Role of lenin in russian revolution?

Russian Revolution.............................. In the early 1800's 80 percent of the Russian population was made up of serfs, bound to their land by oppressive landlords. Then in 1820's Czar Alexander I gave the serfs hope by considering giving them freedom. However, he died in 1825 without making the reform. In December of that year, a group of army officers who became know as the Decembrists put their support behind Constantine who had already decided he did not want to become czar. When Nicholas was about to be named the new czar, the Decembrists and their troops began to yell, "Constantine and Constitution." Despite the fact that this rebellion was put down it planted seeds of unrest in the Russian population. Nicholas I firmly resisted change. He refused to free the serfs and he put down 500 peasant revolts between 1825 and 1854. Nicholas supported strict censorship and created a secret police to stop any political opposition. Nicholas was defeated in the Crimean War by France, Britain, and Turkey on its own soil, showing Russia's technological and military weakness. When Nicholas died Alexander II became czar. On March 3, 1861 he freed the serfs and gave half the land to the landlords and split the other half of the land among the serfs. The peasants lived in mirs or peasant communities, which paid taxes to the government. Alexander also allowed public trials and an elected council known as zemstvos. However, these reforms were not enough for many Russians who wanted more freedom and rights. On March 13, 1881 Alexander II was assassinated by a bomb. Alexander III continued Nicholas' policy of no reform and he strengthened regulation. Nicholas II also followed autocratic policies but he encouraged industrial growth and foreign investment. There was a large gap between the rich and the poor. During the early 1900's the radicals broke into two groups, the Social Revolutionaries and the Social Democrats. The Social Revolutionaries believed that the peasants would overthrow the Czar. They wanted rural socialism and a democratically elected government. The Social democrats were Marxist and believed that the urban working class would overthrow the government. One of its leaders, Lenin, hoped to spread the Marxist revolution all around the world. The Social Democrats were broken into two groups, the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. The Bolsheviks, led by Lenin believed that a revolution should occur right away. The Mensheviks believed that Russia should be industrialized first. A series of events soon weakened the czar and autocracy. The Russo-Japenese war in which Japan defeated Russia at Manchuria, strikes caused by bloody Sunday where 1,000 people petitioning for reform were killed, the negative influence of Rasputin, and finally the entering of World War I all led to the downfall of Nicholas II. After Nicholas abdicated, Kerensky led a provisional government, which failed because of its decision to continue in the unpopular war

against Germany. Lenin returned to Russia with the help of the Germans. The Bolsheviks became popular in Russia with their slogan "peace, land, and bread" which appealed to the people wants. They also promised to take Russia out of World War I. The Bolshevik Red Guard gained popularity when it stopped General Kornilov from taking power. Lenin then used the Red Guard to successfully take over Russia himself. He arrested the leaders of the Provisional Government and created the All-Russian Congress of Soviets. He signed the Treaty of Brest Litovsk, which ended the war with Germany and gave Germany 25% of EuroRussia. A civil war erupted when the White Army supported by anti-Lenin Russians and many western countries fought Lenin's Red Army. The war lasted from 1918-1920 and 15 million people were killed before Trotsky led the Reds to victory. Lenin created a New Economic policy in order to restore the economy, he moved the capital to Moscow, he renamed the country the Soviet Union, and he named his party the Communist Party. When Lenin died Trotsky and the "man of steel," Stalin jockeyed for power. Stalin eventually came out on top and took over Russia. Stalin created a Command Economy in which the government made all economic decisions. He Five-Year Plans caused the Soviet Union to become a major industrial power by 1938. Collective farms replaced small farms in the agricultural revolution, which claimed the lives of 5 to 10 million people. Stalin became a totalitarian leader who controlled all aspects of the people. His secret police executed millions suspected on anti-government activity. In this these ways Russia was put on the path to becoming the superpower that it is today. Revolutionary activity, travel and exile................................... Lenin practiced as a lawyer for some years in Samara, a port on the Volga river [7], before moving to St Petersburg in 1893. Rather than pursuing a legal career, he became increasingly involved in revolutionary propaganda efforts, joining the local Marxist group. On December 7, 1895, Lenin was arrested, held by authorities for fourteen months and then released and exiled to the village of Shushenskoye in Siberia, where he mingled with such notable Marxists as Georgy Plekhanov, who had introduced socialism to Russia. In July 1898, Lenin married socialist activist Nadezhda Krupskaya and he published the book The Development of Capitalism in Russia in April of 1899.[8] In 1900, his exile came to an end, and he began his travels throughout Russia and the rest of Europe. Lenin lived in Zurich, Geneva (where he lectured and studied at Geneva University), Munich, Prague, Vienna, Manchester and London, and, during this time, he co-founded the newspaper Iskra (The Spark) with Julius Martov, who later became a leading opponent. He also wrote several articles and books related to the revolutionary movement, striving to recruit future Social Democrats. He began using various aliases, finally settling upon Lenin N. Lenin in full.

