Vladimir Lenin: Difference between revisions
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| colspan="3" style="padding: 0; margin: 0; border: 0;"| | | colspan="3" style="padding: 0; margin: 0; border: 0;"|Vladimir entered into a relationship with fellow Marxist and schoolteacher [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadezhda_Krupskaya Nadezhda "Nadya" Krupskaya], who introduced him to several socialist proletariat. By autumn 1894, Vladimir was the leader of a workers' circle who met for two hours on a Sunday; known to them by a pseudonym, Nikolai Petrovich, they affectionately referred to him as ''starik'' (old man). He was meticulous in covering his tracks, knowing that police spies were trying to infiltrate the revolutionary movement.He also wrote his first political tract, ''What the "Friends of the People" Are and How They Fight the Social-Democrats''; based largely on his experiences in Samara, around 200 copies were illegally printed. | ||
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Although sharing ideas, Lenin and the Social-Democrats clashed with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist%E2%80%93Revolutionary_Party Socialist–Revolutionary Party] (SR), who were inspired by the example of the defunct People's Freedom Party. Advocating an agrarian-socialist platform, the SR emphasised the revolutionary role of the peasant, who in 1881 numbered 75 million, in contrast to the 1 million urban proletariat in Russia. In contrast, the Marxists believed that the peasant class' primary motivation was to own their own land, and that they were capitalists; instead, they saw the proletariat as the revolutionary force to advance socialism. Lenin nevertheless retained an influence from the thought of militant agrarian-socialist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyotr_Tkachev Pëtr Tkachëvi]. | Although sharing ideas, Lenin and the Social-Democrats clashed with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist%E2%80%93Revolutionary_Party Socialist–Revolutionary Party] (SR), who were inspired by the example of the defunct People's Freedom Party. Advocating an agrarian-socialist platform, the SR emphasised the revolutionary role of the peasant, who in 1881 numbered 75 million, in contrast to the 1 million urban proletariat in Russia. In contrast, the Marxists believed that the peasant class' primary motivation was to own their own land, and that they were capitalists; instead, they saw the proletariat as the revolutionary force to advance socialism. Lenin nevertheless retained an influence from the thought of militant agrarian-socialist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyotr_Tkachev Pëtr Tkachëvi]. | ||
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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 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 the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_World_War First World War] (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". | In 1914, when the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_World_War First World War] (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 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. | 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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As it happens, the attempt to kill Lenin has made him much more popular than he was. One hears a great many people, who are far from having any sympathy with the Bolsheviks, saying that it would be an absolute disaster if Lenin had succumbed to his wounds, as it was first thought he would. And they are quite right, for, in the midst of all this chaos and confusion, he is the backbone of the new body politic, the main support on which everything rests. | As it happens, the attempt to kill Lenin has made him much more popular than he was. One hears a great many people, who are far from having any sympathy with the Bolsheviks, saying that it would be an absolute disaster if Lenin had succumbed to his wounds, as it was first thought he would. And they are quite right, for, in the midst of all this chaos and confusion, he is the backbone of the new body politic, the main support on which everything rests. | ||
===Red Terror=== | ===Red Terror=== | ||
In response to Fanya Kaplan's failed assassination of Lenin on 30 August 1918, and the successful assassination of the Petrograd [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheka Cheka] chief [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moisei_Uritsky Moisei Uritsky], Stalin proposed to Lenin "open and systematic mass terror . . . [against] . . . those responsible"; the Bolsheviks instructed [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Dzerzhinsky Felix Dzerzhinsky] to commence a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Terror Red Terror], announced in the 1 September 1918 issue of the ''Krasnaya Gazeta'' (''Red Gazette''). | In response to Fanya Kaplan's failed assassination of Lenin on 30 August 1918, and the successful assassination of the Petrograd [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheka Cheka] chief [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moisei_Uritsky Moisei Uritsky], Stalin proposed to Lenin "open and systematic mass terror . . . [against] . . . those responsible"; the Bolsheviks instructed [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Dzerzhinsky Felix Dzerzhinsky] to commence a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Terror Red Terror], announced in the 1 September 1918 issue of the ''Krasnaya Gazeta'' (''Red Gazette''). To that effect, among other acts, at Moscow, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution_warrant execution lists] signed by Lenin authorised the shooting of 25 Tsarist ministers, civil servants, and 765 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Movement White Guards] in September 1918. In his ''Diaries in Exile, 1935'', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Trotsky Leon Trotsky] recollected that Lenin authorised the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_the_Romanov_family execution of the Russian Royal Family]. However, according to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_King_%28author%29 Greg King] and Penny Wilson's investigation into the fate of the Romanovs, Trotsky's recollections on this matter, seventeen years after the events described, are unsubstantiated, inaccurate, and contradicted by what Trotsky himself said on other occasions.