Communist Leaders of the 20th Century

Vladimir I. Lenin was a driving force behind the Russian Revolution of 1917 and became the first great dictator of the Soviet Union. After his brother was executed in 1887 (for plotting to kill the Czar), Lenin gave up studying law and became a full time revolutionary. He studied Karl Marx and formed workers' groups, but was arrested and exiled to Siberia in 1895. In 1900 he went to Europe, and in 1903 he led the Bolsheviks in the split of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' party. When revolution broke out in Russia in 1917, he led the Bolsheviks to control the government. Lenin had complete political control over the Union of Soviet

The red terror started, as a result form an assassination attempt on Lenin from Fanni Kaplin in August 1918. From Lenin’s hospital bed he told the Cheka ‘prepare for terror’. There was no government that could argue against the work of the Cheka, they arrested and executed 800 people in St. Petersburg in 1918, the Cheka explained that they were ‘enemies of the state’ ‘enemies of the revolution’. The red terror lasted from September 1918 to October 1918. Lenin supported the Cheka and argued on their behalf. They were also supported by Gregory Zinoviev. War communism is were the Bolsheviks took control over the factories, mines, workshops and railways.The Bolsheviks took over the banks, private trade was not allowed, workers were forced to work in factories. The red army needed supplies to fight against the White army. The Bolsheviks were communists and they wanted to take control of industry and food production in Russia.

Lenin and the Bolsheviks assumed power in Russia, in 1917 because of many reasons. Lenin promised to take farmland away from the rich and give to the poor. He promised and end to the war with Germany if he came to power. He demanded all over Russia, control of cities should be given to the Soviets councils of workers. Septembers 1917, is when the Bolsheviks won the election for control of the Soviet in the city of Petrograd (council made up of workers). Then in October, 1917, Lenin ordered the Bolsheviks to violently take over the Tsar’s winter palace, which was the new meeting place for the Provisional Government.

In 1917, Russia was crumbling into pieces. The World War I was draining all of Russia’s resources. There was shortage of food throughout the country, which left people starving. At the battlefront, millions of Russian soldiers were dying, they did not possess many of the powerful weapons that their opponents had. The government under Czar Nicholas II was disintegrating, and a provisional government had been set up. In November of 1917, Lenin and his communist followers known as the Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government and set a communist government in Russia. However, in 1924, Lenin died and Josef Stalin assumed leadership of the Soviet Union, which was the name for the communist Russia. Stalin was a ruthless leader who brought

Vladmir Lenin (1870-1924) founded the communist party in Russia and the world's first communist dictatorship. He believed in Karl Marx's theories that government is affected by underlying economic forces. Lenin's dictatorship resembles that of Mustapha Mond for both of them

Lenin grew up in a middle class family but was never fond of the political party and the class system. Having a Marxist political belief system, Lenin wanted the government to own and control everything. After taking control of the Soviet Union, Lenin wanted supreme power for himself and the government, with hopes to make all of the citizens’ equal. Throughout his reign, the Soviet Union was crowded with war, disease, and destruction. His idea of a perfect communist society was anything but

He led the October Revolution in Russia, becoming the first communist leader of the USSR.

The revolution was an event that was constructed on a small scale of people that were made up of the Bolshevik party, for overturning the Provisional government into the Soviet Union. The revolution was a voluntarist revolution, as it explored the idea of individual agencies and the concept that the cause of an event is based on the actions of those participating themselves. For instance, in the October revolution, the uprising of the political change was due to the action of Lenin and the Bolshevik party. Without the participation of the party and the leadership of Lenin, the revolution would not have been executed in such magnitude. The October revolution is a voluntarist revolution for the following reasons, first, the leadership from Lenin, proved to be more progressive, compared to the traditional leaders at that time. Lenin instructed the affairs of the revolution in public, after writing the April These a speech that criticized the Provisional government and promoted that the Russian government falls under the Soviet Union. Lenin’s charismatic traits are essentially the reason behind the large amount of support that the Bolshevik party and the Soviet Union received, a famous line from the April These: “All Power to the Soviets”, was used in propaganda during the time of the revolution, it was a phrase that changed the course of

Legacy of Communist Leaders The History of modern Russia (twentieth century) is the period of communist government. After the revolution in 1917 Russia became the first communist state, which survived until 1991. Seventy-four years of rapid changes left an enormous mark in the history of Russia. This period of history introduced us to the greatest communist leaders.

1.Lenin and Stalin were in control of the Bolsheviks party. The beginning of the Bolsheviks’ Revolution Lenin’s words were yelled throughout the streets, “ All power to the soviets, Peace, Land, and Bread.” With the support of many city soviets, Lenin began to take power. The first thing Lenin does while in charge was distributing all farmland amongst the peasants. He let factories be controlled by the workers. The Bolsheviks party was all about helping the lower class. When people want to kill the czar, Lenin sees his opportunity to seize all power. The Russian Civil War ensues and the Bolsheviks take over. Lenine enforces the New Economic Policy which allows peasants to sell their surplus crop instead of handing it over to the government. When the Bolsheviks party was renamed the Communist Party, Lenin declared established a dictatorship. Lenin led the Communist party very successful, but as he got older he retired his position to Joseph Stalin. By 1924 Joseph Stalin received total control of the Communist Party. Stalin turned Russia into a police state, and turned against the Communist Party members. He concealed total control Soviet government. Lenin and Stalin transform Communist Party and Russia completely during their rule.

