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Joshua Caskey
Ms. Bonventre
English 101
10/19/2013
Vladimir Lenin
Throughout history, there have been many historical figures that we learn about today. Vladimir
Lenin was one of the most historical figures in Russia because of his contributions to Marxism
(which would later be known as Marxism-Leninism), his founding of the Bolshevik party, and
his efforts to make Russia a socialist nation.
Lenin was born Vladimir IIyich Ulyanov in Simbrisk on April 9th, 1870, Lenin was the
third of six children and was baptized in Russian Orthodox tradition (“Prominent,” par. 2).
Lenin’s father was a highly regarded schoolteacher who was later awarded as a nobleman and his
mother was the daughter of a Jewish doctor and was baptized as an Orthodox Christian
(“Prominent,” par. 3). Lenin’s father died in 1887, this is said to have strengthened Lenin’s
revolutionary beliefs. Lenin’s brother, Aleksandr Ulynov was involved with Narodovoltsy which
was a revolutionary terrorist society; in 1891 Aleksandr was arrested and executed for taking part
in an assassination plot against Tsar Alexander III (“Prominent,” par. 4).
Lenin went to study law at Kazan University, but was later expelled for taking part in
protest’s, he then continued his studies at St. Petersburg. Lenin moved to St. Petersburg in 1893
and became involved in Marxist and radical groups, during this time, Lenin also published works
of his own (“Prominent,” par. 7). Many of Lenin’s writings were illegal and were shared by
hand. In 1895, Lenin visited Europe, when he returned he brought back communist books which
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were illegal in Russia, Lenin also founded The Union for The Liberation of The Working Class,
soon after, Lenin and his collaborators were arrested and sent to exile (“Vladimir,” par. 5). In
1900, Lenin launched his newspaper “Iskra,” which fed the flame of the Russian underground
(“Prominent,” par. 8).
In 1901, Lenin emerged as a prominent figure in the international revolutionary
movement and became the leader of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic
Worker’s Party (“Historic,” par. 1). In 1905, Russia was on the brink of revolution, The Moscow
Uprising of 1905 taught Lenin that the real force was with the proletariat, which were workers,
peasants, and soldiers. Soon after, the Russian parliament was born; Lenin despised this so much
that he immigrated to Switzerland. While in Switzerland, Lenin helped organize the release of
“Pravda,” a newspaper in St. Petersburg. Lenin also composed numerous articles under different
pseudonyms for Bolshevik newspapers (“Prominent,” par. 13).
Lenin returned to Russia in 1917 and worked against the provisional government that had
overthrown the tsarist regime (“Historic,” par. 1). Lenin led the October Revolution and almost 3
years of civil war followed, the Bolsheviks were victorious and assumed control of Russia
(“Historic,” par. 1). One of the first moves of Lenin’s government was to ban all opposition
press, when asked about freedom of speech Lenin said: “Freedom of speech? We are not going
to commit suicide.”(“Prominent,” par. 20).
As the new leader of the Soviet Union, Lenin signed a peace treaty with Germany that
would give up territory in Russia, this move caused resentment within the revolutionary
movement. When the Civil war broke out, it separated Russia into different camps such as the
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Reds, the Whites, the forces of Petliura, rioting peasants, and soldiers (“Prominent,” par. 22).
The Civil War took the lives of millions.
Lenin started the communist experiment, which was an economic model that he founded
which didn’t have a clear plan. Under the communist experiment, peasants were required to give
certain volumes of food to the state (prodrazvyorstka), everyone was ordered to work and failure
to do so was punished by execution, inflation skyrocketed, workers were paid 26 rubles a day
when a pound of bread cost nearly 170 rubles (“Prominent,” par. 24). About 10 million people
have died because of the communist experiment. The Volga Region saw famine in 1921. This
famine was due to a severe drought and prodrazvyorstka. Up to 40 million people were starving,
there were reports of cannibalism, and many peasants rioted, and killed Bolshevik
representatives (“Prominent,” par. 25). The famine ended in 1922 but took the lives of almost 5
million people.
Lenin suffered 3 strokes between May of 1922 and March of 1923. Lenin died on January 21st,
1924, the final diagnoses was cerebral sclerosis. Lenin was a great politician, if greatness is
measured by will power and scale of damage (“Prominent,” par. 59). He destroyed an empire and
created his own by using extreme violence. Vladimir Lenin was the first dictator of the 20th
century and paved the way for Stalin, Hitler, Mao Zedong, and many others. It took 70 years and
millions of lives to put an end to Lenin’s era.
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Works Cited
“Historic Figures: Vladimir Lenin.” BBC.co.uk. n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2013
“Prominent Russians: Vladimir Lenin.” Russiapedia.rt.com. n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2013
“Vladimir Lenin.” Historylearningsite.co.uk n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2013