Compare the Characters and beliefs of Lenin and Stalin

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Compare the Characters and beliefs of Lenin and Stalin

Lenin and Stalin had many similarities and differences in both their character and beliefs. The most noticeable of the similarities was their belief in Communism inspired by the writings of Karl Marx, they believed in state ownership, one political party, revolutions, no religions and for everyone to be equal in Russia. Both Lenin and Stalin spent long periods of time in exile in Siberia due to their strong beliefs and one similarity was their sense of duty to their belief. These beliefs were the basis of the next seventy years of communism and the dramatic change in Russian life.

Regardless of this basic similarity, they still had very different beliefs about some things. They both believed a Communist revolution was the only way to improve Russia after the incompetent government, however they disagreed on how it should be done. Lenin believed that a typical revolutionary action was the answer, for example, the November revolution outside the Winter palace. Stalin however wanted to set up brothels and fund a revolution with the profits. Lenin believed this was wrong and disagreed with Stalin's views about women, he said 'changed his women as often as he changed his shirts'.

Lenin was born in Simbirsk on April 22nd 1870 had a privileged upbringing. His first breech in rebellion was in 1887 when he was arrested for plotting to assassinate Tsar Alexander III, his brother was hanged for the same crime. This gave Lenin the basis for his hatred of democracy and the taste of revenge against the Tsar, unlike Stalin who had no such strong motive for revenge. Later that year, Lenin enrolled in Kazan university but he was quickly expelled as a radical troublemaker. He was exiled to the village of Kokushkino where his grandfather lived.

Stalin's school life was a different story however. He was born on December 21st 1879 to his Georgian parents, they couldn't speak Russian and were poverty stricken, the family had to work extremely hard to fund the education their intelligent son deserved. Unlike his parents, Stalin was forced to learn Russian when he attended the Gori Church school in 1888-1894. He was not a trouble maker to start with, he was the best pupil in the school and earned a full scholarship to the Tbilisi Theological Seminary. He later become a revolutionist and was expelled from college for failing to take his exams

The difference in Lenin and Stalin's beliefs lay in the opinion of the use of Communism in Russia, Lenin wanted to improve the lives of the workers, achieve equality and abolish the Tsar whilst Stalin was concerned with the reputation of the Soviet Union and later became an immoral extremist killing over 40 million.

The character of Lenin and Stalin were similar and different in many ways, they both found difficulty in trusting anybody and were awfully cruel to the opposers. They believed in terror and cruelty to force people into line. Lenin used Red terror and Stalin used purges and show trials.

Both Lenin and Stalin were strong minded and determined leaders with the target of changing Russia to a complete communist country. They both seized power through revolution but unlike Lenin, Stalin used ruthless methods to gin power after Lenin's death, for example the removal of the prospective leader Trotsky from a the leadership line-up. Lenin was more morally acceptable than Stalin, causing far fewer deaths and he began to actually change Russia for the better before his death and Stalin taking power.

A major difference in Lenin and Stalin's character was their pride, Lenin was willing to accept his unsuccessful policies, such as War communism and change it to a more successful one like the NEP. Stalin would never be prepared to back down even if he knew he was in the wrong and he was causing millions of deaths, he had too much pride and could not admit his weaknesses and he even seemed to enjoy killing millions of innocent people.

Assess the impact Lenin had on Russia and the Russian people

In 1917, Russia, then known as the Soviet Union, was in utter chaos, the Russian people had had enough, there were food shortages, numerous strikes, freezing temperatures, million of soldiers had been killed at the front and most importantly there was an incompetent government. This led to the abdication of the Tsar, he had been overthrown and the Russian monarchy was finished. When Vladimir Lenin heard of the Tsars abdication he returned to Petrograd in autumn 1917 from exile in Switzerland.

Lenin was the leader of the Bolsheviks, he wanted another revolution, he was to overthrow the provisional government to put an end to the war, nationalise the industries, give land to the peasants and give all power to the soviets. This was all part of the April Theses, summed up as 'Peace, Bread and Land'.

The Bolsheviks soon became very powerful with Lenin as their leader, The July days were over and things were finally going Lenin's way. After the Kornilov revolt, Lenin and Trotsky prepared for 'The Great October Socialist Revolution', later known as the 'November Revolution' where the Bolsheviks sailed the cruiser up to the River Neva outside the Winter Palace. There, Lenin announced the end of the provisional government and Russia became a communist country for the next seventy years. Although, it hadn't existed for very long, the overthrowing of the provisional government was a long term change. It was only a revolution, but this revolution was different, it enabled Lenin to gain complete power with the Bolsheviks as government, and without it, the communist may never have survived for seventy years. It changed the way of Russia for ever. Not all revolutions had such impact, the July Days for example didn't go to plan and backfired on Lenin as he was forced to flee the country in attempt to escape from the police.
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Lenin had a great impact on Russia and the Russian people. Although there were only five deaths at the 'November Revolution', he accomplish many aims, and this had many consequences on the Russian way of life. Not only was Russia a communist country for the next seventy years, he set a one party state, where only one political party were allowed and changed the government from an autocracy to a dictatorship. This was a long term change as dictatorship remained for many years and completely overturned the autocratic government that had existed for centuries. He set the precedent ...

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