Significance of Vladimir Lenin free essay sample

Breaking the barrier between attaining both economic success and political achievement, Vladimir Lenin almost singlehandedly ended the Tsardom and brought the socialist â€Å"Bolshevik† party to power in Russia. Lenin’s unique experiences in his youth led him to his status as a revolutionary and ultimately changed Russia and the world. Lenin’s early life helped to shape his destiny as a revolutionary leader. As with most people, Lenin’s beliefs and ideals were instilled in him at a young, impressionable age. Lenin was born in a small rural town on the Volga River called Simbirsk on April 10, 1877. He was born Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov, to a family of two sisters and three brothers, all of whom became revolutionaries. Vladimir’s father, Iliya Ulyanov, was a school inspector and was ironically a nobleman. Lenin was raised in an upper-middle class family and even expressed this fact openly at his rallies validating it by saying, â€Å"By their social status the founders of modern scientific socialism, Marx and Engels, themselves belonged to the bourgeois intelligentsia† (What Is to Be Done 2). Marx and Engels were the two inventors of Communism, who were well educated upper-class members of society that believed in social change. One of Lenin’s older brothers, Alexander, was also a revolutionary. In 1887, he and four others were arrested for plotting to assassinate Tsar Alexander III. Alexander Ulyanov was publicly hanged that same year. Before his death, Alexander said that, â€Å"[Vladimir] showed no interest in public affairs† (Gottfried 18). In fact, it was Alexander’s death that triggered Vladimir’s resentment toward the Tsarist government and helped to instill a prideful need for revolution. He first demonstrated his beliefs at a protest at Kazan University, for which he was promptly expelled. He was allowed to continue his studies by himself and eventually got his degree in law in 1891. Some of Lenin’s later influences were Karl Marx and Nicholas Chernyshevsky, whose book was the namesake for Lenin’s most popular pamphlet, â€Å"What is To Be Done? † Their philosophy of a â€Å"class struggle† showed that the wealthy upper class took advantage of the lower class for their own benefit. These combined experiences laid the foundation for Lenin’s radical beliefs in revolution. As Lenin began to work as a lawyer and write his many pamphlets, a storm began to brew in his mind regarding the impending revolution. Lenin, like others in the socialist party, wanted social and economic equality for the proletariat, or working class. He also wanted a more just government that was governed by the proletariat as opposed to the aristocrats who had been in power for 300 years. Many protests happened near his place of work in St. Petersburg, as it was a university town and full of young, idealistic minds. Lenin actively participated in many protests and gained a devoted following. This did not go unnoticed, as many times Lenin was arrested for speaking against the tsar. These infractions were trumped by his eventual banishment for actions against the tsar to western Siberia and then to Munich. For most of his exile he traveled across Europe and spoke at rallies and socialist meetings. Lenin returned to his homeland to help in the 1905 revolution, in which he was elected to lead the local Socialist party. After the bloody battles, he resumed his exile until the next revolution in 1917. The more prominent 1917 revolution was a turning point because it became a declaration of war between the â€Å"Red† Bolshevik party and the â€Å"White† Menshevik party. Lenin’s determination and leadership led to the revolutions’ success. His drive to overthrow the provisional government and start a communist Russia is apparent in his many pamphlets: â€Å"When the workers and laboring peasants took hold of the powers of state it became our duty to quell the resistance of the exploiting class† (A Letter to American Workingmen 6). His goal, through much death and bloodshed, was reached. In October 1917, Lenin and the Bolsheviks took power and became the de facto leaders of Russia. This massive power-shift changed Russia and the world for the next century. Lenin worked extremely hard for his county. He is said to have worked long days in ill health, and even did work after the strokes that would eventually kill him (Reed 5). Unfortunately, Lenin’s successor was not so benevolent. After Lenin’s death in 1924 at the age of 53, Joseph Stalin took power and almost strangled it to death. Stalin was a brutal dictator, killing about 60 million of his own people; not even Hitler had that many kills under his belt. Lenin, before his death even foresaw that violence would be nevitable, â€Å"If it has got to the point where [congress] could go so far as to use physical violence†¦ then one can imagine the mess we’ve got ourselves into† (Shuckman 202). Stalinism was a gross bastardization of Leninism and led to Russia’s reputation of being a brutal, warmongering land. This was in no way Lenin’s fault; the most he did was appoint Stalin as his successor and he was loyal to Lenin at the time. Ultimately , though, Russia was a contender for the most powerful country in the world for more than fifty years. Most notably, Lenin’s work led to the long and tense Cold War and the spread of Communism across the globe. The USSR also annexed many lands and called them their own. This led to many conflicts including the Chechen wars and the current war in Afghanistan. Many terrorists in Afghanistan use soviet weapons from the Russian occupation, so the war in Afghanistan can partially be attributed to the former Soviet Union. Communism had a profound impact on Russia and the world. Though many say it was the bane of the 20th century, Communism was and still is an important aspect of history and life. Lenin was truly the forefather of modern Communism and without him, the mighty superpower that was the Soviet Union would not have been. His many works are now standard reading for students of political science and it has found immortality in the many statues and cities in his honor. Even though many democracies still fear the implications of socialism, such as United States Republicans calling President Obama a Socialist, much of the fear and xenophobia has subsided. Lenin’s vision of a utopian society was never fully reached, however, the impact of his dedication to communism can be felt throughout the world almost a century after his death.