Vladimir llyich Ulyanov, or more infamously known as ‘Vladimir Lenin’, was the founder of what was called The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR or the Soviet Union). If the name Lenin or term Soviet Union don’t ring a bell, then this flag will:
This is the flag that was symbolic for the marxist/communist movement really. It was the Soviet Unions flag. It had gone by several names including ‘hammer and sickle’ or the ‘red banner’. Ultimately the flag represented the end of an era and the beginning a new one that would change the lives of millions.
Before diving into how Lenin came to be a prominent figure in the 20th century and how the Soviet Union wa s created, we need to cover the basics. For a time frame, Lenin was born in 1870 and died in 1924. As Lenin began to grow up he began to learn more about politics. It wasn't until his brothers death ( who had been executed by emperor Czar) and his political studies at university, that finally influenced his political viewpoints extensively. Those being none other than: Marxism (communism). Lenin joined the group of self proclaimed ideologues by stating he was now a marxist in '89.
Lenin had finished university at this point but didn’t end up using his degree much. Instead Lenin decided he would be a revolutionary; essentially a mouthpiece for a certain political ideology (It’s akin to what Kim Jong-un forces everyone to be in North Korea). Due to Lenin being a marxist and advocating for marxism as a revolutionary, It had gotten him in trouble. He was thrown out of Kazan and relocated farther east in Siberia. Lenin had began traveling into parts of Europe such as Switzerland and Germany where he had met other marxists to affiliate himself with. After some time Lenin and those affiliating with marxism, formed what was known as the 'Bolshevik party’ which was a radical far left political group/movement. Everyone in the group (including Lenin) were revolutionaries, speaking marxism into existence. Furthermore, during the creation of the Bolshevik party, no other than Vladmir llyich Ulyanov himself adopted the alias infamously known as Lenin.
Russia’s role in WWI and the Bolshevik party
Lenin and the Bolshevik party were lurking and finding more revolutionaries in the hopes they would assimilate themselves to the group. So the bolshevik party was growing, meanwhile Russia was joining British allies to help fight against Germany, who had played a causal role in WWI (1914) ( briefly explained here: parker's podcast/newsletter). Although Russia had been trying to do the right thing by helping British allies take down Germany, they were just no match. During the war, Russia had been overwhelmed by Germany’s modern and updated military. This was important for one major reason: it created more dispossessed leaving more Russian’s worse off. Russian casualties was higher than it’s allies, causing distraught among Russian’s across the entire country. To add, shortages began to occur which was a sign of a struggling economy at the time. There was too much uncertainty. Outrage roared across the vast country calling for change by the people. The Russian government was vulnerable to change with the variety of issues. They were susceptible too. Susceptible to radical change. Lenin being the traitor he was, had hoped the Germans would defeat Russia as it would be an ideological win as far as he was concerned. So what did Lenin do? Lenin, with support of the Germans, moved back to Russia.
The Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution, was a revolution by revolutionaries. Those being Lenin and the Bolshevist’s. So what happened? After Lenin and the Bolshevists moved to Russia there was a war being waged against the government which was only the beginning. It was better known as the Russian Revolution, where the turmoil among citizens had become unbearable. Russians filled the streets as there were protests and those going on strike. Eventually the last emperor of Russia, Czar Nicholas II, had stepped down due to the madness. With Nicholas II gone, Russia introduced a temporary government in place in the interim known as a ‘provisional government’. Russia needed a government and Lenin wasn’t going to sit there and watch someone else take it. Lenin and the Bolshevist’s were back in Russia watching all of this unfold so what do they do? They join the Russian revolution. Lenin and the Bolshevist’s had planned a massive revolt known as the October Revolution. Lenin organized a paramilitary, which is informal and something similar to that of a military force. He named them the ‘Red Guards’. Lenin had gotten peasants, factory workers, and other middle-lower class members to unite and join him. The Red Guards helped capture federal (government) buildings meanwhile the Bolshevik’s had successfully claimed soviet rule with the newly declared governmental power. This was the first marxist (communist) state to ever exist with Lenin leading. Now with Lenin now in charge he decided to pulled Russia out of WWI so he could focus on what was known as the Soviet Union.
Now typically when people incite an insurrection, it will leave others angry which obviously makes sense. If some foreign government came into the United States today to overthrow the government and change the political system so there is no longer a democracy but an emperor, it would leave people upset. All of this is very reasonable, which is why this segways into the civil war that occurred within Russia from 1917-1922. It was a war against dogma. A war against ideology.
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Civil War
With Lenin inciting an insurrection and doing so successfully, had caused outrage. He had been he casual reason for a civil war among Russia (keep in mind they had just left WWI which was devastating). So who was fighting? Those siding with marxism and Lenin were classified as the Red Army and those who opposed them were classified as the White Army. Ironically enough, the white army wasn’t even one party like the red army who were marxists. The white army consisted of democratic socialists, capitalists, and monarchists. The ideologies don’t have much in common at all, but none of them related to marxism which made them able to unite regardless of their vast ideological differences. Now that the civil war broke out Lenin had to plan accordingly to win.
Something Lenin had created to help him was called the “Cheka”. It was a secret police agency created by Lenin himself. He used them at his disposal to silence his opponents and anyone who didn’t agree with him politically.
