the Reds became known as the Whites. The Whites included revolutionaries, democrats, Russian nationalists, and those who preferred the old government and opposed any change. The Whites lacked unity of purpose and were unable to organize effectively. By 1920, the Bolsheviks had won the civil war.
Even during the civil war, Lenin did not lose sight of his goal of Communist world revolution. In 1919, he had organized the Comintern to run Communist parties in all parts of the world. The organization also helped gain international support for the Bolsheviks during the civil war. In 1920, Lenin tried to export the revolution through military means by way of Poland to central Europe, but the Red Army was defeated and driven back from Poland.
After years of war, the Russian economy collapsed. The Bolsheviks introduced a policy known as war communism, by which they attempted to bring all economic activity under government control. In the short term, war communism enabled the Bolsheviks to direct resources to the war effort, but it was devastating for the economy as a whole. Industrial output nearly ceased. Agricultural production fell disastrously. People in the cities were starving. Millions of Russians died or fled abroad.
After the civil war, Lenin took extreme measures to keep control of his weakened country. In March 1921, he introduced the program called the New Economic Policy. This program replaced many of the socialist measures started at the beginning of his rule. Small businesses were permitted to resume limited operations. Free retail trade was allowed again. Foreign businesses were invited to invest in Russia. Peasants were allowed to sell food to private customers. Food supplies sent by the American Relief Administration saved hundreds of thousands of starving Russians.
Before 1921, Lenin had asked the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the United States for credit, trade, and diplomatic recognition. But these nations were unwilling to deal with the Bolshevik government, which had refused to pay Russia’s debts and which favored a worldwide Communist revolution. By 1919, no major country maintained diplomatic relations with the Russian government. But after the New Economic Policy was begun, most European states resumed diplomatic relations.
Death.
Lenin’s health had been shattered by the strain of revolution and war. In May 1922, Lenin suffered a stroke. He worked on against his doctor’s advice.
Lenin was concerned about the direction that the revolution was taking. He began to challenge some basic ideas of the Bolshevik government. Lenin opposed the concentration of power in government bureaus. He also feared Russian nationalism. Shortly before his stroke, he had appointed Joseph Stalin general secretary of the party. Now, Lenin had serious doubts about Stalin, who was reaching out for purely personal power.
In December 1922, the Bolshevik government established the U.S.S.R. That same month, Lenin suffered a second stroke. In January 1923, he warned that Stalin was “too rude” and lacked the talents necessary for party leadership. Lenin planned to remove Stalin as party secretary. On March 9, 1923, he had a third stroke and lost his power to speak clearly. His illness kept him from appointing a new party secretary. Stalin later went on to rule the Soviet Union as a dictator from 1929 until 1953.
Lenin suffered a final stroke on Jan. 21, 1924, and died. The government preserved his body and placed it on display in a large tomb. The Lenin Mausoleum, in Red Square, became one of the Soviet Union’s most honored monuments. Thousands of visitors daily passed by the glass-enclosed coffin to view the founder of the Soviet Communist state. In August 1991, the Communists lost control of the Soviet government. In December of that year, the Soviet Union broke up into a number of independent states. After the fall of Communism, there were many proposals to remove Lenin’s body from public display. Nevertheless, his body remains on display in the mausoleum in Red Square and continues to attract thousands of visitors every year. 