Lenin was active in the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP; in Russian) and, in 1903, led the Bolshevik faction after a split with the Mensheviks. The names Bolshevik, or Majority, and Menshevik, or Minority, referred to the narrow outvoting of the Mensheviks in the decision to limit party membership to revolutionary professionals, rather than including sympathizers. The division was inspired partly by Lenins pamphlet What Is to Be Done? (190102), which focused on his revolutionary strategy. It is said to have been one of the most influential pamphlets in pre-revolutionary Russia, with Lenin himself claiming that three out of five workers had either read it or had had it read to them.[9] In November 1905 Lenin returned from exile to Russia to support the 1905 Russian Revolution.[10]In 1906, Lenin was elected to the Presidium of the RSDLP. At this time he shuttled between Finland and Russia but, in December 1907, with the revolution crushed by the Tsarist authorities, he returned back to European exile.[11]Until the revolutions of 1917, he spent the majority of his time exiled in Europe, where, despite a hard and bitter existence, he managed to continue his political writings.[12] In response to philosophical debates on the proper course of a socialist revolution, Lenin completed Materialism and Empirio-criticism in 1909 a work which became fundamental in the Marxist-Leninist philosophy. Lenin continued to travel in Europe and participated in many socialist meetings and activities, including the Prague Party Conference of 1912. When Inessa Armand left Russia and settled in Paris, she met Lenin and other Bolsheviks living in exile, and it is believed that she was Lenins lover during this time. As writer Neil Harding points out[13] however, although much has been made of this relationship, despite the slender stock of evidence we still have no evidence that they were sexually intimate. When the First World War began in 1914, and the large Social Democratic parties of Europe (at that time self-described as Marxist, and including luminaries such as Karl Kautsky) supported their various countries war efforts, Lenin was absolutely stunned, refusing to believe at first that the German Social Democrats had voted for war credits. This led him to a final split with the Second International, which was composed of these parties. Lenin (against the war in his belief that the peasants and workers were fighting the battle of the bourgeoisie for them) adopted the stance that what he described as an imperialist war ought to be turned into a civil war between the classes. As war broke out, Lenin was briefly detained by the Austrian authorities in the town of Poronin, where he was residing at the time. On 5 September 1914 Lenin moved to neutral Switzerland, residing first at Berne and then Zurich [14]. In 1915 he attended the anti-war Zimmerwald Conference, convened in the Swiss town of that name. Lenin was the main leader of the minority Zimmerwald Left, who unsuccessfully urged against the majority pacifists that the conference should adopt Lenin's stance of converting the imperialist war into a class war. Lenin and the Zimmerwald Left urged a similar resolution at the next anti-war conference, also held in Switzerland at Kienthal (24-30 April 1916), but in the end settled for a compromise manifesto.[15]

It was in Zurich in the spring of 1916 that Lenin wrote the important theoretical work Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism.[16]In this work Lenin argues that the merging of banks and industrial cartels give rise to finance capital. According to Lenin, in the last stage of capitalism, in pursuit of greater profits than the home market can offer, capital is exported.

