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|origin = Simbirsk, Russian Empire
|origin = Simbirsk, Russian Empire
|type of villain = Affable Extremist
|type of villain = Affable Extremist
|crimes = [[Terrorism]]<br>Mass [[murder]]<br>Repression<br>Internment<br>[[War crimes]]<br>[[Torture]]
|crimes = [[Terrorism]]<br>Mass [[murder]]<br>Repression<br>Internment<br>[[War crimes]]<br>[[Torture]]<br>[[Genocide]]
|goals = Eradicate capitalism (partially successful)<br>Establish the Soviet Union (successful)
|goals = Eradicate capitalism (partially successful)<br>Establish the Soviet Union (successful)
|hobby = Playing chess}}
|hobby = Playing chess}}
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===Establishing the Cheka===
===Establishing the Cheka===
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]."
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 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 bourgeoisie or 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 Chekist."
 
===Lenin on antisemitism===
Lenin was enthusiastic about new mass communication technology like the radio and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonograph gramophone] and its capacity for educating Russia's mostly illiterate peasant population. In 1919 Lenin recorded eight speeches on to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramophone_records gramophone records]. During the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikita_Khrushchev Nikita Khrushchev] era (1953–64), seven were published. The eighth speech, which was not published, outlined Lenin's thoughts on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism antisemitism]: 
The tsarist police, in alliance with the landowners and the capitalists, organised [[Pogrom|pogroms]] against the Jews. The landowners and capitalists tried to divert the hatred of the workers and peasants who were tortured by want against the Jews. ... It is not the Jews who are the enemies of the working people. The enemies of the workers are the capitalists of all countries. Among the Jews there are working people, and they form the majority. They are our brothers, who, like us, are oppressed by capital; they are our comrades in the struggle for socialism. ... The capitalists strive to sow and foment hatred between workers of different faiths, different nations and different races. ... Rich Jews, like rich Russians, and the rich in all countries, are in alliance to oppress, crush, rob, and disunite the workers. ... Shame on those who foment hatred towards the Jews, who foment hatred towards other nations.


===Failed assassinations===
===Failed assassinations===
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===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''). 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].
In response to Fanya Kaplan's failed assassination of Lenin on 30 August 1918, and the successful assassination of the Petrograd Cheka chief [[Moisei Uritsky]], Stalin proposed to Lenin "open and systematic mass terror . . . [against] . . . those responsible"; the Bolsheviks instructed [[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'', [[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. 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.
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.