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DBQ: WAS LENIN A GOOD LEADER? During the 19th century, Russia was experiencing a series of changes with its entire nation and society overall. The government was trying to adapt themselves to them at the same time. It was not an easy time period for Russia whatsoever. Vladimir Lenin helped change this.
Vladimir Lenin can be viewed as a very good leader. In Document 1, it states that “Factory workers in many countries stopped work for five minutes in homage”. This shows that many people were impacted by his death and that he affected the economy in various ways. Lenin used Karl Marx’s capitalistic views with communism to create collective farming, which was supposed to help increase the overall economy of the country after war and famine
The birth of the early 20th century gave way to many political changes around the world such as the emergence of communism as a new way to govern countries. The Soviet Union was the first country to convert to this way of governing through the Russian Revolution in 1917. With the rise of the Bolsheviks party, a small socialist party who supported the working class more than the upper class, as an outcome to this revolution many countries were inspired to follow their footsteps. One such country was China. As China fell imperially in 1911, the Chinese Communist party emerged, reflecting the same values as its inspiration by organizing the country’s urban-working class. With the invasion of Japan, China’s enemy, in 1937 the CCP’s internal opposition,
Catherine the Great one of Russians most notorious leaders never once struggled to give Russia the edge it so hoped for. She considered herself to be an enlightened leader and attempted to rule in that fashion. Her reforms transformed Russia into a strong nation for their time. She’s remembered as the greatest reformers of Russia, she continued to westernize Russia, widened the borders, and strengthened the education system.
Trotsky played a key role in the Bolshevik party, encouraging revolution, which saw the Bolsheviks gain power in 1917. He built up a strong Red Army during the civil war, used to ensure the survival of the Bolshevik government and was seen by many as the most likely candidate to take over as leader after Lenin’s death, showing the significance he was held in by Russians. However, evidence suggests that after Lenin’s death he lost his a considerable amount of power, eventually being exiled from the Communist party. In the short-term it is clear that Trotsky had a huge significance in the development of Russia, shown clearly through both his letters and documents, and the opinions of those close to Trotsky. The significance is obvious through his role in the build up to the October Revolution, his negotiations with Germany through the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, his contribution to Bolshevik success in the civil war and his attitude towards terror and his failure to out maneuver Stalin to succeed Lenin.
In 1905 , Russia had a prerevolution that was put down of the Czar. Instead of learning from this prerevolution, Czar Nicholas II, made a very big mistake by in not introducing some reforms to correct the problems. So because of his actions, the situation grew worse. In 1917, the Russians were fighting in World War I. A good majority of the Russian people were weary and uncontent with the way the war was going and with the Czar's rule. This uncontent along with economic hardships caused riots and demonstrations to break out. The Czar called for the army to put down the revolution as they did in 1905. But the army joined the revolt and the Czar was kicked out of power soon afterwards. A temporary government was set up to decide on what kind of government Russia was gonna set up. Two political parties were set up. The Bolsheviks were one of the two. The leader of the Bolshevik party was a man named Lenin. Lenin was a firm believer of the theories and ideas of Karl Marx. So with his slogan of "Bread, Peace and Land", Lenin gained the support of the peasants and gained control of Russia and setup a communist state.
Perhaps the prime catalyst was Russian involvement in WW-I. Russia was unequipped for battle against a sophisticated, determined professional army (Kaiserine Germany) backed by a large, modern, industrial economy. Yet, despite disaster after disaster, the Great Autocrat, Tsar Nicholas II, this arrogant, benighted and "divinely anointed" ruler was both intractable and sufficiently obtuse as to not recognize the unfolding debacle. A few concessions were made and then recanted. Thus, the stage was set. Kerensky's successor government was limited and ineffectual in dealing with soldier and peasant demands and, fatally engaged with General Kornilov to maintain power. By dint of iron willpower and absolute adherence to a carefully defined program, Lenin succeeded in undermining the Provisional Government. He was masterfully aided by the Petersburg Soviet under the brilliant and supremely capable Trotsky. Smith capably reviews all this and much more, yet keeps the story "on
Stalin continued even once he was successful in accomplishing those goals, as he did not stop hurting people, but if anything it gave him more power to hurt people even more. But, at the end of the day, although Lenin ruled for only a very short time, he did raise the standard of living, though there maintained a large amount of hardship. Stalin, however, transformed the USSR from a peasantry to an industrialized nation in less than a decade, he did it on the backs of his millions of victims, who died because of his harsh policies and many purges. Lenin made a series of policies throughout the beginning of the Revolution and through his short time in public office that came to be collectively known as ‘Leninism’. There were many things that influenced Leninism, such as Karl Marx.
