  |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|
Lenin (1870-1924)Russian revolutionary. Born on 22 April 1870 into a middle-class family in Simbirsk, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov joined the secret revolutionary movement in 1887 after his eldest brother was executed for attempting to assassinate the tsar Alexander III. Expelled from Kazan University for his involvement in student demonstrations, he graduated as a lawyer with top marks from St Petersburg University in 1891. In 1895, he made contacts with exiled Marxists in Switzerland. On his return to Russia, he was arrested and sent to Siberia, where he met and married Nadezhda Krupskaya, who later influenced his intellectual development. After their internal exile was terminated in 1900, they emigrated to central Europe. Lenin founded the Iskra (Spark) newspaper and wrote What Is to Be Done? (1902), which set out his revolutionary views. In 1903, he became leader of the Bolshevik, or more radical majority, faction of the Russian Social Democratic Workers party, and returned to Russia in 1905. Unable to make any impact on the abortive Russian Revolution of that year, he was forced to flee, first to Finland and then to Switzerland, where he continued writing. Having given up hope of the workers rising in Russia, the 'February Revolution' of 1917 came as a surprise to Lenin. The German government, who wanted him to stop Russia's involvement in World War I against Germany, sent him in a sealed train to St Petersburg, where he arrived in April. Then, following an abortive coup in July, he went into hiding in Finland, where he wrote The State and Revolution, in which he outlined his ideas about the 'dictatorship of the proletariat'. Returning to Russia, he persuaded Trotsky and others to carry out the Bolshevik 'October Revolution' of 7 November 1917 (25 October by the old Russian calendar). Its success enabled him to become head of the new Soviet government, leading the Bolsheviks in a civil war with counter-revolutionaries and in the disastrous Russo-Polish War. Lenin's organisational skills, pragmatism and determination enabled him to stay in power, aided by the Cheka (secret police). Despite his revolutionary writings, his New Economic Policy of 1921 was conservative and helped stabilise an economy ruined by civil war. In 1922, Lenin suffered two strokes, and the resulting paralysis prevented him from stopping the rise of Stalin. Lenin died on 21 January 1924. His body was embalmed and can still be seen in Moscow's Red Square. |
|
