Seminar

By Angie Phetbenjakul

Question

In what ways and why did Lenin alter Marxism?

Lenin Background

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov Socialist leader Supporter of Karl Marx Lenin’s whole life had been dedicated to the cause

of revolution He became an enemy of imperial Russia when his

brother was executed for attempting to assassinate the Tsar in 1887

Motivation

Karl Marx Wrote The Communist Manifesto Lenin supported Marx’s ideas, who believed that revolution

comes from the “proletariat”, or working class, as opposed to coming from the discontented peasants.

Marx’s thinking centered around a system of socialism he called “communism”, where all property and means of production would be owned by the people, and all goods and services would be shared equally.

He also divided society into two classes: the “haves” and the “have nots”

Lenin and his Followers

Russia was not only not highly industrialized, but downright backward Lenin believed that revolution was necessary to destroy capitalism. Three interrelated ideas were central for Lenin:

– Inspiration from Karl Marx’s, The Communist Manifesto– Under certain conditions a socialist revolution was possible even in a

relatively backward country like Russia. – Necessity of a highly disciplined workers’ party, strictly controlled by a

dedicated elite of intellectuals and fulltime revolutionaries, such as Lenin himself

Lenin and his Followers

Lenin used propaganda in his speeches to gain support from the workers and soldiers in Petrograd.

In the summer of 1917, the provisional government set up by the Duma was falling apart converting liberty into anarchy and giving Lenin the perfect opportunity for the Bolshevik Revolution, but it failed and he went into hiding.

Russian Marxists became divided over Lenin's theories.– Lenin's Bolsheviks demanded a small, disciplined, elitist party.– The Mensheviks wanted a democratic party with mass

membership.

Supporter of Lenin

A radical Marxist and supporter of Lenin, Leon Trotsky centered his power in the Petrograd Soviet.

– The Bolsheviks gained a majority in the Petrograd Soviet.– Bolsheviks controlled the military in the capital.

He used verbal propaganda to convince the Petrograd Soviet, a military committee.

Trotsky engineered a Soviet overthrow of the provisional government (November 1917).

On November 6, 1917, Lenin heads the new “provisional workers’ and peasants’ government”

The Bolsheviks came to power because they were the answer to anarchy, they had superior leaders, and they appealed to many soldiers and urban workers exhausted by war.

Bolsheviks

The key to Bolshevik success was in their ability to turn chaos into a dictatorial socialist society.

Lenin gave approval to the peasants' seizure of land and the urban workers' takeover of the factories.

Lenin arranged for an end of the war with Germany, but at a high price: the sacrifice of all of Russia's western territories (the Treaty of Brest Litovsk, 1918).

Free elections produced a stunning loss for the Bolsheviks, and Lenin dissolved the Constituent Assembly.

Bolsheviks

Opposition to the Bolsheviks led to civil war (1918-1921).– The officers of the old army (the Whites) organized the

opposition to the Bolsheviks (the Reds).– The Whites came from many social groups and wanted self

rule, not Bolshevik dictatorship. The Bolshevik victory in the civil war was due to a number of

factors: unity, a better army, a well defined political program, mobilization of the home front, an effective secret police force (the Cheka), and an appeal to nationalism in the face of foreign aid to the Whites.

World War I brought the conditions that led to the Russian Revolution and a radically new government based on socialism and one party dictatorship.