Identify the main principles of Communism and assess how far these principles were put into practice by one Communist ruler between 1900 and 1990.
Identify the main principles of Communism and assess how far these principles were put into practice by one Communist ruler between 1900 and 1990.
Although Lenin was a Communist leader, he did not completely agree with or follow Marx’s ideas. Unlike Karl Marx, Lenin, the Bolshevik leader, felt that a Revolution could be brought about by a small number of revolutionaries. However, to some extent, Lenin did follow the principles provided in Marx’s The Communist Manifesto.
Once Lenin came into power he established his Domestic Economic Policy, which he felt would make Russia a well-developed country. As leader, he also felt that he had to preserve Soviet power by any means necessary, therefore he justified the appearance of weapons and the term ‘war communism’ had a new meaning. As a step to secure communism, Lenin followed one of the principles stated in The Communist Manifesto, which called for the centralization of all means of production and transportation. After June 1918, industrial enterprises were rapidly nationalized and workers and managers were subjected to rigid control. As a result of the centralization of all means of production, the State now owned everything in the country that could produce any income, including the land of the peasants. The use of property for public purposes complied with Marx’s principle of the abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. The abolition of their lands angered peasants, who had also been divided by Lenin into two groups, the Kulaks, who were the better off, and the Exploiters, which was composed of the poor peasants. Although, one might think that Lenin’s act of removing the peasant’s land is in compliance with one of Marx’s principles, “Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels,” they would be mistaken, for the peasants were not Lenin’s enemies, but rather were essential to the success of the Revolution.