Among the numerous revolutions in world history, the socialist movement, which was carried out by Vladimir Lenin in Russia and called the October Revolution, has a special place. Because this revolution took place during the First World War and literally changed the fate of the world. With the Lenin revolution, the world met the first communist state.
Founded by Lenin, the Soviets later turned into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and existed for many years. The existence of such a communist state made the world bipolar. Even if the administration of the state is discussed, the bad events that took place in the first years unfortunately do not even have an aspect to discuss. Let’s take a closer look at who Vladimir Lenin is and see what he defended and what he did.
A young man who got involved in politics after his brother’s execution: Who is Vladimir Lenin?
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, with his birth name, was born on April 22, 1870 in Simbirsk, also known as Ulyanovsk, Russia. He was the third of six children in a well-educated family. His father was an education inspector and was on the ball for being criticized for the rulers’ policies against public education.
As a family, they were already known as populist and anti-tsarist. In 1887, Lenin’s older brother, Tsar III. When he was executed on charges of plotting to assassinate Alexander, Lenin became involved in politics quite radically. Expelled from Kazan Imperial University, where he studied law, on the grounds that he participated in an illegal action at the age of 17, Lenin became acquainted with the writings of Karl Marx during this period.
Declaring himself a Marxist, Lenin returned to school in 1889 and graduated as a lawyer. But due to his activities, he was exiled to Siberia with his later wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya. From there he moved first to Germany and then to Switzerland. He met Marxists like himself in Europe and founded the Bolshevik Party. It was during this period that he took the nickname of Lenin and adopted it.
The situation in Russia during the First World War played into the hands of those who dreamed of revolution:
Russia; The Serbs joined the First World War in August 1914, along with the French and the British. But it was the worst decision that these rulers could take, because Russia was a country far from the industrial developments of the period. The Russians suffered huge losses during the war. As a result, the country fell into a famine that would last for many years.
This terrible painting was exactly what Lenin wanted. Because if a revolution was to be made, it would be done in such an environment. He expressed his thoughts in his book, Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism, which he wrote during this period.
Lenin returns to Russia ‘as a plague’:
The Germans, who wanted to make this terrible situation in Russia even worse, succeeded in sending all the Russian revolutionaries in exile, especially Lenin, back to the country with their clandestine work. According to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, this move by the Germans was as effective as introducing a plague into the country.
Returning to Russia in April 1917, Lenin saw that the situation was even more favorable than he had thought. Because during the famine, the people had already started endless strikes and revolts. That is, the popular movement had already flared up in Russia. The only move was to shake the seat of the provisional government in Russia, and that’s what Lenin was going to do.
And the October Revolution takes place: And what did Lenin advocate?
The provisional government, which stood in the way of reforms in Russia and caused the country’s participation in the First World War, represented, according to Lenin, a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. But Lenin, arguing that a dictatorship of the proletariat should be established, said that it would be best if the real administration was in the hands of the workers and peasants.
In the autumn of 1917, workers, peasants and soldiers acted together and started a real revolt. But this was a leaderless rebellion and it was Lenin who filled the authority vacuum. Organizing the Red Guards, a paramilitary armed force, Lenin captured government buildings on the days of 7 and 8 November 1917, almost without bloodshed.
Having seized government power, the Bolsheviks proclaimed the Soviet state and Lenin was accepted as the head of state. Thus, the world’s first communist state was established. The first action of the new administration was to announce to the whole world that Russia left the First World War with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The Ottoman Empire was one of the parties to this treaty and the occupied Kars, Ardahan and Artvin regions were taken back.
The first years of the revolution tormented the Russian people:
Of course, no revolution takes place in two days without blood. For exactly three years after the revolution, there was a bloody civil war between the revolutionary Red Army and the counter-revolutionary White Army. Leading an economic policy he called War Communism, Lenin began to tighten the belts of the Russian people, who were already in the last hole.
The means of production and industry were expropriated and almost all the grain of the peasant was confiscated. These policies resulted in the decline of industrial and agricultural production. According to official figures, by 1921, more than five million Russians had died of starvation. It would be an understatement to even call it poverty or famine.
Lenin saw that the throne of his newly formed government was shaking, he went to relax a little in politics. A new system called the New Economic Policy was established. According to this system, the free market and mini-capitalism were recreated but would be run under state control. In other words, the world’s first communist state was no longer so communist.
The period of the Red Terror, in which hundreds of thousands of dissidents were killed, began:
Due to all these irrational policies, the people continued to boil day by day. Lenin himself, who came to power with a popular revolution, founded the Cheka, Russia’s first secret police organization, for fear of being overthrown by another popular revolution. The purpose of the Cheka was not to ensure the peace and security of the people, but to silence the dissenting voices within the people and within the party.
After an assassination attempt by the rival socialist party leader in which Lenin was seriously injured, the period that will go down in history as the Red Terror began. Between September and October 1918, more than a hundred thousand people, including those from opposition groups such as supporters of the tsarist regime, those from the Russian bourgeoisie, and those who were not loyal to Lenin’s party, were killed by the Cheka. Their only crime was to be class enemies.
How did Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union, die, where is his grave?
When we come to 1922, Lenin; It established the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics by signing an agreement with Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Since Lenin suffered from successive attacks of paralysis during this period, the administration was already in the hands of the Communist Party General Secretary, Joseph Stalin.
On January 21, 1924, Vladimir Lenin died at the age of 53 in Gorky Leninskiye, near Moscow. His mummified body is still exhibited in a mausoleum in Red Square today. It was moved to different regions from time to time to avoid damage during the Second World War. The massacres committed by Stalin, who became president after Lenin, is the subject of another article.
We answered questions such as who is Vladimir Lenin, the revolutionary leader who founded the first communist state in the world, and what did he defend. Although it may sound terrible today, remember that historical facts should be evaluated according to the conditions of that period.
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