Professional revolutionaries led a secret life, and often forgot their real names for a long time. Stalin, Kamo, Sverdlov, Trotsky and other ardent fighters for the people's happiness, even when communicating in private, used party pseudonyms. The same fully applies to the leader of the world proletariat, the creator of the world's first state of workers and peasants. Nikolai Lenin (Ulyanov Vladimir Ilyich) appeared on the political scene almost simultaneously with the fateful 20th century for mankind. At that time he was thirty years old.
Aliases of Ilyich
Indeed, Ronald Reagan, exposing the intrigues of world communism in his next speech (this was in the early eighties), turned out to be right, although some Soviet publications accused him of ignorance. “Not Nikolai, but Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, that’s how it’s right!”, because everyone is used to just such a combination of sounds and letters, pronounced a thousand times from the stands, replicated on posters and propaganda brochures, badges, pennants and letters of commendation. Nevertheless, those who knew history a little better than full-time propagandists and familiarized themselves with the works of the classic of Marxism could not but agree with the American president, not in the essence of his speech, of course, but regarding the accuracy of the reproduction of the party nickname.
Before going underground, the future leader was just a student Vladimir, even earlier - a high school student Vova and a curly-haired boy Volodya. And having become a revolutionary, Ulyanov changed many pseudonyms, having visited Vladimir Ilyin, and Jordan K. Yordanov, and K. Tulin, and Kubyshkin, and Starik, and Fedor Petrovich, and Frey, and even the mysterious Jacob Richter. But history has left a brief inscription on the mausoleum: “V. I. Lenin”, causing hostility and rejection in some, hope in others and leaving others indifferent.
Who is Lenin named after?
The simplest explanation for this pseudonym is its morphological relationship with the female name "Lena". That was the name of Ulyanov's old friend, Stasova (and also his classmate Rozmirovich, a chorus friend Zaretskaya ... but you never know Len in the world? years. But this side of the leader's life was not studied at school, but another version was spread. On the Siberian Lena River in 1906, certain popular unrest arose among the workers in the gold mines, which ended in their armed suppression. This version of the explanation deserves even less attention, despite its political consistency, since the execution of demonstrators took place five years later than the first newspaper articles signed by N. Lenin appeared. Prophecies were repeatedly attributed to the leader of the revolution, but he still was not a clairvoyant. To predict the world victory of communism is one thing, but to foresee a riot five years before it is quite another.
To try to explain the origin of this pseudonym, one can turn to the history of another. L. D. Bronstein became Trotsky, borrowing the name of the head of the Odessa central. Vladlen Loginov, a historian (his name alone is worth something!) Suggests that Nikolai Lenin is a very real person who lived in the Yaroslavl province. This respected man, a state councilor, died, and his children gave the passport to their friend, Vladimir Ulyanov. It was presumably in 1900, the year of birth had to be slightly corrected, but in all other respects the chronology converges. Photocards were not glued then.
There is another version that simply concerns Lena - not a beautiful woman, and not a place of bloody execution of workers, but a river, but historians and just curious people do not find it interesting. And in fact, there is little romance. And what is the truth, that, apparently, will never be known.
Childhood and adolescence
The centennial anniversary of the proletarian leader was magnificently celebrated in 1970, many films, paintings, literary works, poems, songs and cantatas were dedicated to him. A medal was also issued, which was awarded to the leaders of production. During the time of Soviet power, a whole direction of art was created, called Leniniana, and a considerable part of it described the childhood and youthful years of the life of the future Bolshevik leader. About what Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was like in the first years of his life, it is known mainly from the stories of his family members. The fact of his excellent school performance (gold medal) was documented, which gave propagandists reason to urge schoolchildren from all over the vast country to study only “excellently”. The city of Simbirsk, where Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was born, was renamed Ulyanovsk, and a memorial was erected there.
The father of the theoretician and practitioner of the world revolution was Ilya Nikolaevich Ulyanov, an official who held the post of inspector of public education. The boy studied at the gymnasium, then entered the University of Kazan. It was in 1887, and at the same time his older brother Alexander, a Narodnaya Volya member, was accused of participating in a conspiracy, arrested and executed. Volodya also suffered, but by no means for kinship with one of the terrorists who attempted to assassinate the tsar. He himself worked in an underground circle, was exposed, expelled from the university and exiled - no, not yet to Siberia, but home. The "arbitrariness of the authorities" did not last long, a year later Ulyanov was again in Kazan, and again among his Marxist friends. Meanwhile, my mother, having become a widow, bought a small estate (the village of Alakaevka, Samara Province), and the young man helps her run the business. In 1889, the whole family moved to Samara.
From Narodnaya Volya to Marxists
The young man was allowed to receive a higher education. He passed the exams for a lawyer externally in 1891 at the law faculty of the capital's university, without completing a course of study. The first place of work was the law office of N. A. Khardin in Samara, where the young specialist had to defend the parties to civil litigations. But it was not this boring occupation that fascinated him. In two years of legal practice, Vladimir Ilyich completely changed his worldview and political convictions, moving away from Narodnaya Volya and becoming a Social Democrat. The influence of Plekhanov's works in this process was great, but they were not the only ones that occupied the mind of the young Marxist.