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-138">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Lenin#cite_note-138 [138]]</sup> Most historians say there is enough evidence to prove Lenin ordered the killings. According to the late Soviet historian [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Volkogonov Dmitri Volkogonov]:<span style="font-size:11px;line-height:0px;"> </span>Indirect evidence shows that the order to execute the royal family was given verbally by Lenin and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakov_Sverdlov Sverdlov]. The object of 'exterminating the entire Romanov kin' is confirmed by the almost simultaneous murders of Grand Duchess [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Elisabeth_of_Hesse_and_by_Rhine_%281864%E2%80%931918%29 Yelizaveta Feodorovna], Grand Duke [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duke_Sergei_Mikhailovich_of_Russia Sergei Mikhailovich], Prince [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_John_Constantinovich_of_Russia Ivan Konstantinovich], Prince [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Constantine_Constantinovich_of_Russia Konstantin Konstantinovich], Prince [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Igor_Constantinovich_of_Russia Igor Konstantinovich] and Count [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Pavlovich_Paley Vladimir Paley] (son of Grand Duke [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duke_Paul_Alexandrovich_of_Russia Paul Alexandrovich]), all of them in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alapaevsk Alapaevsk], a hundred miles from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg]. | ||
Earlier, in October, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Kamenev Lev Kamenev] and cohort, had warned the Party that terrorist rule was inevitable, given Lenin's assumption of sole command. | Earlier, in October, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Kamenev Lev Kamenev] and cohort, had warned the Party that terrorist rule was inevitable, given Lenin's assumption of sole command. In late 1918, when he and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Bukharin Nikolai Bukharin] tried curbing Chekist excesses, Lenin overruled them; in 1921, via the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politburo Politburo], he expanded the Cheka's discretionary death-penalty powers. | ||
The foreign-aided [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Movement White Russian] counter-revolution failed for want of popular Russian support, because the Bolshevik [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proletariat proletarian state], protected with "mass terror against enemies of the revolution", was socially organised against the previous capitalist establishment, thus [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_conflict class warfare] terrorism in post–Tsarist Russia originated in working class (peasant and worker) anger against the privileged [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristocracy aristocrat] classes of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deposition_%28politics%29 deposed] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_monarchy absolute monarchy]. | The foreign-aided [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Movement White Russian] counter-revolution failed for want of popular Russian support, because the Bolshevik [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proletariat proletarian state], protected with "mass terror against enemies of the revolution", was socially organised against the previous capitalist establishment, thus [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_conflict class warfare] terrorism in post–Tsarist Russia originated in working class (peasant and worker) anger against the privileged [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristocracy aristocrat] classes of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deposition_%28politics%29 deposed] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_monarchy absolute monarchy]. During the Russian Civil War, anti-Bolsheviks faced [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture torture] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summary_execution summary execution], and by May 1919, there were some 16,000 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_of_the_people enemies of the people] imprisoned in the Tsarist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katorga katorga] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_camp labour camps]; by September 1921 the prisoner populace exceeded 70,000. | ||