and I think that before Lenin came to power he had not considered what a huge task it would be. Therefore, I see Lenin as someone who was trying to resolve and trying to help a country through a time of crisis and although he made many mistakes, I feel he did have the interest of the people at heart. Quite different from the Tsar who caused the problems and made no real attempts to put things right. In
Lenin was an incredible historical figure. He founded a powerful communist faction, the Bolsheviks, the party that caused the October Revolution of 1917. Under his rule, the world’s first socialist state was proclaimed. This state, the core of what eventually became the USSR, survived against all odds. Lenin and the communist leadership pulled Russia out of the First World War and overcame its first civil war. By setting up the Communist International, Lenin imprinted himself upon politics in the entire continent for eternity. The USSR became a beacon to socialists and a threat to conservatives and liberals. Lenin interpreted the doctrines of Marx and Engels, and his writing became a sacred text for communists everywhere. Thus, at his death, it was dubbed Marxism – Leninism. After the Second World War, the communist model (the one-party state, the monopolization of ideology, the elimination of rival authority, and ruling by fear) was adopted by Eastern Europe, China, South eastern Asia, and eventually parts of Africa and the Caribbean. Communism was overruled in Europe in 1989 and in the USSR in 1991. However, no one had a greater impact on the development of communism than Vladimir Lenin.
Joseph Stalin became leader of the USSR after Lenin’s death in 1924. Lenin had a government of abstemious communist government. When Stalin came into government he moved to a radical communist society. He moved away from the somewhat capitalist/communist economy of Lenin time to “modernize” the USSR. He wanted to industrialize and modernize USSR. He had overworked his workers, his people were dying, and most of them in slave labor camps. In fact by doing this Stalin had hindered the USSR and put them even farther back in time.
The inability to have economic and industrial growth contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union and had a major impact. While in power, Vladimir Lenin, who was the Russian founder of the Communist Party in 1917, aimed to control all the aspects of the economy (History). However, Lenin failed to create a self sufficient and productive economy. Support for Lenin quickly declined as Russia became overrun with rebellions and wars. Many of the problems and hardships that were faced under Lenin’s rule stemmed from the poor economic situation, as well as the famine and the lack of industrial growth and food production in the nation.
The Russian Revolution took place during difficult time in Russia. These troubles began before World War I and lasted up until 1930's. Russia's population was made up of mostly poor, starving peasants. A small working and middle class began to rise to help industrialize Russia. But a corrupt government made it difficult for Russia to advance. This added to the turmoil. World War I placed a serious hurt on Russia. Although at first it raised national pride and enthusiasm, it quickly drained resources and poorly trained peasants quickly found themselves fighting with no weapons. This war sent over 2 million Russians to their death in 1915 alone. Turning points for the Russian revolution were the March Revolution, the November Revolution and Stalin coming to power.
Over the next few years, Russia went through a traumatic time of civil war and turmoil. The Bolsheviks’ Red Army fought the white army of farmers, etc. against Lenin and his ways. Lenin and the Bolsheviks won and began to wean Russia of non-conforming parties eventually banning all non-communist as well as removing an assembly elected shortly after the Bolshevik’s gain of power. Lenin’s strict government, however, was about to get a lot stricter with his death in 1924.
Throughout the years leading up the 1918 Bolshevik revolution in Russia it could be seen that the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin was both pragmatic and idealistic in his approach to gaining and maintaining power. There were several different instances in which Lenin was pragmatic in his approach, these included his land reform policies and his imposition of the NEP (New Economic Policy). However there were also several points were Lenin was ideological and stuck to his Marxist views. This was evident through him bringing about peace and the end of Russian involvement in WWI. Add social policies
According to most historians, “history is told by the victors”, which would explain why most people equate communism with Vladimir Lenin. He was the backbone of Russia’s communist revolution, and the first leader of history’s largest communist government. It is not known, or discussed by most, that Lenin made many reforms to the original ideals possessed by many communists during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He revised Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles’ theories to fit the so-called ‘backwardness’ of the Russian Empire. Lenin’s reforms were necessary to carry out a socialist revolution in Russia, and the contributions he made drastically changed the course of history. It can be assumed that, the Soviet Union would not have been as powerful if it was not for Lenin’s initial advocacy of violence and tight organization.
To decide on Lenin’s importance, regarding Bolsheviks success in the November Revolution of 1917 we need to identify the factors that we can take into account. These include: Lenin’s April Thesis, His effective use of “Peace, Land, Bread” and his ability to convince the Bolshevik central committee for an immediate revolution. However over the course of the essay we will see that it’s not just Lenin’s leadership that was the reason for Bolshevik success, we also have the mistakes of the Provisional Government and its overall weakness.