Having resigned from Hardin, the lawyer Ulyanov goes to St. Petersburg, where he finds a new job, with M.F. Volkenstein, also a lawyer. But he is not only involved in court cases: the first theoretical works relating to political economy, the development of capitalist relations in Russia, reforms in the countryside, etc. belong to this period. These articles are sometimes published in periodicals. In addition, Ulyanov writes the program of the party he is going to create.
A group of young revolutionaries in 1885 gathers an underground union for the "liberation of the working class", among them - Martov and Vladimir Ilyich. The purpose of this organization is to gather disunited circles of Marxists and lead them. This attempt ended in arrest, a year in prison and exile in the Yenisei province (village Shushenskoye). The then "prisoners of conscience" could not complain about the difficult conditions of detention. The main burden experienced by V. I. Lenin in those three years was the need to be content with boring lamb. However, it was possible to hunt, diversifying the menu with game. Even the future leader repaired skates for children when he wanted to take a break from thinking about the struggle of the proletariat.
Lenin in exile
Nikolai Lenin appeared in 1900. Vladimir Ilyich, whose brief biography was studied in all educational institutions of the USSR, spent most of his life abroad, in Europe. Immediately after the expiration of the exile, he goes to Munich, then to London and Geneva. Plekhanov, Pavel Axelrod, Vera Zasulich and other like-minded Marxists were already waiting for him there. They publish the Iskra newspaper. By the way, few people paid attention to the fact that decades later, when naming avenues and streets in part of this party printed organ, the executive committees of all cities necessarily added the word “Leninist”. The fact is that Iskra later became a Menshevik newspaper, so a clarification was necessary from a political point of view.
A well-known question: "What to do?" became the title of an article that Vladimir Ilyich Lenin wrote in 1902. It was this work that marked the choice of the direction of party development for the coming years. The main thesis was the need to turn the RSDLP into a militant organization bound by strict discipline and hierarchy. Many members of the party led by Martov spoke out against such a violation of democratic principles, for which, having lost the vote at the Third Congress (1903), they ended up in the "Mensheviks".
The first revolution and again a foreign land
In 1905, Vladimir Lenin came from Switzerland to St. Petersburg. Large-scale unrest began in Russia, which with a high degree of probability could lead to a change of power. He arrived under a false name, as a foreign spy, and got involved in the work of overthrowing tsarism. The positions of the Bolshevik wing of the RSDLP were quite strong; a congress of the Central and St. Petersburg Party Committees was held in the capital. The armed uprising practically took place, but ended in failure. Even in the conditions of an extremely unsuccessful war with Japan, the Russian Empire found the strength to suppress unrest and restore order. Vladimir Lenin declared the revolt on the Potemkin "undefeated territory", and in 1907 he again fled abroad.
This fiasco greatly upset the leadership of the Bolshevik Party, but did not lead to the abandonment of the struggle. Conclusions were drawn about the insufficient preparedness of party structures and the need to further strengthen the organization's combat wing.
Where does the money come from?
The modern reader, aware of the cost of living abroad, often wonders about the origin of the funds needed to publish subversive periodicals. In addition, even the inflexible Bolsheviks are living people, and human needs are not alien to them. There are several answers to this question. First, money was forcibly taken from individuals and organizations. These operations were called expropriations (exes), and separate Bolshevik structures were engaged in these robberies (for example, the “wonderful Georgian” Joseph Dzhugashvili-Stalin made a unique raid on a bank in Tiflis, which was included in forensic textbooks). Secondly, the RSDLP had sponsors among Russian business people who hoped to improve their position after the overthrow of tsarism (the most famous is the millionaire Savva Morozov, but there were others). Thirdly, information is available today about foreign intelligence support for subversive organizations. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin effectively used all the channels of material supply to the party.
Personal life
Everyone knows that the leader of the world proletariat was married. He was not handsome, he was small in stature, with a thin beard and an early bald head, but history knows many examples of great success among the ladies' class of people and a more modest appearance - just remember Napoleon, Goebbels, Chaplin or Pushkin. It is not the cover of the book that is important, but its content, and the high intelligence of the leader of the Bolshevik Party was not questioned even by his irreconcilable opponents.
How did Nadezhda Konstantinovna captivate such an interesting man as Vladimir Ilyich Lenin? Krupskaya's biography contains many interesting facts regarding, for example, her party nicknames. The party members called her Herring, openly mocking her thinness and the peculiar look of her bulging eyes. The reason for both was quite valid (Gazedov's disease). She was not offended by her nickname, moreover, her character obviously had a sense of humor, otherwise her husband would not have endured even more humiliating treatment from her husband, who called her a lamprey. More important than appearance for Ulyanov, apparently, were excellent abilities for languages, amazing performance, the desire for self-education and devotion to the communist idea.
There were other women in his life for whom he had perhaps romantic feelings, but the main object of passion, of course, remained politics. The affair with I. Armand ended only with her tragic death from the flu. The wife forgave everything. She probably loved her husband, considered him a great man and bowed before him. In addition, as a smart woman, she correctly assessed the degree of her external attractiveness, and as a real communist she despised jealousy and a sense of ownership. She never gave birth to children.
