Towards the end of Soviet rule in Russia there was a lot more freedom for Soviet historians to examine the past and to be more critical about Lenin. This brought a lot of varied views of Lenin, which had not been seen before. Many historians were extremely critical of Lenin, by discussing his use of terror against counter-revolutionaries, and his policies towards the peasants in War Communism, which contained the policy of requisitioning of food from peasants causing widespread famine, showing him to be not the great revolutionist many people believed him to be. However, even with the release of information there were some positive points mentioned about Lenin. The release of information led to many goods views by Russian historians on Lenin’s NEP and on how Lenin tolerated some criticism in the Bolshevik party. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 gave writers even more freedom in their views of Lenin. Many Russian historian discarded Communism and Lenin completely saying that it wasn’t either justified or inevitable.
Therefore in conclusion, I believe that Lenin must have had a significant role in the revolution and to Russia after the revolution. I believe this must have been the case because of the tremendous support from the public and key figures in the Bolshevik Party such as Trotsky. Also because even when there was freedom to be critical about Lenin there was no evidence to support that Lenin was the main person behind the revolution and the party in general. Therefore now we can confirm that Lenin did have a very significant role in the revolution and Bolshevik Russia, it is possible to evaluate if Lenin was a betrayer or a great revolutionist.
There are very many views about whether Lenin did betray the revolution. The biggest factor for promoting Lenin not betraying the revolution is the factor that it would take time for the Bolsheviks to set up Russia to be ready to become Communist and to therefore hand over the country to the Proletariat. So it could be argued that Lenin had not got Russia ready for a Proletariat take over. The NEP helps to support this factor as it was still in action at the time of Lenin’s death and it was seen by many Bolsheviks as an economic policy to get Russia ready for Proletariat control because it could have helped to stabilise the economy ready for the Proletariat. However, many left-wing Bolsheviks believed this wasn’t the case and that the power should have either been transferred to the Proletariat a lot sooner or the NEP should be abolished and a new more socialist system should be introduced as they would only tolerate the NEP as a short-term policy and it had been running for over three years. Therefore these Bolsheviks believed that Lenin had been betraying the revolution, as he had not given the power to the working classes.
Another big factor that made Lenin look like he wasn’t betraying the revolution is the support he received from the proletariat. If the proletariat believed that Lenin had not been working in the interests of the people they would not have shown the massive support for Lenin, which they showed at his death. However, the use of propaganda made Lenin look like a god-like figure to the proletariat, so Lenin could have been doing a bad job but it wasn’t obvious to the proletariat.
A big factor that made Lenin look like he betrayed the revolution is the New Economic Policy because it went against Marxists views by bringing in capitalist policies like small private industry and private trade. Therefore it can be seen that Lenin was not working in the interests of the proletariat and therefore betrayed them. However, some Bolsheviks would argue that it was brought in as a short-term policy to help the proletariat in the long run.
A big factor that makes Lenin look like he betrayed the revolution is the fact that there was very little involvement from the industrial workforce. The majority of the party was run by the upper classes and not the industrial workforce, which Lenin and Marx believed the basis of the revolution should be around and therefore without them Lenin was betraying the revolution. However, Lenin believed that a group of intellectuals dedicated to furthering the interests of the workers could seize power in the interests of the proletariat, but there still should have been some involvement by proletariat.
