groups such as the Bolsheviks.
The first revolution came in March. The Tsar had abdicated, but not by means of force. Lenin
heard about this revolution while he was living in exile in Switzerland and immediately
prepared to return back to Russia. This was due to the simple fact that everyone was fed up
with the way Russia was being poorly run.
The second revolution caused by the Bolshevik uprising came in November. Lenin appeared to
have clear and confident aims, unlike the other party leaders. There were several long term
and short-term impact as a result of the revolution. The Tsar was killed so that there was no
opposition for the new government that was set up and a long-term impact was that this
new communist dictatorship would last for the next 80 years.
Again, Lenin was setting a precedent for any future Communist leaders. Lenin seized power
easily although many people weren't expecting his success, but if he wanted to retain this,
he would have to fight off opponents from home and abroad; The war was still on going and
re-gaining peace with Germany was Lenin's priority.
Lenin arranged a cease-fire due to the invasion of Petrograd. This was called the "Treaty of
Brest-Litvosk". So a short-term impact of this treaty was an end to the fighting and Lenin
could now concentrate on his internal enemies rather than fighting opponents from outside of
Russia. This treaty was opposed by other Russian officials, but Lenin still insisted in this
agreement so that he could concentrate on his "internal enemies". Lenin was also confident
that the revolution would break out in Germany and other countries so the treaty would be
broken soon anyway. A lot of German officials opposed the treaty because they felt it was
too harsh. Russia lost a lot; 80% of coal-fields, 50% of industry, 26% of their railways, 26%
of the population and 25% of land. This came as a huge short-term impact to Russia and
caused a civil war. But, the loss of this land and industry have long term consequencses.
This is because
Lenin set up a police force called the Cheka to deal with law, order and political opposition
because he needed to consolidate his power. The war was now over so death and
destruction had ended, but even the name of the Cheka drove fear into the hearts of the
Russian people. This police force tortured prisoners to gain information and then executed
them. Their leader, Felix Dzerhinshy felt this was needed to keep respect and ensure there
was little or no opposition. The Cheka killed 200,000 prisoners and imprisoned another 85,000.
He only killed opposition and the scale of this killing was considerably smaller to the figures of
Stalin who some may argue killed for the sake of it.
A long-term impact of this though was that the "whites" (the supporters of the monarchy)
were finally defeated and now there was no chance of the Tsar or autocracy returning. This
meant reassurance of the survival the revolution and more importantly, communism. Although
this affected Russia, it wasn't a change brought about because of Lenin or the new
Government. Lenin said this killing and these short-term problems e.g. food shortages, and
many starving people who were even having to turn to cannibalism, was justified if
Communism was to survive.
People were beginning to question Lenin because of the effect of the civil war. Lenin
introduced the "Red Terror". From the mid 1918-1921 the policy of the government was
known due to their violent methods was "war communism". This was a whole series of
measures designed to take control of the lives of every Russian. This again was to support
the long term impacts that Lenin wanted, such as the survival of a communist Russia and an
end to the monarchy. Also this would set a precedent for future leaders. For example, Stalin
used the same harsh methods when dealing with opponents.
People were still starving and were so hungry that horrifyingly forced in many cases to eat
human flesh, especially in the cities; "because of the shortages in the towns, almost half the
inhabitants of many Russian cities left to live in the country from 1918-29". To solve this
problem Lenin ordered squads of soldiers and party officials to go into the villages and
requisition food. The peasants didn't want to give away their land, which they had just been
given and also were reluctant to sell their self- grown food. So the peasants resented this
requisitioning, but due to the Cheka they had neither the power or right to complain.
Despite the fact that the government had once had so much support, it was rapidly losing
popularity, the people who had once supported it were now turning against it. Lenin had seen
this happen to the provisional government, and didn't want it to happen again to his
government. He knew that the communists would have to change their harsh policies to win
back the support of the peasants and workers. Lenin's solution to this problem was to
introduce a "new economic policy". Lenin introduced this in March 1921, and by doing this he
had shown that he had accepted that not all communist ideas could be introduced all at
once. To immediately change around almost every aspect of all his people's lives was too
much at once. I think this helps to show the huge scale of the impact that Lenin had on
Russia. But he was prepared to take a step back to win the support of his people. As a result
of this new economic policy, the people started to grow more food because they could now
sell it, so the economy began to improve, people could make profits and another impact that
Lenin ensured was that there was continual support for the Communists. The NEP was a step
back from Communism, so in a way it was bad for communism on a whole but it was good in
some respects because it insured their support. It also strengthened the economy and Stalin
was able to build on this after Lenin's death. So in short-term, Lenin was having to go
against the principles of Communism, but in long-term he was building not only a better
economy but a better future for Russia.
Lenin had changed Russia in many ways and continued to change it even after his death.
Lenin had changed the way in which Russia was run, ruled and lived in for decades to come.
This was a great victory for communism and Lenin's time in power had proved that
communism could work. It was also apparent that these changes could not have been
brought about without him. Lenin was the driving force behind the revolution, which meant
that his leadership would change Russia forever. Several long term impacts such as the
change to communism would remain for the next 70 tears and he had set a precedent for
future communist leader all over the world. But Lenin had also changed Russia in many short-
term ways, such as the war communism, red terror, NEP and the treaties that were formed.
