Vladimir Lenin: Difference between revisions

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In 1909, to disambiguate philosophic doubts about the proper practical course of a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_revolution socialist revolution], Lenin published ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materialism_and_Empirio-criticism Materialism and Empirio-criticism]'' (1909), which became a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy philosophic] foundation of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism-Leninism Marxism-Leninism]. Throughout exile, Lenin travelled Europe, participated in socialist activities, (the 1912 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Party_Conference Prague Party Conference]). When [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inessa_Armand Inessa Armand] left Russia for Paris, she met Lenin and other exiled Bolsheviks. Rumour has it she was Lenin's lover; yet historian Neil Harding notes that there is a "slender stock of evidence . . . we still have no evidence that they were sexually intimate".

In 1914, when [[World War I]] (1914–18) began, most of the mass Social Democratic parties of Europe supported their homelands' war effort. At first, Lenin disbelieved such political fickleness, especially that the Germans had voted for war credits; the Social Democrats' war-authorising votes broke Lenin's mainstream connection with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_International_%28political%29 Second International] (1889–1916). He opposed the Great War, because the peasants and workers would be fighting the bourgeoisie's "imperialist war"—one that ought be transformed to an international civil war, between the classes. Lenin's view of the war can be summed up in a letter he wrote to the Romanian poet [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valeriu_Marcu Valeriu Marcu] in 1917: "One slaveowner, Germany is fighting another slaveowner, England, for a fairer distribution of the slaves". At the beginning of the war, the Austrians briefly detained him in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poronin Poronin], his town of residence; on 5 September 1914 Lenin moved to neutral [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland Switzerland], residing first at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bern Bern], then at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%C3%BCrich Zürich].

In 1914, when [[World War I]] (1914–18) began, most of the mass Social Democratic parties of Europe supported their homelands' war effort. At first, Lenin disbelieved such political fickleness, especially that the Germans had voted for war credits; the Social Democrats' war-authorising votes broke Lenin's mainstream connection with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_International_%28political%29 Second International] (1889–1916). He opposed the Great War, because the peasants and workers would be fighting the bourgeoisie's "imperialist war"—one that ought be transformed to an international [[Civil War|civil war]], between the classes. Lenin's view of the war can be summed up in a letter he wrote to the Romanian poet [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valeriu_Marcu Valeriu Marcu] in 1917: "One slaveowner, Germany is fighting another slaveowner, England, for a fairer distribution of the slaves". At the beginning of the war, the Austrians briefly detained him in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poronin Poronin], his town of residence; on 5 September 1914 Lenin moved to neutral [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland Switzerland], residing first at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bern Bern], then at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%C3%BCrich Zürich].

In 1915, in Switzerland, at the anti-war [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimmerwald_Conference Zimmerwald Conference], he led the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimmerwald_Left Zimmerwald Left] minority, who failed, against the majority [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacifist pacifists], to achieve the conference's adopting Lenin's proposition of transforming the imperialist war into a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_struggle class war]. In the next conference (24–30 April 1916), at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kienthal Kienthal], Lenin and the Zimmerwald Left presented a like resolution; but the conference concorded only a compromise manifesto.

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===Establishing the Cheka===

~~Main article: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheka Cheka]~~On 20 December 1917, "The Whole-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage", the [~~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheka~~ Cheka] (''Chrezvychaynaya Komissiya'' – Extraordinary Commission) was created by a decree issued by Lenin to defend the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Revolution_%281917%29 Russian Revolution]. The establishment of the Cheka, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_police secret service], headed by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Dzerzhinsky Felix Dzerzhinsky], formally consolidated the censorship established earlier, when on "17 November, the Central Executive Committee passed a decree giving the Bolsheviks control over all newsprint and wide powers of closing down newspapers critical of the régime. . . ."; non-Bolshevik soviets were disbanded; anti-soviet newspapers were closed until ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pravda Pravda]'' (''Truth'') and ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izvestia Izvestia]'' (''The News'') established their communications monopoly. According to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Schapiro Leonard Schapiro] the Bolshevik "refusal to come to terms with the [Revolutionary] socialists, and the dispersal of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Constituent_Assembly Constituent] assembly, led to the logical result that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_terror revolutionary terror] would now be directed, not only against traditional enemies, such as the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourgeoisie bourgeoisie] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_politics right-wing] opponents, but against anyone, be he socialist, worker, or peasant, who opposed Bolshevik rule". On 19 December 1918, a year after its creation, a resolution was adopted at Lenin's behest that forbade the Bolshevik's own press from publishing "defamatory articles" about the Cheka. As Lenin put it: "A Good Communist is also a good [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chekism Chekist]."

