Lenin's Contribution to the Development of the Bolshevik Party

Lenin's Contribution to the Development of the Bolshevik Party

For many years, Tsars had ruled Russia through the generations, being

autocrats and dictators. These ways of living had been present in the

country for hundreds of years, but in the late 1800s, new and

different ideas were evolving, and there was an obvious change in

political philosophies.

There was the Marxist view, produced by Karl Marx, which believed that

the state should own property and the means of production, not the

wealthiest classes. It was a communist theory.

There was also the view of a man called Vladimir Illyich Ulyanov,

otherwise known as Lenin, who had become involved with Marxism in the

early 1890s, but had slightly different ideas about running his own

party. This man was later to become the leader of the Bolsheviks, and

it was due to his ideas and strategies that in some year's time they

would be able to overthrow the existing Provisional Government.

Lenin had studied law up until 1891, when he passed his examinations

receiving a first in all subjects. Law proved to be extremely useful

considering he was a revolutionary activist. After becoming involved

with the unification of all the Marxist groups in the capital,

creating the Union for the Struggle for the Liberation of the Working

Class, leaflets and proclamations were issued on behalf of the

workers, supporting workers' strikes and workers' education classes.

In 1895, leaders of the Union were arrested, and Lenin was jailed and

then sent into exile in Siberia.

In 1900 after completing his term of exile, Lenin went abroad and

helped to create a Marxist newspaper, Iskra with Plekhanov (Russia's

most commanding Marxist thinker) and Martov (the future leader of the

Mensheviks), and three other editors, helping to unite Social

Democrats and inspire new recruits. He was spreading his ideas, and

had followers now greater in number.

In 1902, Lenin wrote a pamphlet entitled What is to be Done? In it he

argued that only a disciplined party of professional revolutionaries

could bring socialism to Russia.