He used his political power to create economic polices to favor the red army. These policies were claimed to be named as “war communism”. What he did with these policies was similar to what Mao did during his reign. Lenin nationalized the manufacturing and agricultural industry to help feed the red army. Now also like Maoist’s China, the outcome was no different (makes sense considering they are both marxist governments). The agricultural and manufacturing output had declined posthaste and the result was catastrophic. An estimation of around 5 million people allegedly died showing the true horrors as numbers were merely estimates. The marxist theory once again displaying another massive economic disaster killing millions of people. The irony of it all? Lenin and the Bolshevists had to reinstate their ties/relationship with capitalist nations in the west (US) for further food aide due to their marxist doctrine and economic policies not being able to create enough food to feed everybody and prevent them from starving even more than they already have been. Furthermore, to prevent anymore devastating economic catastrophes, Lenin introduced another new economic policy. He had adopted capitalist policies,more free-market policies, the very thing he despised (capitalism). He had partially implemented capitalism because marxism failed.
Red Terror
Now we know the Cheka was organized by Lenin to silence his political opposition however that’s not all they were doing. They were malevolent and crooked. It all started with Lenin almost being assassinated. A woman in the opposing political party (socialist) had caught Lenin off guard. The woman shot Lenin twice. However, the bullet wounds were not fatal and Lenin survived the attempted assassination. Now after all of this happening the Cheka had new orders. That being: operation Red Terror. It was a new order put in place where the Cheka no longer silenced the political opposition, they now killed them.
So you might be wondering who the targets were. They obviously include anyone who opposes marxism and the Red Army, however, it also included the upper middle class. Lenin was bitter and resentful. He felt as the Bourgeois or ‘upper middle class’ was greedy and stealing from the poor and forcing people into poverty. It simply wasn’t true but he was convinced and had convinced many others too. That is one of the core axioms to the marxist doctrine. Regardless there was mass carnage across Russia. Estimates suggest ~100,000 or more were slaughtered as Lenin states “We are exterminating the bourgeoisie as a class”.
Imagine running for president as a democrat and creating a secret police force to kill the other democrats and republicans running against you. Not only that but any other people with other political ideologies other than yours would also be slaughtered. It’s not sustainable and no way to live. It was completely barbaric.
Lenin and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Lenin and the Red Army had finally come out victorious against the white army. The civil war had ended in the the year 1922. It came to a stop with Lenin signing a treaty among various countries and one of them rather being a state (Georgia). This treaty had enabled Lenin and the Red Army to create the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Lenin was appointed head of the USSR and was in charge of virtually every thing. It wasn’t until 1924 when Lenin was in charge of nothing because he died. His health was compromised for the duration of ‘22-’24. His health gradually declined to a degree where he was unable to speak or even govern. Lenin’s death paved the way for Joseph Stalin who later became chairman of the Soviet Union and general secretary of the communist party.
Before Lenin had died he had believed that Stalin was corrupt and going to hurt the USSR. These papers written by Lenin are known as “Lenin’s Testaments” in which he prognosticates that Stalin will abuse the communist parties power. Stalin in fact did abuse his powers, however, Lenin misunderstood one important figure. It wasn’t Stalin. It was Lenin himself.
You see a man named Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a Russian novelist who pointed this out. He lived from 1918-2008. He was alive for a few years before Lenin died and was alive to witness all of Stalin’s reign from ‘27-’53. Solzhenitsyn was a prisoner in the gulag under Stalins rule and wrote about it all during this time period. What Solzhenitsyn did was write one of the greatest pieces of literature in the 20th century named The Gulag Archipelago. He points out in this book that Stalin merely exacerbated Lenin’s laws and dogma. He lays it all at the feet of Lenin and it was truly brilliant. Lenin wasn’t innocent and it wasn’t self evident that he was trying to make life better for the factory workers and peasants either. That’s because if Lenin was then he wouldn’t have voluntarily seized grains and other food produce from the peasants (who were starving and needed it) to feed army troops. One would not do such a thing if they were trying to make life better for ‘the little guy’ per se. Not only did Lenin mistreat the peasants but he was also bitter towards the bourgeois. Lenin was disgruntled and resentful at the bourgeois because they were (to a degree) successful. To add, successful wasn’t only the 1% either. In Lenin’s definition you were successful if you had a small farm, worked for yourself, and were able to hire a worker or two. That’s rather frugal and just shows how bitter Lenin was. He was a mouthpiece for marxism; an ideologue. He would at no point give up faith in his political dogma as he was a tyrant enforcing his ideology. Even the millions of people starving to death didn’t even stop him from enforcing marxism entirely. That alone is dangerous which is one of many reasons as to why Lenin was a monster.
And for now I will leave you with this quote by Lenin as it shows a true misconception in regards to reality on his behalf.
“Experience has proved that, on certain very important questions of the proletarian revolution, all countries will inevitably have to do what Russia has done” - Vladimir llyich Ulyanov
For this next segment comment feedback below! Share your thoughts. Do you agree with the analysis of Lenin? What do you think about classes and hierarchies in regards to the marxist doctrine?
Additionally, Lenin states that “War cannot be abolished unless classes are abolished and Socialism is created” - Vladimir llyich Ulyanov
Now class abolishment or ridding society of the 1% has been a notion much more prevalent in the media (to me anyhow). The marxist doctrine actually includes this notion that hierarchies/class need to be abolished and there should be no classes but one: that being the proleteriat. That’s part in parcel why Lenin punished the bourgeois because they were ‘successful’. It’s important to note that Lenin was just a revolutionary and a theorist. Marxism is an economic theory and it doesn’t prove that hierarchies/classes need to be abolished. In actuality the opposite may be proven according to the National Institute of Health, the data suggests that “strong evidence that hierarchies arise out of necessity and their existence is beneficial to social groups”. It’s clear that hierarchies/classes are a natural and important occurrence among humans. Furthemore, it doesn’t even just apply to humans. You see hierarchies across the the animal kingdom as well. It is not coincidental that this happens. Hierarchies are essential in life.
*NOTE* all sources are cited within the hyperlinks ( the underlined words).