On 20 December 1917, "The Whole-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage", the [[Cheka]] (''Chrezvychaynaya Komissiya'' – Extraordinary Commission) was created by a decree issued by Lenin to defend the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Revolution_%281917%29 Russian Revolution]. The establishment of the Cheka, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_police secret service], headed by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Dzerzhinsky Felix Dzerzhinsky], formally consolidated the censorship established earlier, when on "17 November, the Central Executive Committee passed a decree giving the Bolsheviks control over all newsprint and wide powers of closing down newspapers critical of the régime. . . ."; non-Bolshevik soviets were disbanded; anti-soviet newspapers were closed until ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pravda Pravda]'' (''Truth'') and ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izvestia Izvestia]'' (''The News'') established their communications monopoly. According to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Schapiro Leonard Schapiro] the Bolshevik "refusal to come to terms with the [Revolutionary] socialists, and the dispersal of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Constituent_Assembly Constituent] assembly, led to the logical result that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_terror revolutionary terror] would now be directed, not only against traditional enemies, such as the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourgeoisie bourgeoisie] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_politics right-wing] opponents, but against anyone, be he socialist, worker, or peasant, who opposed Bolshevik rule". On 19 December 1918, a year after its creation, a resolution was adopted at Lenin's behest that forbade the Bolshevik's own press from publishing "defamatory articles" about the Cheka. As Lenin put it: "A Good Communist is also a good [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chekism Chekist]."

