Vladimir+Lenin

=Vladimir Lenin=

Vladimir Lenin was "prehaps the most single individual most responsible for the Bolshevik Revolution" and chiefly responsible for formulating the ideology that guided the Soviet Union in its earliest days (1). Although Lenin was "unquestionably the ideological leader of the Bolsheviks", he never actually held an offical position of leadership in the Soviet government that arose after the Revolutions of 1917 (2). Lenin's contribution to political science is Leninism, Russia's form of Marxism and his developments of Marx's theory.

Though he is credited with leading the Revolution, Lenin's unwillingness to cooparate with Bourgeois class was a major componet in starting the Russian Civil War (1918-1921), and thus almost brought about an abrupt end to the Bolshevik Revolution. Insistence on complete noncooporation was the "cheif difference between [Lenin's] revolutionary rhetoric and that of other radical groups" (3).

In May of 1887, when Lenin was only 17 years old, his oldest brother Aleksander was hanged for participation in a terrorist assasination attempt of Czar Alexander III (4). This was a major componet in Lenin's transformation to a political radical, as well as the radical ideas he was exposed to at the University at which he studied law (5).

Lenin and a group of friends consolidated all the Marxist parties in St. Petersburg and created the Union of the Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class (6). In 1896 Lenin was arrested and exiled to Siberia for 3 years where he wrote 30 theroretical works, including his famous //The Development of Capatalism in Russia//. In 1902, after he returned from his exile, Lenin published a pamphlet, //What Is To Be Done?// where he argued for a "party of professional revolutionaries dedicated to the overthrow of Tsarism" and emerged as the leader of the Social Deomocratic Workers (or Labour) Party (7). (Supporters of this party included Joseph Stalin, while Leon Trotsky supported Lenin's rival Jules Martov and the Mensehivks party (8) ).

After returning he began to work against the provisional government (which had overthrown the tasrist regime) and led the "October Revolution" in 1917 (9). However, World War I was still raging in the west, and a main reason Lenin and the Bolsheviks rose to power was the promise to end the unpopular war. In a rush to end Russias involvment, Lenin told Trotsky to accept the harsh terms the Germans had proposed in the Treaty of Brest- Litovsk. ((see Treaty of Brest- Litovsk)). These terms angered what was to become the Whites (anyone who opposed the Bolsheviks) and caused the Social Democrats to end the coilition with the Bolsheviks. Three years of Civil war ensued, ((see Russian Civil War)).

After years of Revolutionary work, Civil War, repeated assasination attempts (the most famous of which Lenin had a bullet lodged in his neck), and a series of strokes finally left him paralyized and bed ridden until he died in 1924, at age 53. (10).

(11)

Notes 1: Maus, Derek C. //The History of Nations: Russia//. N.p.: Greenhaven Press, 2003. 2: ibid 3: ibid 4: Christopher Read (2005) //Lenin//: 16 5: British Broadcasting Corporation. "Vladimir Lenin." //BBC Historical Figures//. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2009. . 6: Spartacus Educational. "Vladimir Lenin." //Spartacus Educational//. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2009. . 7: ibid 8: ibid 9: British Broadcasting Corporation. "Vladimir Lenin." //BBC Historical Figures//. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2009. . 10:Von Geldern, James. "Death of Lenin." //Seventeen Moments in Soviet History//. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2009. . 11: //Vladimir Lenin, Office Potrait//. N.d. //Encyclopedia.com//. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2009. .