Lenin was born Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov in 1870.
At this time Russia was under rule by the Tsar who ruled Russia autocratically. Lenin was scared at an early age by witnessing the execution of his brother who was hanged for treason; he tried to assassinate the Tsar Alexander III. At an early age, in his early twenties he was exiled and sent to live with his grandfather, as he was a radical and a troublemaker at University were he studied Law. He was a very intelligent man who could win peoples minds. He also had a love for literature and read books by Karl Marx. He was a great follower of Marx whose books were talking about an ideal world with no capitalism and everyone had equal wealth but Lenin adapted this so that it would work in the modern society.
In 1903 he was partly responsible for the split of the Social Democrat party, in which the Bolsheviks were formed. Bolsheviks means majority but this was ironic. The 1st Revolution happened in March 1917. At the time Lenin was in exile in Switzerland and soon returned on a secure train through Germany.
The Tsar was overthrown and a Republic formed with the Provisional Government in power. Soon after this Lenin returned and made the ‘ April Theses’ he promised ‘ peace, bread and land’ to Russia. Lenin saw this revolution as a capitalist revolution. The 2nd Revolution in November 1917, was a Bolsheviks Revolution, whichbrought Lenin power.
He had to share power with the Petrograd Soviet. He wasbrought to power due to Provisional government mistakes plus the roll of Trotsky andLenin’s ruthlessness and his methods of success. When Lenin came to power therewas famine in Russia. He liked this as it brought about more chance of a Revolution. Also there was the War, which he believed was a catalyst to speed up war. But assoon as he was in power it was one the first things he addressed.
One of the first things Lenin did when he came to power was to set up a peace treaty with Germany, Brest-Litovsk. This ended Russia’s involvement in the war. However this appalled some Russia fanatics because Russia had been in the War so long and thought they should see the War out through to the end. Lenin gave land to the poor peasants from the Church and Nobles. This had a big impact on the Russia people as 80% of Russians were peasants and this increased his popularity with them.
He also did this, as he wanted support from the poor, as it was part of Marxism. This gift to the peasants gained him supported and popularity. Lenin also gained control of the media, which was a way of advertising him and this also meant his opposition couldn’t write things about him in Newspapers. This was after he clearly stated that everybody could write anything about anything in Newspapers in books but after only a week or so this changed, it was stopped. He believed that this was a way off controlling people’s minds and it also meant that Newspapers couldn’t make him a public enemy. He set up the secret police, the ‘ Cheka’ that was his version of the Tsars ‘ Okrana’.
He used this to control the Russia people and to create fear into Russia’s society. Russia people were scared of this as neighbors could report each other if they fallen out. It relied heavily on torture for investigative purposes and detention. Lenin introduced free elections but this was stopped after the first election, as the Bolsheviks were a minority. He used the Red Guards to stop this.
However this was against the views of Marx’s book ‘ Das Kapital’. This was important, as Marx believed in free speech and elections. A major factor in the red guards beating the white guard was putting Trotsky in charge of them, who was a Marxist. He was a brilliant polemical and had great oratorical talents and also had the energies to save the Soviet Union during the civil war. This is why it was very important that Lenin put him in charge of the red guards.
Lenin also reduced the working hours of peasants, which had a positive impact on the German people. Peasants were very much happier under life of Lenin than before. This was a propaganda stunt and gained valuable support for him. Lenin also gave people the right to choose if they wanted to follow religion or not. He said that they didn’t have to go to church regularly like they did under the Tsar and that they could have a state wedding instead of a Christian wedding in a church. He also made it easier to divorce.
During the civil war his economical policies were known as war Communism. These were very harsh policies and involved force labour and a control on food supplies. Other impacts he had on Russian people was the propaganda in art. He believed strongly in art as well as the theatre, there were big theatre tours. This helped raise the morale of the Russian people. He also tried to make Women about equal equality but this had resistance.
There was a big education policy, which offered free university courses to peasants children. Another thing he did to try and improve Russian peoples lives was the electrification program; Lenin believed ‘ soviet power plus electrification equals Communism’ he tried to make sure that every village had access to electricity. He died in 1924 due to a number of strokes he recently had. Lenin had a great impact on Russia and Russian people. He was the main man behind the Communist revolution, which changed Russia for a long time after his death. He believed in Marxism and tried to alter the formulae to bring about revolution.
He believed that he was doing the correct thing for Russia and its people in his attempt to make peoples lives better by creating an equal world. He claim revolution on the workers behalf and tried to make their lives better. He did make many peoples lives better in the way that he created a system where everyone was more equal and helped workers and peasants gain land and money. He also had a ruthless side to him but he generally made Russia a better place.