For a long time it was impossible to understand what kind of person Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was in real life from the popular image created by the powerful Soviet propaganda machine. Interesting facts, which were told in their memoirs by the closest associates, speak of his sometimes unusual manner of behavior. He, unlike Stalin, did not like to joke, he took any issue seriously. An interesting case during a trip in the notorious sealed German carriage. There was only one toilet, queues arose, and V. I. Lenin solved this problem in the Bolshevik way, giving each of the passengers a ticket indicating the time of his visit. He is also characterized by another moment concerning the wedding with Krupskaya in Shushenskoye. Vladimir Ulyanov himself forged two wedding rings from copper nickels (the spouses wore them until the end of their lives). But no matter what eccentricities historical characters show, they are judged primarily by the results of their activities.
The expression "Stalin's repressions" entered the political vocabulary after the XX Congress of the CPSU. In 1962, Lenin's mausoleum was liberated from the remains of the dictator who ruined millions of destinies and lives. However, it should be taken into account that in none of his articles or speeches did I.V. Stalin ever call for mass executions or percentage destruction of the population, did not give orders for the extermination of entire estates and classes in the most direct sense. But Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, whose years of rule coincided with the time of the Civil War, gave such orders and demanded a report on their implementation on the ground. Millions of Russian citizens involved in the fratricidal slaughter were destroyed and died, and yet they constituted the spiritual, intellectual, scientific, technical and military elite of the country. We still feel the consequences of this crime today.
Man, image and attributes of the cult
In the official mythology, inculcated instead of a desecrated religion, the citizens of the USSR from childhood were inspired by the idea of great kindness, which distinguished Lenin Vladimir Ilyich. The death of the leader in Gorki (1924) was declared almost self-sacrifice, it was explained by the consequences of being wounded at the Michelson plant in 1918. However, according to the conclusion of doctors published in the Soviet press, the brain of the main practitioner of Marxism was almost petrified due to calcification of the vessels. A person with such a disease cannot make adequate decisions, let alone lead the state.
Official propaganda created an image that was impossible not to worship. Everything human was completely emasculated from it, Lenin's mausoleum became a place of pilgrimage for tens and hundreds of millions of people from all over the world, the leader's works were printed (with some cuts), but few people read them, and even fewer students thought about these texts. But multi-volume collections and separate collections of articles have become an indispensable attribute of the authorities' offices. Having taken away moral guidelines and faith from citizens, the leaders who came after them gave them a new deity, which Lenin Vladimir Ilyich became after his death. Photos and paintings replaced icons, solemn chants supplanted church hymns, and banners became analogous to banners. A tomb was erected on Red Square, which over time acquired a necropolis of leaders of a lower rank. The birthday of Lenin Vladimir Ilyich in Soviet times was a holiday during which one should have at least a little, symbolically, partake of free labor. Somehow, in the understanding of almost the whole world, the communist idea became associated with Russia, although it was our country that suffered from it more than anyone else. Now those who would like to somehow show their anti-Russian orientation are destroying the monuments to Lenin. In vain.
"Arguments and Facts" continues the story of the last year of life, illness and "adventures" of the body of the leader of the world proletariat (beginning - in).
The first bell about the illness, which in the 23rd turned Ilyich into a weak and feeble-minded person, and soon brought him to the grave, rang in 1921. The country was overcoming the consequences of the civil war, the leadership was rushing from war communism to the new economic policy (NEP). And the head of the Soviet government, Lenin, whose every word was eagerly caught by the country, began to complain of headaches and fatigue. Later, numbness of the limbs, up to complete paralysis, inexplicable attacks of nervous excitement are added to this, during which Ilyich waves his arms and talks some kind of nonsense ... It comes to the point that Ilyich “communicates” with those around him with just three words: “ just about", "revolution" and "conference".
In 1923, the Politburo already managed without Lenin. Photo: Public Domain
"Makes some strange noises"
Doctors for Lenin are being discharged from Germany. But neither the “gust-arbeiters” from medicine, nor the domestic luminaries of science can in any way diagnose him. Ilya Zbarsky, son and assistant of a biochemist Boris Zbarsky, who embalmed Lenin’s body and for a long time headed the laboratory at the Mausoleum, being familiar with the leader’s medical history, described the situation in the book “Object No. instead of articulate speech, it makes some obscure sounds. After some relief in February 1923, complete paralysis of the right arm and leg sets in ... The gaze, previously penetrating, becomes inexpressive and dull. German doctors invited for big money Förster, Klemperer, Nonne, Minkowski and Russian professors Osipov, Kozhevnikov, Kramer again at a complete loss."