All these changes and decisions helped make up the impact that Lenin had on one of the
biggest empires in the world.
Lenin had changed Russia hugely, but some things never changed. People in rural areas were
still poor and still didn't have any say in how their lives or country was run. This shows that
although Lenin had a dramatic impact on Russia and improved it economically and in many
other ways, there were still some groups of people who didn't benefit from Lenin or
communism. For example, obviously anyone in support of the monarchy, peasants living in
rural areas, and the middle or upper classes not only didn't gain anything from Lenin's time in
power, but lost out because they had to give up their possesions
3. Assess the impact that Stalin had on Russia and the Russian people.
Joseph Stalin took over power of Russia after the death of Lenin in 1921 and he became only
the second Communist leader in the world ever. Although Stalin clearly had confident aims
and ambitions, he did, unlike Lenin, have someone else's mistakes and successes to learn
from. There is no doubt about the fact that Stalin had a huge impact on Russia ad the
people, economically, socially, and politically, mainly due to the changes he brought about.
He turned Russia into an industrial super power, but people were obviously always bound to
be effected, both positively and negatively.
Stalin wanted to transform Russia into an industrial super power, by dramatically increasing
production of heavy industry. He succeeded in doing this, by introducing collectivization and
the '5 year plans', but all this was at a cost to many people. Throughout Stalin's time in
power, larger, more efficient farms replaced smaller less productive farms. Traditional farming
methods gave way to new machinery, which could now be used on larger farms. This was
called collectivization, because small farms were being grouped together to make bigger
farms and to increase production with machinery that could now be used. But this focus on
production was too harsh on the Russian farmers and their families. People were forced to
pool together their crops
labour camps in Stalin's effort to increase production. Often these camps had appalling
conditions
1. Compare the characters and beliefs of Lenin and Stalin.
Lenin and Stalin were both men with very strong beliefs and were willing to fight for these
beliefs. Lenin and Stalin shared very similar beliefs Both men were united in their efforts
within the Bolshevik party, and both Lenin and Stalin had been extremely committed during
their fight for Communism and what they considered to be a just society, during the
November revolution. So it can clearly be seen that both men were united in their beliefs,
however there were some differences in these beliefs, mainly because Lenin and Stalin had
become Communists for completely different reasons.
Lenin had become a Communist after reading the writings of Karl Marx and becoming
influenced by his ideas, while Stalin had become a Communist because of his bad childhood.
Stalin had been extremely poor as a child and was made unhappy and had been made fun of
at school and been made a social outcast because of his poverty, and this made him angry.
He wanted to change the unjust and corrupt way in which Russia was run, this is why Stalin
became a Communist. Lenin, on the other hand had a relatively good childhood and had a
good education and read about Communism, and adopted his beliefs in this way.
In some ways, Lenin could be accused of not being a true Communist due to his decision to
"take a step back from Communism" when he introduced the new economic policy. Stalin was
furious when Lenin did this as he thought Lenin was just reverting back to the old ways of
the Capitalism. Clearly, Lenin's and Stalin's beliefs and judgement on this differed. Lenin
thought it was necessary to back down on communism to keep the people on his side and to
stop losing support. While Stalin thought that Lenin was just giving up what the Bolsheviks
had just worked so hard for.
Another difference in the beliefs of Lenin and Stalin is that Lenin wanted to spread
Communism around the world, while Stalin believed in Socialism in one country. Stalin wanted
to focus on making the U.S.S.R a great industrial power. This can clearly be seen in his
efforts to make Russia an industrial super power by dramatically increasing the rate and
amount of production in heavy industry, such as the production of iron, coal and steel.
One similarity that can be seen between the beliefs of Lenin and Stalin though, is their hate
and resentment for religion. Both men disliked and disapproved of religion. Although Russia
had been such a religious country before Lenin came to power, they both believed that the
state should be the most important thing. If people were too devoted to their religious
beliefs, they were not thinking about the state enough. Lenin and Stalin believed that Russia
had to come first, but this could not happen if people were too involved in their religions, so
religion had to go. Thus, all religion was banned under the power of both men, however Lenin
and Stalin differed in their beliefs in how religious groups should be treated. Stalin's treatment
of religious groups was somewhat harsher than Lenin's.
Comparisons and differences can also be seen between Lenin and Stalin in their characters.
Both men had clear ideas and ambitions that they wanted to bring alive, but the difference in
this characteristic is that Lenin was willing to come to a compromise. Lenin was willing to
take a step back from his plans for what he considered to be for the good of the people and
he showed this by introducing the NEP. Stalin though would never back down and would
never compromise. He was much more stubborn than Lenin was.
Another similarity in their characters can be seen in their ruthless dealing with opposition.
Stalin murdered much of his opposition during his purges (KGB). While Lenin ensured that his
opposition didn't pose a threat by getting rid of them during the red terror. But the most
distinctive difference in this ruthless part of their characters is that Lenin only murdered
opposition, while Stalin was paranoid and murdered many loyal Communists, to ensure
enemies didn't exist within his party.
It can be seen that although Lenin and Stalin were united in their beliefs and shared similar
characteristics, there were of course differences and both men clashed on some of their
ideas. This is probably because they both became Communists for different reasons, and had
completely different childhoods.