Assessment of the impact that Lenin had on Russia and the Russian People

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Assessment of the impact that Lenin had on Russia and the Russian People

The Bolsheviks, including Joseph Stalin, agreed with the way the Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies treated the provisional government. Lenin immediately made it his policy to treat the provisional government with the same deference. In his "April Theses" he argued that only the Soviet could respond to the hopes, aspirations, and needs of Russia's workers and peasants. Under the slogan "All Power to the Soviets", the Bolshevik party conference accepted Lenin's plan. After an unsuccessful workers' uprising in July, Lenin spent August and September 1917 in Finland, hiding from the provisional government. There, he put together his ideas of a socialist government in a famous pamphlet, 'State and Revolution', his most important contribution to Marxist political theory. He also bombarded the party's Central Committee with demands for an armed uprising in the capital. His plan was finally accepted and was put into effect on November 7.
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A few days after the 'November Revolution,' Lenin was elected chairman of the 'Council of People's Commissars', this means, head of government. He acted pragmatically to consolidate the power of the new Soviet state. At his urging, private enterprises, except for such establishments as banks, were not nationalised. He charted a slow course towards socialism and avoided the bad reputation attached to one-party rule by including the Left-Socialist Revolutionary party in his government. His prime concern was the preservation of the Revolution and Soviet power against enemies both abroad and at home - due to this Lenin accepted the ...

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