In the spring of 1923, Lenin was transported to Gorki - in fact, to die. “In the photograph taken by Lenin's sister (six months before her death. - Ed.), We see a thinner man with a wild face and crazy eyes,” continues I. Zbarsky. - He cannot speak, night and day he is tormented by nightmares, at times he screams ... Against the background of some relief on January 21, 1924, Lenin feels general malaise, lethargy ... Professors Foerster and Osipov, who examined him after dinner, do not find any alarming symptoms. However, at about 6 pm the patient's condition worsens sharply, convulsions appear ... the pulse is 120-130. Around half past seven, the temperature rises to 42.5°C. At 6:50 p.m.... doctors declare death.”
The broad masses of the people took the death of the leader of the world proletariat to heart. On the morning of January 21, Ilyich himself tore off a page of the flip calendar. Moreover, it is clear that he did it with his left hand: his right was paralyzed. In the photo: Felix Dzerzhinsky and Kliment Voroshilov at Lenin's coffin. Source: RIA Novosti
What happened to one of the most extraordinary figures of his time? As possible diagnoses, doctors discussed epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, and even lead poisoning from a bullet fired by Fanny Kaplan in 1918. One of the two bullets - it was removed from the body only after the death of Lenin - broke off part of the shoulder blade, touched the lung, and passed in close proximity to the vital arteries. This allegedly could also cause premature sclerosis of the carotid artery, the extent of which became clear only during the autopsy. Excerpts from the protocols in his book cited Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Yuri Lopukhin: sclerotic changes in the left internal carotid artery of Lenin in its intracranial part were such that blood simply could not flow through it - the artery turned into a continuous dense whitish cord.
Traces of turbulent youth?
However, the symptoms of the disease were little like ordinary vascular sclerosis. Moreover, during the life of Lenin, the disease most closely resembled progressive paralysis due to brain damage due to late complications of syphilis. Ilya Zbarsky draws attention to the fact that this diagnosis was definitely meant at that time: some of the doctors invited to Lenin specialized in syphilis, and the drugs that were prescribed to the leader made up a course of treatment for this particular disease according to the methods of that time. However, some facts do not fit into this version. Two weeks before his death, on January 7, 1924, on the initiative of Lenin, his wife and sister arranged a Christmas tree for children from the surrounding villages. Ilyich himself seemed to feel so well that, sitting in a wheelchair, for some time he even took part in the general fun in the winter garden of the former manor estate. On the last day of his life, he tore off a sheet of a loose-leaf calendar with his left hand. As a result of the autopsy, the professors who worked with Lenin even made a special statement about the absence of any signs of syphilis. Yuri Lopukhin, however, on this occasion refers to the note he saw of the then People's Commissar of Health Nikolai Semashko pathologist, future academician Alexey Abrikosov- with a request "to pay special attention to the need for strong morphological evidence of the absence of Lenin's luetic (syphilitic) lesions in order to preserve the bright image of the leader." Is it to justifiably dispel rumors or, conversely, to hide something? The “bright image of the leader” remains a sensitive topic today. But, by the way, it is never too late to put an end to the debate about the diagnosis - out of scientific interest: Lenin's brain tissue is stored in the former Brain Institute.
Hastily, in 3 days, the knocked together Mausoleum-1 was only about three meters in height. Photo: RIA Novosti
"Relics under communist sauce"
Meanwhile, while Ilyich was still alive, his associates began an undercover struggle for power. By the way, there is a version why on October 18-19, 1923, the sick and partially immobilized Lenin got out of Gorki to Moscow for the only time. Formally - to an agricultural exhibition. But why did he visit the Kremlin apartment for the whole day? Publicist N. Valentinov-Volsky, who emigrated to the United States, wrote: Lenin in his personal papers was looking for compromised Stalin the documents. But the papers, apparently, someone has already "thinned out".
Even with the leader alive, the members of the Politburo in the autumn of 23 began to vividly discuss his funeral. It is clear that the ceremony should be majestic, but what to do with the body - cremate according to the proletarian anti-church fashion or embalm with the latest word of science? “We ... instead of icons, hung leaders and will try for Pakhom (a simple village peasant. - Ed.) And the “lower classes” to open the relics of Ilyich under communist sauce, ”the party ideologist wrote in one of his private letters Nikolai Bukharin. However, at first it was only about the farewell procedure. Therefore, Abrikosov, who performed the autopsy of Lenin's body, also performed embalming on January 22 - but the usual, temporary one. “... Opening the body, he introduced into the aorta a solution consisting of 30 parts of formalin, 20 parts of alcohol, 20 parts of glycerin, 10 zinc chloride and 100 water,” explains I. Zbarsky in the book.
On January 23, the coffin with the body of Lenin, with a large gathering of people who had gathered, despite the severe frost, was loaded into a mourning train (the locomotive and carriage are now in the museum at the Paveletsky railway station) and taken to Moscow, to the Hall of Columns of the House of Unions. At this time, near the Kremlin wall on Red Square, deep frozen ground is being crushed with dynamite to equip the tomb and the foundation of the first Mausoleum. The newspapers of that time reported that in a month and a half the Mausoleum was visited by about 100 thousand people, but a huge queue is still lining up at the doors. And in the Kremlin, they begin to convulsively think about what to do with the body, which in early March begins to rapidly lose its presentable appearance ...
For the materials provided, the editors would like to thank the Federal Security Service of Russia and Doctor of Historical Sciences Sergey Devyatov.
