Vladimir Lenin And The Bolshevik Revolution

Russian Revolution Photo Essay

Vladimir Lenin speaks to a group of Communist intellectuals in an attempt to stir up discontent amongst the working class of Russia to incite a wave of Communism. Lenin came from a background of nobility, and was therefore able to attain higher education. It was in the course of said higher education that he was exposed to Marxism and the qualms of the working class. It was in this period that he met Leon Trotsky, a notable Marxist in his own right, and his right hand man.

The above photo was taken before the start of the Bolshevik October Revolution, in the city of Petrograd, now known as St. Petersburg. Lenin uses his influential speaking and superior knowledge of politics, especially Marxism and it’s relationship and similarity to Communism, to disconcert the Russian people. (1916)

In the above photo, a group of Imperial troops show support for the Bolshevik campaign by holding flags with Marxist slogans on them, showing that many soldiers were sympathetic to the Bolshevik campaign. The Imperial troops were one of the most prized of the Bolshevik audiences. Lenin’s Marxist campaign began late in WWI before the Russian withdrawal, and Russian soldiers were fighting a war in the dead of winter. These soldiers -- many of them part of the working class before the war -- had already felt the sting of the unfair treatment dealt out by the czar.

Lenin and his co-conspirator’s took advantage of the ongoing World War to gain support and manpower -- by targeting the Russian Army it ensured that they would later have troops. With the Russian Army fighting a losing war in bitter winter, Marxist ideas had no trouble finding root, as the soldiers were easily convinced that they were being manipulated. (19...

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...at Lenin’s right hand will make before effectively severing himself from the arm of Marxism and changing his political beliefs. The opposing army, known as the Whites, is a loose coalition of the Marxist’ opposition and stands little to no chance at putting up a strong resistance. (1917)

With an iron grip over the country, Vladimir Lenin has nearly gained complete control over Russia. However, a final uprising of Whites, mostly comprised of sailors, stages a final battle near Petrograd. This revolt of sailors was the final battle of the Russian Civil War, and marked an entirely Marxist Russia. (1923)

Vladimir Lenin and Co walk through the Red Square in Moscow, having gained complete control over Russia. This begins the true onslaught of socialist and communist reforms, launching what will soon be the Soviet Union into a period of even more social unrest. (1923)