While Lenin was in exile in Siberia (1895-1900) he shared a room with Engberg, a Finnish communist who was likewise deported to this location. A role that Lenin played in Russian History was an author of many books, magazines and documents regarding his revolutionary beliefs. He completed his first book “Materialism and Empiriocticism” in 1908 and in 1912 the first issue of “Pravda” was issued. During his time in Siberia the first issue of the “Iskra” newspaper was published. Lenin edited this paper, and in the course of his editorship the question of Finnish independence was covered in every issue. In April 1917 Lenin published the “April Thesis” calling for the overthrow of the Provisional Government and it redefined tactics of the Bolshevik Party. Lenin was a very talented and persuasive writer and speaker, and he used these skills to play out his role in both his own goals and the Bolshevik Party’s goals. He made his last public speech in 1922 and in 1923 wrote his last document “Better fewer, but better” on the reorganization and reduction in size of the Soviet Government.
Lenin was the leader of the Bolshevik Party. The Bolsheviks believed that the working class must set up socialism in Russia, but they thought that this should be done by an alliance between the proletariat and the peasants. They did not favour cooperation with the bourgeoisie and favoured a disciplined party with restricted membership led by a small group.
In 1905 there was the first attempt of revolution in Russia, this event was named Bloody Sunday and it was the turning point where the people of Russia began to oppose the Tsar. Lenin did not play a very prominent role in this first revolution. In the same year Lenin attended the Tampere Conference, and this is where he met Stalin for the first time. In this year Lenin also promised to further the Finnish autonomy. Lenin had a very good relationship with the Finnish people throughout his life.
On October 25, 1917, Lenin led the Bolsheviks in a Socialist Revolution that would leave Lenin in control of Russia. Everything that had been set in stone about the life and culture of Russia over the past centuries would change during the course of one night. People were expecting great things, Lenin and others associated with his party, made Marx’s ideas sound great. Once Lenin came to power and tried to execute his plans towards his nation things went terribly wrong for the people of Russia.
The problems started with the proletariat, the people that Lenin put in charge of the nation. As common knowledge, proletariats are not the most educated people, with no knowledge of how to help run a Socialist government. So the proletariats started making decisions that would hurt the common man in Russia. Decease, hunger and even cannibalism struck over some parts of the nation, where as before in the Monarchy rule under Tsar Nicholas II, Russia was as rich in agriculture as any other country in the world. Another promise that Lenin made was that he gave the peasants more land. Also, he forced the peasants to move to collective farms, called “Kalhoz”. The peasants didn’t have any privacy and soon became outraged and started to strike. Bolshevik members at first sight of resistance began to shoot down innocent people fighting for their freedom, all by order of Lenin. But the problems didn’t end there. Lenin was the cause of it all. His own ideas and goals overpowered him, and he was unable to see the effect of his plans on a full scale. Lenin needed much more preparation before he should have into power, one of the main things he should have done was to educate the proletariat with at least basic leadership skills.
Previously in the days of Monarch Russia, the Russian people had a great belief of the church. When Lenin took over he forbid religion, destroyed all churches, and murdered all the priests, turning great national landmarks built by the blood and sweat of the Russian man into rubble. Anybody who tried to believe in something besides communism was murdered with out justice or a right to a trial by the authority of Lenin. Lenin didn’t want anyone to try to bring back the old Monarchy ways of Russia. He had the Bolshevik army murder Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, all his children and anybody who was associated with the Tsar.
Lenin’s Bolshevik army, also known as the Red Army, went to a civil war with the peasants and the opposers of the socialist regime, which was the White Army. Russia was going through a chaotic time, fighting opposing nations, and a civil war that happened for eight months in the year 1918, and going through hunger, despair and decease.
The plans of a world wide socialist revolution was now wide spread among neighboring nations. Based on their conclusions from Russia and how they handled the change and the horrible crimes that were committed against humanity on the part of the socialist party; other countries around Europe wanted no part of communism, and considered it a serious threat to their existence.
In 1918 a female revolutionary fired 3 shots at Lenin, only one missed. He later suffered from 4 strokes which are said to have been contributed by the assassination attempt. Lenin had his third stroke on March 9 of 1923 and was no longer able to speak. Lenin died after his last stroke on January 21st 1924.
Lenin was a very powerful man and leader throughout his life. He was very influential and maybe with some more thorough forethought his plans could have thrived. The Monarch system of Russia at the time needed to be changed and Lenin knew this, so he acted with great determination to change the way of Russia forever. Lenin definitely played a major role in Russian History through many activities, including the abdication of the Tsar in 1917, and achieved many of his own and his Party’s goals, which could lead him to be viewed as successful and a very prominent figure in Russian History.