About how the leader was embalmed, Mausoleum-2 was built and destroyed, the body was evacuated from Moscow during the war, read in the next issue of AiF.
Lenin (Ulyanov) Vladimir Ilyich (born April 22, 1870, died January 21, 1924) - the greatest genius of mankind, the successor of the work and teachings of Marx and Engels, the founder of Bolshevism, the founder and leader of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the Communist International, organizer and leader of the first dictatorship of the proletariat in the history of the state, leader, teacher and friend of the working people of the whole world. Never since Marx has the history of the liberation movement of the proletariat brought forward such a gigantic figure as Lenin. Lenin's entire life was an example of an uncompromising struggle against the enemies of the people for the happiness of all working people. Lenin was born on April 22 (10), 1870 in Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk). His father, Ilya Nikolaevich Ulyanov, was a teacher, school inspector, and then director of public schools. Lenin's older brother, the revolutionary Alexander Ilyich, was executed in 1887 for participating in the preparation of the assassination attempt on Alexander III. After graduating from high school in 1887, Lenin entered the law faculty of Kazan University.
A few months later, he was expelled for active participation in student unrest, arrested and deported to a village near Kazan. (Later, in 1891, Lenin, after self-training, passed all the exams for the faculty of law at St. Petersburg University.) After staying in the countryside for about a year, Lenin returned to Kazan, began to study Marx's Capital, and entered the Marxist revolutionary circle. In May 1889, Lenin moved to Samara, where he organized the first Marxist circle. Even then, Lenin amazed everyone with his deep knowledge of Marxism. In 1893 he moved to St. Petersburg. Here in 1894 he wrote his brilliant work "What are the "friends of the people" and how do they fight against the Social Democrats?".
In it, Lenin defeated the Narodniks, pointed to the leading role (hegemony) of the Russian working class in the struggle against tsarism and capitalism, for a victorious communist revolution, and for the first time put forward the idea of a revolutionary alliance of workers and peasants as the main means of overthrowing tsarism, the landowners, and the bourgeoisie. Lenin saw that a proletarian party was needed to carry out these tasks. In 1895, he created the St. Petersburg Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class, the germ of a revolutionary proletarian party in Russia. In December 1895, Lenin was arrested, imprisoned, and. then in 1897 he was exiled to Siberia, to the village of Shushenskoye, Minusinsk district, where N. K. Krupskaya went into exile.
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| V.I. Lenin in his student years. |
When the revolution began in Russia in 1905, Lenin directed all the work of the Bolsheviks in leading the masses in the revolution. With his immortal work "Two Tactics of Social Democracy in a Democratic Revolution", Lenin enriched Marxism with a new theory of socialist revolution, he developed the theory of the development of the bourgeois-democratic revolution into a socialist revolution, laid the tactical foundations of the Bolshevik party. Lenin mercilessly exposed the Mensheviks and the most vile of them - Trotsky, who instilled in the workers distrust in the forces of the working class, was opposed to the alliance of workers and peasants, and led the cause to disrupt the revolution.In order to directly lead the struggle of the working class in the revolution, Lenin returned to Russia in November 1905. Soon after, at the Tammerfors Conference of the Bolsheviks, Lenin met for the first time with Stalin, who was then leading the revolutionary struggle in Transcaucasia.
After the defeat of the first Russian revolution, Lenin was forced to go abroad again in 1907, where he stayed for more than 9 years. In the difficult years of the Stolypin reaction, in the midst of the decline of the labor movement, the flight of intellectuals from the party, and the attempts of the Mensheviks to liquidate the party, Lenin gathered the forces of the party in the struggle against anti-party trends in the labor movement. Lenin, fighting against the revisionists, degenerates in the field of Marxist theory, wrote his famous book Materialism and Empirio-Criticism. In this work, he defended the theoretical foundations of the Marxist party. Under the leadership of Lenin, the Bolsheviks convened the Prague Conference in January 1912, at which they expelled the Mensheviks from the party and took shape in a separate independent Bolshevik party. With the beginning of a new upsurge in the labor movement and the publication of the newspaper Pravda, in June 1912 Lenin moved from Paris to Krakow, closer to the border, in order to directly supervise all the work of the party. When the imperialist war began, Lenin was arrested by the Austrian police and was in prison for 11 days, and then went to Switzerland, where he lived until the February Revolution of 1917.
