Vladimir Lenin
founded the Russian Communist Party, led the Bolshevik Revolution and was the mastermind
of the Soviet state. He was the posthumous source of "Leninism," the
doctrine that meshed the beliefs of Karl Marx and Lenin to form
Marxism-Leninism, which became the Communist manifest. Lenin engineered the
Bolshevik revolution in Russia in 1917 and later took over as the first leader
of the newly formed Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). In 1917, a downtrodden
Russia deposed the tsars. Lenin quickly returned home and, perhaps sensing his
own path to power, quickly denounced the country’s newly formed Provisional
Government, which had been assembled by a group of leaders of the bourgeois
liberal parties. Lenin instead called for a Soviet government, one that would
be ruled directly by soldiers, peasants and workers. In late 1917 Lenin led
what was soon to be known as the October Revolution, which led to three years
of civil war. The Lenin-led Soviet government faced incredible odds. The
anti-Soviet forces, or Whites, headed mainly by former tsarist generals and
admirals, fought desperately to overthrow Lenin’s Red regime. They were aided
by World War I Allies, who supplied the group with money and troops but it was
to no avail.
In August 1918
Lenin escaped an assassination attempt, when he was severely wounded from an
attack from a political opponent. He recovered, but his health was never the
same again. Despite the opposition, Lenin came out victorious, however the kind
of country he hoped to lead never came to fruition, the one that would be void
of class conflict and the international wars it led to. But the Russia he
presided over was still reeling from the bloody civil war he’d helped
instigate. Famine and poverty cursed much of society. In 1921, Lenin now faced
the same kind of peasant uprising he’d used to gain power.
Lenin suffered two
strokes in 1922. With his health in obvious decline, others were none too shy
in lining up to fill his shoes and easing him out of the picture. He was
particularly disappointed with Joseph Stalin, who had begun to amass great power
and influence. Lenin suffered yet another stroke in 1923 and died in 1924.