It is undeniable that Stalin had a profound impact on the Soviet Union following Lenin’s death. His rise to power within the Soviet Union has provided historians with a hotbed of political intrigue for many years. He was an opportunist, coming to dominance by manipulating party politics and influential figures in the politburo to eliminate his opposition by recognising and exploiting their weaknesses thus becoming the dominant leader of the Soviet Union. He was severely underestimated by other members of the Politburo about his potential within the party, leading to missed opportunities to ally and stand against him- a mistake that Stalin never made. He gained support from the public by exploiting the idea of ‘the Cult of Lenin’ in 1924 at Lenin’s funeral, and then adopting this concept for himself, thereby likening himself to Lenin; and, more importantly, gained support from other party members by following the wishes of Lenin, for example, initially supporting the continuation of the NEP and supporting the idea of factionalism. This essay will also argue that he was ideologically flexible as he was able to change his ideas for the party according to who he needed as an ally, in order to achieve dominant status in the party. He sought out which individual was the biggest threat, and eliminated them before they could stand against him.

After hearing about the recent coup, throwing out the czar, Lenin came back to Russia from his exiled in Switzerland. Using his charisma and status, he helped kick start another revolution which knocked out the makeshift democracy. This made a place for the Bolsheviks (communists) to place themselves in a position of power in the government. (Rashid, Aatif). Lenin came to be an influential person in the Bolshevik party and used Karl Marx’s ideas to make Communism in Russia blossom. Two major things he did were make private industry and agriculture public and redistributed the land of wealthy proprietors to peasants. This went well for a few years, until the Russian Civil War ended in 1920. While they came out victorious, Russia was left in disaster. The economic productivity was insufficient and the people were starving and unhappy. Because of this, Lenin was desperate for a new change to benefit the people, so he announced the New Economic Policy. The state took control of large industries again, but people were encouraged to have private and individual businesses. Soon after this was out in place, another major change was about to occur in the Russian government. This occurred after Lenin died in 1924. Joseph Stalin took over his place and became the leader of the Communist Party. He began intimidating and doubting his rivals while also claiming to see spies everywhere. He cleared the party and general population of Russia or these so called “spies.” By executing or exiling rebels to Siberia, he struck fear into those who remained after his purging. Everyone lived in fear of Stalin’s secret police and he ruled over Russia with an iron fist from that point on until his death (Dagger,

Communism in Russia was begun by Karl Marx. Marx, along with much of the country, was tired of the tyranny they suffered under the Tsar. He came up with a system of government that would make everyone equal, and wrote it into the Communist Manifesto, the handbook for Communism. The Tsar and his family were eventually overthrown by the angry populace. Vladimir Lenin, a leader of the communist party, became the new head of the country. After his death, Joseph Stalin, another leader of the communist party, became the new leader of Russia. Although he claimed to adhere to the basic rules of communism, Stalin took advantage of the peasants and working class by taking their property and money, and eventually became a dictator. The middle and lower classes were, arguably, worse off than before.

Revolution followed shortly after in 1905, a failed attempt at ousting the Romanov royal family, that ultimately succeeded in pressuring Czar Nicholas II into ceding greater political freedoms unto the Russian people. Nonetheless, Russian blood had been spilt on Bloody Sunday, and not all Russians were so keen on forgetting how their tsar let loose his soldiers on innocent workers led by an Orthodox priest, and so revolutionary and socialist sentiment prevailed long after the Revolution of 1905. By then the redeeming features of tsarist Russia had long expired. Russia’s involvement in the Great War proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back, as the dissatisfied subjects of Czar Nicholas II, refused his authority in favor socialist political parties, such as the Bolshevik Party led by Vladimir Lenin, who promised a Russian society ridden of inequality and injustice. The introduction of the Communist Party during the November Revolution of 1917 paved the way for radical economic and political change, as Russia emerged from near ruin as the world’s first communist state. However, progress once

The Russian Revolutionary war (1917 to 1920) was between the Red Bolshevik army and the White anti-Bolshevik forces. The Red army won the war and Joseph Stalin was appointed general secretary of the party’s Central Committee in 1922. Lenin didn’t like the way Stalin hungered for power and believed that all people should be equal. After the death of Vladimir Lenin, Stalin consolidated his power by suppressing criticism about him and expanding his roll in the current government. Stalin assured himself the leader of Russia by the late 1920’s and made himself “Premier” of the Soviet Union in 1941. He went unchallenged and made the Soviet Union into an Economic powerhouse among the world through Industrialization and Collectivization.