===Lenin on antisemitism===

@@ Line 68: / Line 68: @@
 In 1909, to disambiguate philosophic doubts about the proper practical course of a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_revolution socialist revolution], Lenin published ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materialism_and_Empirio-criticism Materialism and Empirio-criticism]'' (1909), which became a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy philosophic] foundation of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism-Leninism Marxism-Leninism]. Throughout exile, Lenin travelled Europe, participated in socialist activities, (the 1912 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Party_Conference Prague Party Conference]). When [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inessa_Armand Inessa Armand] left Russia for Paris, she met Lenin and other exiled Bolsheviks. Rumour has it she was Lenin's lover; yet historian Neil Harding notes that there is a "slender stock of evidence . . . we still have no evidence that they were sexually intimate".
-In 1914, when [[World War I]] (1914–18) began, most of the mass Social Democratic parties of Europe supported their homelands' war effort. At first, Lenin disbelieved such political fickleness, especially that the Germans had voted for war credits; the Social Democrats' war-authorising votes broke Lenin's mainstream connection with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_International_%28political%29 Second International] (1889–1916). He opposed the Great War, because the peasants and workers would be fighting the bourgeoisie's "imperialist war"—one that ought be transformed to an international civil war, between the classes. Lenin's view of the war can be summed up in a letter he wrote to the Romanian poet [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valeriu_Marcu Valeriu Marcu] in 1917: "One slaveowner, Germany is fighting another slaveowner, England, for a fairer distribution of the slaves". At the beginning of the war, the Austrians briefly detained him in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poronin Poronin], his town of residence; on 5 September 1914 Lenin moved to neutral [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland Switzerland], residing first at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bern Bern], then at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%C3%BCrich Zürich]<sup>.</sup>
+In 1914, when [[World War I]] (1914–18) began, most of the mass Social Democratic parties of Europe supported their homelands' war effort. At first, Lenin disbelieved such political fickleness, especially that the Germans had voted for war credits; the Social Democrats' war-authorising votes broke Lenin's mainstream connection with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_International_%28political%29 Second International] (1889–1916). He opposed the Great War, because the peasants and workers would be fighting the bourgeoisie's "imperialist war"—one that ought be transformed to an international [[Civil War|civil war]], between the classes. Lenin's view of the war can be summed up in a letter he wrote to the Romanian poet [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valeriu_Marcu Valeriu Marcu] in 1917: "One slaveowner, Germany is fighting another slaveowner, England, for a fairer distribution of the slaves". At the beginning of the war, the Austrians briefly detained him in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poronin Poronin], his town of residence; on 5 September 1914 Lenin moved to neutral [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland Switzerland], residing first at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bern Bern], then at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%C3%BCrich Zürich]<sup>.</sup>
 In 1915, in Switzerland, at the anti-war [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimmerwald_Conference Zimmerwald Conference], he led the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimmerwald_Left Zimmerwald Left] minority, who failed, against the majority [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacifist pacifists], to achieve the conference's adopting Lenin's proposition of transforming the imperialist war into a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_struggle class war]. In the next conference (24–30 April 1916), at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kienthal Kienthal], Lenin and the Zimmerwald Left presented a like resolution; but the conference concorded only a compromise manifesto.
@@ Line 164: / Line 164: @@
 ===Establishing the Cheka===
-Main article: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheka Cheka]On 20 December 1917, "The Whole-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage", the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheka Cheka] (''Chrezvychaynaya Komissiya'' – Extraordinary Commission) was created by a decree issued by Lenin to defend the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Revolution_%281917%29 Russian Revolution]. The establishment of the Cheka, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_police secret service], headed by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Dzerzhinsky Felix Dzerzhinsky], formally consolidated the censorship established earlier, when on "17 November, the Central Executive Committee passed a decree giving the Bolsheviks control over all newsprint and wide powers of closing down newspapers critical of the régime. . . .";<span style="font-size:11px;line-height:0px;"> </span>non-Bolshevik soviets were disbanded; anti-soviet newspapers were closed until ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pravda Pravda]'' (''Truth'') and ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izvestia Izvestia]'' (''The News'') established their communications monopoly. According to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Schapiro Leonard Schapiro] the Bolshevik "refusal to come to terms with the [Revolutionary] socialists, and the dispersal of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Constituent_Assembly Constituent] assembly, led to the logical result that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_terror revolutionary terror] would now be directed, not only against traditional enemies, such as the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourgeoisie bourgeoisie] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_politics right-wing] opponents, but against anyone, be he socialist, worker, or peasant, who opposed Bolshevik rule". On 19 December 1918, a year after its creation, a resolution was adopted at Lenin's behest that forbade the Bolshevik's own press from publishing "defamatory articles" about the Cheka. As Lenin put it: "A Good Communist is also a good [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chekism Chekist]."
+On 20 December 1917, "The Whole-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage", the [[Cheka]] (''Chrezvychaynaya Komissiya'' – Extraordinary Commission) was created by a decree issued by Lenin to defend the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Revolution_%281917%29 Russian Revolution]. The establishment of the Cheka, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_police secret service], headed by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Dzerzhinsky Felix Dzerzhinsky], formally consolidated the censorship established earlier, when on "17 November, the Central Executive Committee passed a decree giving the Bolsheviks control over all newsprint and wide powers of closing down newspapers critical of the régime. . . .";<span style="font-size:11px;line-height:0px;"> </span>non-Bolshevik soviets were disbanded; anti-soviet newspapers were closed until ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pravda Pravda]'' (''Truth'') and ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izvestia Izvestia]'' (''The News'') established their communications monopoly. According to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Schapiro Leonard Schapiro] the Bolshevik "refusal to come to terms with the [Revolutionary] socialists, and the dispersal of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Constituent_Assembly Constituent] assembly, led to the logical result that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_terror revolutionary terror] would now be directed, not only against traditional enemies, such as the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourgeoisie bourgeoisie] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_politics right-wing] opponents, but against anyone, be he socialist, worker, or peasant, who opposed Bolshevik rule". On 19 December 1918, a year after its creation, a resolution was adopted at Lenin's behest that forbade the Bolshevik's own press from publishing "defamatory articles" about the Cheka. As Lenin put it: "A Good Communist is also a good [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chekism Chekist]."
 ===Lenin on antisemitism===