Lenin sharply and uncompromisingly opposed the war, exposing its predatory character. He called for turning the imperialist war into a civil one and put forward the slogan of defeating "his" governments in the imperialist war. Lenin exposed the betrayal of the leaders of the Second International, who, with the outbreak of the imperialist war, went over to the service of the bourgeoisie and became supporters of the war. He also exposed the latent social chauvinists - the so-called centrists - Kautsky, Trotsky and other traitors to Marxism who defended the interests of the imperialist bourgeoisie. From the very first days of the war, Lenin began to gather forces for the creation of a new, Third International. During the war (1916), Lenin wrote the book "Imperialism, as the Highest Stage of Capitalism", in which he gave the deepest Marxist analysis of imperialism. Based on his theory of imperialism, Lenin scientifically substantiated the possibility of the victory of socialism in one country and the impossibility of the simultaneous victory of socialism in all countries After the overthrow of the autocracy in February 1917, Lenin, despite the opposition of the imperialist governments, returned to Russia. Arriving in Petrograd on April 3, he was enthusiastically received by the working masses, who saw him as their leader. On April 4, at a meeting of Bolsheviks, Lenin announced his famous April theses, in which he outlined the brilliant plan of the party's struggle for the transition from the bourgeois-democratic revolution to the socialist revolution, putting forward the slogan: “All power to the Soviets.” On the basis of this plan, the Bolsheviks launched militant work to prepare socialist revolutions.
After the July days, the Provisional Government ordered the arrest of Lenin. The bourgeoisie, who madly hated Lenin, and their Mennevist-Socialist-Revolutionary agents decided to kill him. The Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries, together with Trotsky, Kamenev, and Rykov, insisted on handing over Lenin to the authorities. Stalin insisted that Lenin go into hiding and leave Petrograd. While underground, Lenin continued to lead the party. During these days he wrote his remarkable book The State and Revolution, in which he further developed Marx's teaching on the dictatorship of the proletariat. In September 1917, in view of the enormous growth of Bolshevik influence among the masses, Lenin indicated that the uprising was ripe.
On October 7, Lenin returned to Petrograd, and on October 10, the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party, after Lenin's report, adopted his resolution on an armed uprising. On October 24, the Central Committee gave the signal for an uprising. Lenin became the head of the uprising. Together with Lenin, the victory of the October Socialist Revolution was organized by his faithful ally, Stalin. Under the banner of Lenin, the working class won the Great October Socialist Revolution. The Second Congress of Soviets enthusiastically adopted the historic decrees on peace and land written by Lenin and formed the world's first workers' and peasants' government - the Council of People's Commissars headed by Lenin. Under Lenin's leadership, the Bolshevik Party and the Soviet Government achieved the respite needed to strengthen the Soviet Republic by making peace with Germany and defeating the Trotskyist-Bukharinite provocateurs of the war. Lenin built the Soviet state with a firm hand, suppressing the resistance of the overthrown classes - the bourgeoisie and the landowners. More than once the enemies of the people attempted on the life of Lenin. On August 30, 1918, Lenin was seriously wounded by a terrorist Social Revolutionary. This villainous attempt was organized with the complicity of Trotsky and Bukharin.
In the most difficult conditions, Lenin led the struggle of the workers and peasants for Soviet power and the independence of our homeland, against foreign interventionists and the White Guard hordes, and, directly leading the country's defense, hand in hand with Stalin, organized the victory of the Red Army in the civil war. Under the leadership of Lenin, the workers and peasants liquidated the class of landlords, crushed the bourgeoisie, dealt a cruel blow to the kulaks. In the struggle against the enemies of the working class, in 1919 Lenin created the combat headquarters of the world working-class movement, the Communist International, and led the first congresses of the Comintern, where its ideological and organizational foundations were forged. After the end of the civil war, under the leadership of Lenin, the country's transition to peaceful work was completed, to restore the national economy. The VIII All-Russian Congress of Soviets in December 1920 adopted the Leninist plan for the electrification of the country. Lenin pointed out the paths of the New Economic Policy, which ensured the building of socialism in our country. More than once the Trotskyites, Bukharinites and other traitors, who later became agents of foreign intelligence, tried to undermine the unity of the Bolshevik Party and force it to deviate from the Leninist path.
Each time, under the leadership of Lenin, the Bolshevik Party dealt cruel blows to these agents of the class enemy in their ranks. At the suggestion of Lenin, the party adopted at the Tenth Congress in 1921 a resolution on the unity of the party - an iron law for the protection of the unity of the Bolshevik ranks.
Lenin's injury during the attempt on his life in 1918 and continuous hard work undermined his health. Beginning in 1922, Lenin was forced to interrupt his work more and more often. November 20, 1922 Lenin spoke at the plenum of the Moscow Soviet. This was his last speech, which he ended with the words: "out of NEP Russia there will be socialist Russia." At the end of 1922, Lenin fell seriously ill. But even during his illness, he did not stop working for the benefit of the revolution, to which he devoted all his strength, his whole life. Being already seriously ill, Lenin wrote a number of important articles (“Pages from a Diary”), in which he summed up the work done and outlined a plan for building socialism in our country. On January 21, 1924, at 6:50 pm, Lenin died. The working people of the USSR and the whole world, with the deepest sorrow, saw off their father and teacher, best friend and protector, Lenin, to the grave. The working class and peasantry of the Soviet country responded to Lenin's death by even greater rallying around the Leninist party. The banner of Lenin was raised high and carried on by the Bolshevik Party. Faithful successor and great continuer of the work and teachings of Lenin - Stalin in the days of mourning Lenin, on behalf of the Bolshevik Party, took a great oath at the Second Congress of Soviets of the USSR - to fulfill, sparing no effort, Lenin's precepts. The Bolshevik Party fulfilled this great oath of Stalin with honor. Under the leadership of Stalin, the Bolsheviks achieved the victory of socialism in the Soviet country.
