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How Did Lenin Contribute To The Russian Revolution

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Lenin was the leader of the Bolshevik (meaning Majority) faction of the Russian Social and Democratic Labour Party and took power in the October Revolution of 1917.

He was born in the city of Simbirsk in 1870 and studied Law at Kazan ' university, where he was introduced to Marxist literature. His brother Alexandr was involved in a plot to assassinate Tsar Alexandr III and executed.

He spent some time in internal exile in Siberia before being exiled from Russia. It was in London that he formed his Bolshevik faction. When WWI broke out he was living in Geneva and, in Early 1917 he was put on a special sealed train to the Russian capital - Petrograd - in order to ferment trouble.
In 1917 his Bolsheviks overthrew the Provisional …show more content…

Industry. Factories were either owned by the state - like the huge armaments and textiles factories in Petrograd or owned by very rich (often aristocratic) men - Lenin nationalised industry, i.e. the state took ownership of the factories.
Main policies - War Communism. After the revolution the country dissolved into civil war, and the cities and Red (Bolshevik) army needed feeding. War Communism was a policy of sending Bolsheviks into the countryside to seize grain in order to feed the cities. Also it nationalised all industry and banks. After Lenin was shot and wounded by Fanya Kaplan in august 1918 and to help enforce the War Communism a period known as the Red Terror began where anyone suspected of helping the opposing White armies could face a short trial and execution - some 200, 000 may have died - although it must be said that the White forces committed similar number of murders.

After the Civil War died down, Lenin realised that War Communism was not working very well and began the New economic Policy (NEP) . This allowed small businesses and farmers to buy and sell on the open market. Economic growth soon followed.
NEP was only meant to be a temporary measure to kickstart the economy after the disasters of WWI and the Civil War. Marxist orthodoxy claims that in order to achieve Communism the means of production must be owned by the workers.
NEP still had the

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