The Russian Revolution of 1917

The History of Both the February and October Russian Revolutions
By Jennifer Rosenberg, About.com Guide

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the Russian dictator, standing and addressing a crowd. (November 1917)

(Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) In 1917, two revolutions completely changed the fabric of Russia. First, the February Russian Revolution toppled the Russian monarchy and established a Provisional Government. Then in October, a second Russian Revolution placed the Bolsheviks as the leaders of Russia, resulting in the creation of the world's first communist country. The February 1917 Revolution Although many wanted a revolution, no one expected it to happen when it did and how it did. On Thursday, February 23, 1917, women workers in Petrograd left their factories and entered the streets to protest. It was International Women's Day and the women of Russia were ready to be heard.

An estimated 90,000 women marched through the streets, shouting "Bread" and "Down With the Autocracy!" and "Stop the War!" These women were tired, hungry, and angry. They worked long hours in miserable conditions in order to feed their families because their husbands and fathers were at the front, fighting in World War I. They wanted change. They weren't the only ones. The following day, more than 150,000 men and women took to the streets to protest. Soon more people joined them and by Saturday, February 25, the city of Petrograd was basically shut down -- no one was working. Although there were a few incidents of police and soldiers firing into the crowds, those groups soon mutinied and joined the protesters. Czar Nicholas II, who was not in Petrograd during the revolution, heard reports of the protests but did not take them seriously. By March 1, it was obvious to everyone except the czar himself that the czar's rule was over. On March 2 it was made official when Czar Nicholas II abdicated. Without a monarchy, the question remained as to who would next lead the country.
Provisional Government vs. The Petrograd Soviet Two contending groups emerged out of the chaos to claim leadership of Russia. The first was made up of former Duma members and the second was the Petrograd Soviet. The former Duma members represented the middle and upper classes while the Soviet represented workers and soldiers.

In the end, the former Duma members formed a Provisional Government which officially ran the country. The Petrograd Soviet allowed this because they felt that Russia was not economically advanced enough to undergo a true socialist revolution. Within the first few weeks after the February Revolution, the Provisional Government abolished the death penalty, granted amnesty for all political prisoners and those in exile, ended religious and ethnic discrimination, and granted civil liberties.

What they did not deal with was an end to the war, land reform, or better quality of life for the Russian people. The Provisional Government believed Russia should honor its commitments to its allies in World War I and continue fighting. V.I. Lenin did not agree.
Lenin Returns From Exile Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, leader of the Bolsheviks, was living in exile when the February Revolution transformed Russia. Once the Provisional Government allowed back political exiles, Lenin boarded a train in Zurich, Switzerland and headed home.

On April 3, 1917, Lenin arrived in Petrograd at the Finland Station. Tens of thousands of workers and soldiers had come to the station to greet Lenin. There were cheers and a sea of red, waving flags. Not able to get through, Lenin jumped on top of a car and gave a speech. Lenin at first congratulated the Russian people for their successful revolution. However, Lenin had more to say. In a speech made just hours later, Lenin shocked everyone by denouncing the Provisional Government and calling for a new revolution. He reminded the people that the country was still at war and that the Provisional Government had done nothing to give the people bread and land. At first, Lenin was a lone voice in his condemnation of the Provisional Government. But Lenin worked ceaselessly over the following few months and eventually people began to really listen. Soon many wanted "Peace, Land, Bread!"
The October 1917 Revolution By September 1917, Lenin believed the Russian people were ready for another revolution. However, other Bolshevik leaders were not yet quite convinced. On October 10, a secret meeting of the Bolshevik party leaders was held. Lenin used all his powers of persuasion to convince the others that it was time for an armed insurrection. Having debated through the night, a vote was taken the following morning -it was ten to two in favor of a revolution.