Lenin - the greatest statesman and political figure in the history of mankind, a powerful leader and organizer of the revolutionary struggle and victories of the working class, his brilliant theoretician, the coryphaeus of science - in the new conditions of the era of imperialism and the proletarian revolution raised the revolutionary theory of Marx to the highest level. Lenin's teaching summarizes the gigantic experience of the proletariat in its struggle to overthrow the capitalist system and to build a new, socialist society. The richest theoretical heritage of Lenin is invaluable. Lenin's most important works have been translated into all the major languages of the world.
Marxism-Leninism illuminates for the proletarians and working people of the whole world the path of struggle for the abolition of all exploitation, for the happiness of mankind.
Listen to the poem Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Part 1:
Mayakovsky V.V. 1925
Listen to the poem Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Part 2:
Mayakovsky V.V. 1925
FROM THE BIOGRAPHICAL CHRONICLE OF VI LENIN. PERSONAL EVENTS
1870, 10 (22) April. Born in Simbirsk in the family of the inspector of public schools I.N.Ulyanov and the daughter of the doctor M.A.Ulyanova, nee Blank. He is their fourth child.
1886, 12 (24) January. Death of Ilya Nikolaevich Ulyanov from a cerebral hemorrhage. 15 (27) January. Participates in the funeral of his father. September 19 (October 1). Approval by the Simbirsk District Court of the inheritance rights to the movable property of I.N. Ulyanova - M.A. Ulyanova in one fourth part, daughters Olga and Maria in one eighth part and sons Alexander, Vladimir and Dmitry in one sixth part.
1887, 8 (20) May. In the courtyard of the Shlisselburg prison, A.I. Ulyanov, convicted in the case of the attempt on Alexander III, was executed along with four associates.
June 10 (22). The Pedagogical Council of the Simbirsk Gymnasium awards V.I. Ulyanov a certificate of maturity and awards him a gold medal. August 10 (22). The director of the Simbirsk gymnasium, F.M. Kerensky, sends to Kazan University the characteristics of those who graduated from the gymnasium; among them is the characteristic of V.I. Ulyanov.
11 (23) August. F. M. Kerensky sends the list of students who have graduated from the VIII grade and have “moral maturity” to the manager of the Kazan educational district; V.I. Ulyanov was named among them.
4 (16) December. Participates in a student meeting at Kazan University, organized in support of student protests that began in Moscow against the reactionary university charter. Hands over his entrance ticket to the university.
December 5 (17). He writes a petition to the rector of Kazan University to expel him from the number of students due to the inability to continue his education under the existing conditions of university life.
1889, January-February. M.A. Ulyanova acquires with the money received from the sale of a house in Simbirsk, a small farm in the Samara province of Bogdanovskaya volost near the village of Alapaevka.
November 15 (27). The test committee of the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University awards V.I. Ulyanov, after passing the external exams, a diploma of the first degree.
1894, end of February. He meets N.K. Krupskaya in St. Petersburg at the apartment of engineer Klasson during a meeting of St. Petersburg Marxists.
1898, 8 (20) January. He asks in a telegram to the director of the police department to allow his fiancee N.K. Krupskaya to serve a link in the village of Shushenskoye.
7 (19) June. Reported by M.A. Ulyanova about the postponement of the wedding with N.K. Krupskaya due to the lack of the necessary documents. Early July. The Police Department puts forward as a condition for living with N.K. Krupskaya in Shushenskoye the immediate conclusion of a church marriage with her.
1909. V.I.Lenin and N.K.Krupskaya get acquainted with I.F.Armand during her arrival from Brussels to Paris.
1915, beginning of March. The death in Switzerland of the mother of N.K. Krupskaya - Elizaveta Vasilievna.
March 10 (23). Participates with N.K. Krupskaya in the funeral of her mother at the Bremgarten cemetery in Bern (Switzerland).
1916, 12 (25) July. The death of the mother - Maria Alexandrovna Ulyanova in Petrograd at the age of 82. V.I. Lenin learns about this in Zurich (Switzerland).
1917, April 4 (17). Upon arrival from Switzerland, he visits the graves of his mother, Maria Alexandrovna, and his sister, Olga Ilyinichna, at the Volkovo cemetery in Petrograd.
1919, March 13. Takes part in the funeral of M.T. Elizarov, the husband of her elder sister, A.I. Ulyanova-Yelizarova, at the Volkovo Cemetery in Petrograd.
1922, April 23. Professor N. Rozanov in the Botkin hospital in Moscow extracts a bullet from the body of V.I. Lenin, with which he was wounded on August 30, 1918. The end of May. General weakness, loss of speech, a sharp weakening of the movement of the right limbs, which lasted three weeks. December 16th. Second cerebral hemorrhage. Paralysis of the right arm and right leg.
1923, March 10. Third cerebral hemorrhage. Severe paralysis of the right half of the body and loss of speech.
