Assessment of the impact that Lenin had on Russia and the Russian People
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.
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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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 difficult German terms for the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty. His determined struggle to maintain power, however, cost the new Soviet regime dearly in the 1918-1921 civil war. Together with Leon Trotsky, the genius behind the Red Army, he set the course that brought the Soviet Union victoriously through the civil war.
After the war Lenin issued the New Economic Policy, this new policy was introduced to revitalise the economy, increase food production, and promote business growth after several years of civil war. By the early 1920s, the Soviet economy had suffered terribly from civil war (1918-1922) and the harsh War Communism. New Economic Policy replaced the market systems with a quasi-military economic structure. In 1920 industrial output was at less than one-seventh of its level before the revolution. Low grain production in 1920 and 1921 led to a famine in which about five million people died. New Economic Policy was intended to revitalise the country's economy by liberalising trade and production in agriculture and industry. In place of government seizure of surplus output from peasants, New Economic Policy allowed farmers to sell their produce on the open market after paying a tax proportional to their net output. Peasants were allowed to lease land and hire labourers, both of which had been outlawed under War Communism. Small and medium-size industrial enterprises were privatised, with the state keeping ownership and control of the finance, transport, heavy industry, and foreign trade. Money was reintroduced in 1921 to replace a system of barter, quotas, and commands. Under New Economic Policy the Soviet economy grew rapidly, and by 1928, production in agriculture, industry, and transport exceeded pre-revolutionary levels. Several problems about economic balancing developed under New Economic Policy, however, which led to the Soviet decision to reassert central control. Rising industrial prices prompted government officials to place price limits on non-agricultural goods in an attempt to control inflationary pressures. Government set prices for grain were lowered in the mid-1920s, prompting peasants to withhold selling their produce in anticipation of higher prices. Price controls on industrial and agricultural goods proved inefficient however, due to private traders (called Nepmen) who bought and sold items according to supply and demand. In 1929 agricultural production quotas were reinstated, and in 1930 private trading became a criminal offence under the direction of Communist party General Secretary Stalin because he viewed the activities of peasants and Nepmen as a threat to the socialist state,
The first of three strokes put Lenin out of action in May 1922. He recovered somewhat, but never again assumed an active role in the government or the party. After a partial recovery in late 1922, he suffered a second stroke in March 1923, which robbed him of speech and effectively ended his political career. Lenin died in the village of Gorky, just outside of Moscow, on January 21, 1924.
Although not an extraordinary philosopher, Lenin was a brilliant revolutionary thinker and strategist, whose clear-sighted realism guided the Bolsheviks to seize and maintain power. He did not formulate any one solution to the dilemma of how to build a workers' state in a peasant society. His interpreters and critics differ. Most observers see a connection between Lenin's early ideas and those of Stalin but agree that Lenin was the foremost revolutionary figure of 20th-century.