Lenin's Rule and Effect on USSR

Lenin's Rule and Effect on USSR

It has been said, by Winston Churchill no less, that “The Russian

people’s worst misfortune was his birth; their next was his death.”

There is much truth in this statement, because Churchill was able to

see that as Lenin matured, so did his policies, and these lead to

improving conditions for the Russian people. As Lenin matured as a

leader, so did his policies; as Lenin died his policies died with

him. When Lenin first found himself with power over the Soviets, he

was in a Civil war, and from such a situation arose War Communism.

Over time however, Lenin was able to see the flaws of this policy and

had the maturity to admit that he may have made a mistake. From this

the New Economic Policy was born, and conditions in Russia improved

immensely. However, Stalin did not have such a capacity to see error,

and reverted to pure communism, undoing all of the good work that

Lenin had finally managed to achieve.

Before Lenin can be seen as the leader of Russia under the Bolshevik

party, we must see Lenin as an opportunist. He was ruthless in all of

his dealings, and capitalised on every opportunity that came

knocking. He used the conditions in Russia at the time, namely the

fear and despair created by Germany in WWI. Bolshevik slogans such as

“Peace, Bread, Land” (Welles ,O. Ten days that shook the world

[Video]) soon became popular, and before long, the Bolsheviks had

gained widespread support within the cities. Lenin was, however,

foolish in his approach to the Revolution, in that he had not learnt

that the peasants were the real force to reckon with, not the

workers. As far as Lenin could se...

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...kipedia.org/wiki/New_Economic_Policy (Online: Accessed

on 30 April 2005)

* Phillips, E. Class Notes. (2005)

* “Russian Revolution. Lenin in October 1917” Available at:

http://www.stel.ru/museum/Russian_revolution_1917.htm (Online:

Accessed on 30 April 2005)

* T.E.E. Revision Centre. (2004) A Revision Guide for T.E.E.

History- Revolutions: The Russian Revolution T.E.E. Revision

Centre: Perth

* Tuohy, C. (1997) “Speech on the Nationalisation of the Banks”

Available at: http://www.ex.ac.uk/Projects/meia/Lenin/Archive/1917

(Online: Accessed on 30 April 2005)

* “War Communism” (2005) Available at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_communism (Online: Accessed on 30

April 2005)

* Welles, O. 10 Days that Shook the World [Video] Granada

Television