The people themselves were ready. In the very early hours of October 25, 1917, the revolution began. Troops loyal to the Bolsheviks took control of the telegraph, power station, strategic bridges, post office, train stations, and state bank. Control of these and other posts within the city were handed over to the Bolsheviks with barely a shot fired. By late that morning, Petrograd was in the hands of the Bolsheviks -- all except the Winter Palace where the leaders of the Provisional Government remained. Prime Minister Alexander Kerensky successfully fled but by the following day, troops loyal to the Bolsheviks infiltrated the Winter Palace. After nearly a bloodless coup, the Bolsheviks were the new leaders of Russia. Nearly immediately, Lenin announced that the new regime would end the war, abolish all private land ownership, and would create a system for workers' control of factories.

Civil War Unfortunately, as well intended as Lenin's promises might have been, they proved disastrous. After Russia pulled out of World War I, millions of Russian soldiers filtered home. They were hungry, tired, and wanted their jobs back.

Yet there was no extra food. Without private land ownership, farmers began to grow just enough produce for themselves; there was no incentive to grow more. There were also no jobs to be had. Without a war to support, factories no longer had vast orders to fill. None of the people's real problems were fixed; instead, their lives became much worse. In June 1918, Russia broke out in civil war. It was the Whites (those against the Soviets, which included monarchists, liberals, and other socialists) against the Reds (the Bolshevik regime). Near the beginning of the Russian Civil War, the Reds were worried that the Whites would free the czar and his family, which would not only have given the Whites a psychological boost but might have led to the restoration of the monarchy in Russia. The Reds were not going to let that happen. On the night of July 16-17, 1918, Czar Nicholas, his wife, their children, the family dog, three servants, and the family doctor were all woken up, taken to the basement, and shot. The Civil War lasted over two years and was bloody, brutal, and cruel. The Reds won but at the expense of millions of people killed. The Russian Civil War dramatically changed the fabric of Russia. The moderates were gone. What was left was an extreme, vicious regime that was to rule Russia until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Vladimir Lenin (1870 - 1924)

Lenin was one of the leading political figures and revolutionary thinkers of the 20th century, who masterminded the Bolshevik take-over of power in Russia in 1917, and was the architect and first head of the USSR. Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov was born in Simbirsk on the Volga River on 22 April 1870 into a welleducated family. He excelled at school and went on to study law. At university, he was exposed to radical thinking, and his views were also influenced by the execution of his elder brother, a member of a revolutionary group. Expelled from university for his radical policies, Lenin completed his law degree as an external student in 1891. He moved to St Petersburg and became a professional revolutionary. Like many of his contemporaries, he was arrested and exiled to Siberia, where he married Nadezhda Krupskaya. After his Siberian exile, Lenin - the pseudonym he adopted in 1901 - spent most of the subsequent decade and a half in western Europe, where he emerged as a prominent figure in the international revolutionary movement and became the leader of the 'Bolshevik' faction of the Russian Social Democratic Worker's Party. In 1917, exhausted by World War One, Russia was ripe for change. Assisted by the Germans, who hoped that he would undermine the Russian war effort, Lenin returned home and started working against the provisional government that had overthrown the tsarist regime. He eventually led what was soon to be known as the October Revolution, but was effectively a coup d'etat. Almost three years of civil war followed. The Bolsheviks were victorious and assumed total control of the country. During this period of revolution, war and famine, Lenin demonstrated a chilling disregard for the sufferings of his fellow countrymen and mercilessly crushed any opposition. Although Lenin was ruthless he was also pragmatic. When his efforts to transform the Russian economy to a socialist model stalled, he introduced the New Economic Policy, where a measure of private enterprise was again permitted, a policy that continued for several years after his death. In 1918, Lenin narrowly survived an assassination attempt, but was severely wounded. His long term health was affected, and in 1922 he suffered a stroke from which he never fully recovered. In his declining years, he worried about the bureaucratisation of the regime and also expressed concern over the increasing power of his eventual successor Joseph Stalin. Lenin died on 24 January 1924. His corpse was embalmed and placed in a mausoleum on Moscow's Red Square.