In pursuing their revolution and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-revolution counter-revolution] the White and the Red Russians committed atrocities, against each other and their supporting populaces, yet contemporary historians disagree about equating the terrorisms—because the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Terror Red Terror] was Bolshevik Government policy (e.g. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decossackization Decossackization]) against given social classes, while the class-based [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Terror White Terror] was [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism racial] and political, against Jews, anti-monarchists, and Communists, (cf. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Movement White Movement]). | In pursuing their revolution and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-revolution counter-revolution] the White and the Red Russians committed atrocities, against each other and their supporting populaces, yet contemporary historians disagree about equating the terrorisms—because the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Terror Red Terror] was Bolshevik Government policy (e.g. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decossackization Decossackization]) against given social classes, while the class-based [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Terror White Terror] was [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism racial] and political, against Jews, anti-monarchists, and Communists, (cf. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Movement White Movement]). Such numbers are recorded in cities occupied by the Bolsheviks: | ||
In [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharkov Kharkov] there were between 2,000 and 3,000 executions in February–June 1919, and another 1,000–2,000 when the town was taken again in December of that year; in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don], approximately 1,000 in January 1920; in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odessa Odessa], 2,200 in May–August 1919, then 1,500–3,000 between February 1920 and February 1921; in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiev Kiev], at least 3,000 in February–August 1919; in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekaterinodar Ekaterinodar], at least 3,000 between August 1920 and February 1921; In [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armavir,_Russia Armavir], a small town in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuban Kuban], between 2,000 and 3,000 in August–October 1920. The list could go on and on.< | In [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharkov Kharkov] there were between 2,000 and 3,000 executions in February–June 1919, and another 1,000–2,000 when the town was taken again in December of that year; in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don], approximately 1,000 in January 1920; in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odessa Odessa], 2,200 in May–August 1919, then 1,500–3,000 between February 1920 and February 1921; in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiev Kiev], at least 3,000 in February–August 1919; in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekaterinodar Ekaterinodar], at least 3,000 between August 1920 and February 1921; In [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armavir,_Russia Armavir], a small town in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuban Kuban], between 2,000 and 3,000 in August–October 1920. The list could go on and on.<span style="font-size:11px;line-height:0px;"> </span>Professor Christopher Read states that though terror was employed at the height of the Civil War fighting, "from 1920 onwards the resort to terror was much reduced and disappeared from Lenin's mainstream discourses and practices". However, after a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clergy clerical] insurrection in the town of Shuia, in a 19 March 1922 letter to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vyacheslav_Molotov Vyacheslav Molotov] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politburo Politburo], Lenin delineated action against defiers of the decreed Bolshevik removal of Orthodox Church valuables: "We must... put down all resistance with such brutality that they will not forget it for several decades... The greater the number of representatives of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactionary reactionary] clergy and reactionary [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourgeoisie bourgeoisie] we succeed in executing... the better."<span style="font-size:11px;line-height:0px;"> </span>As a result of this letter, historian [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_Figes Orlando Figes] estimates that perhaps 8,000 priests and laymen were executed.<sup> </sup>And the crushing of the revolts in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronstadt_rebellion Kronstadt] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tambov_Rebellion Tambov] in 1921 resulted in tens of thousands of executions. Estimates for the total number of people killed in the Red Terror ranger from 50,000 to over a million | ||
Professor Christopher Read states that though terror was employed at the height of the Civil War fighting, "from 1920 onwards the resort to terror was much reduced and disappeared from Lenin's mainstream discourses and practices". | |||
===Civil War=== | ===Civil War=== | ||
In 1917, as an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperialism anti-imperialist], Lenin said that oppressed peoples had the unconditional right to secede from the Russian Empire; however, at end of the Civil War, the USSR annexed [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenia Armenia], Georgia, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijan Azerbaijan], because the White Movement used them as attack bases. Lenin defended the annexations as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geopolitics geopolitical] protection against capitalist imperial depredations. | In 1917, as an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperialism anti-imperialist], Lenin said that oppressed peoples had the unconditional right to secede from the Russian Empire; however, at end of the Civil War, the USSR annexed [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenia Armenia], Georgia, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijan Azerbaijan], because the White Movement used them as attack bases. Lenin defended the annexations as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geopolitics geopolitical] protection against capitalist imperial depredations. | ||