March 14th. A government report is published, which indicates that the state of health of V.I. Lenin was followed by a significant deterioration, in view of which the government recognized the need to establish the publication of medical bulletins about his state of health.
1924, January 21. The fourth hemorrhage in the brain in the region of the quadrigemina. The death of V.I. Lenin at 6:50 p.m. in Gorki near Moscow.
January 27th. The sarcophagus with the body of V.I. Lenin is installed in the Mausoleum on Red Square in Moscow.
PUBLIC POSTS HELD BY V.I. LENIN
1917, night of 26 to 27 October. Elected by the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets as head of the Soviet government - Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars.
1918, beginning of July. The 5th All-Russian Congress of Soviets adopts the Constitution of the RSFSR, which clarifies the status of the post of Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, which is occupied by V.I. Lenin. November 30th. At the plenary meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies, the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense is approved, the Council is given full rights in the matter of mobilizing the country's forces and means for its defense. V.I. Lenin is approved as the Chairman of the Council.
1920, April. The Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense is transformed into the Council of Labor and Defense (STO) of the RSFSR under the chairmanship of V.I. Lenin.
1923, 6 July. The session of the Central Executive Committee elects V.I. Lenin as chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. July 7th The session of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR elects V.I. Lenin as chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR. July 17th. The Council of Labor and Defense under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR is being created under the chairmanship of V.I. Lenin.
CONGRESSES OF THE PARTY HELD UNDER THE SOVIET AUTHORITY WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF V.I. LENINA
1918, March 6–8. VII emergency congress of the party. Questions about the revision of the Party Program, about the new name of the party - RCP(b). The controversy about the Brest peace.
1919, March 18–23. VIII Party Congress. VI Lenin delivers a report to the Central Committee on the work in the countryside, on the military issue. Adoption of the second Party Program.
1920, March 29 - April 5. IX Party Congress. The immediate tasks of economic construction and the question of cooperation were discussed.
1921, March 8–16 X Party Congress. Questions about the replacement of apportionment by taxes in kind, about the unity of the Party. Adoption of the NEP.
1922, March 27 - April 2. XI Party Congress. In the report of the Central Committee, V.I. Lenin declares that the retreat is over, that the alliance between the working class and the peasantry is being strengthened. Thesis: "who - whom."
Source of information: A.A. Dantsev. Rulers of Russia: XX century. Rostov-on-Don, publishing house "Phoenix", 2000.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (real surname Ulyanov, maternal surname Blank)
Years of life: April 10 (22), 1870, Simbirsk - January 22, 1924, Gorki estate, Moscow province
Head of the Soviet government (1917–1924).
Revolutionary, founder of the Bolshevik Party, one of the organizers and leaders of the October Socialist Revolution of 1917, chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (government) of the RSFSR and the USSR. Marxist philosopher, publicist, founder of Leninism, ideologist and founder of the 3rd (Communist) International, founder of the Soviet state. One of the most famous politicians of the 20th century.
Founder of the USSR
Biography of Vladimir Lenin
V. Ulyanov's father, Ilya Nikolaevich, was an inspector of public schools. After being awarded the Order of St. Vladimir III degree in 1882, he received the right to hereditary nobility. Mother, Maria Alexandrovna Ulyanova (née Blank), was a teacher, but did not work. The family had 5 children, among whom Volodya was the third. A friendly atmosphere reigned in the family; parents encouraged the curiosity of children and treated them with respect.
In 1879 - 1887. Volodya studied at the gymnasium, which he graduated from 
gold medal.
In 1887, for preparing an attempt on the life of Emperor Alexander III, his elder brother Alexander Ulyanov (Narodnaya Volya revolutionary) was executed. This event affected the lives of all members of the Ulyanov family (formerly a respected noble family was subsequently expelled from society). The death of his brother shocked Volodya, and since then he has become an enemy of the tsarist regime.
In the same year, V. Ulyanov entered the law faculty of Kazan University, but in December he was expelled for participating in a student meeting.
In 1891, Ulyanov graduated as an external student from the law faculty of St. Petersburg University. Then he came to Samara, where he began working as an assistant to a barrister.
In 1893, in St. Petersburg, Vladimir joined one of the many revolutionary circles and soon became known as an ardent supporter of Marxism and a propagandist of this doctrine in working circles. In St. Petersburg, he began an affair with Apollinaria Yakubova, a revolutionary, a friend of his older sister Olga.
In 1894 - 1895. Vladimir’s first major works, “What are “friends of the people” and how they fight against the Social Democrats” and “The Economic Content of Populism”, were published, in which the populist movement was criticized in favor of Marxism. Soon Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov met Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya.
In the spring of 1895, Vladimir Ilyich left for Geneva to meet with members of the Emancipation of Labor group. And in September 1895 he was arrested for creating the St. Petersburg Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class.
In 1897, Ulyanov was exiled for 3 years to the village of Shushenskoye, Yenisei province. During the exile, Ulyanov married Nadezhda Krupskaya ...
Many articles and books on revolutionary topics were written in Shushensky. The works were published under various pseudonyms, one of which is Lenin.
Lenin - years of life in exile
In 1903, the famous II Congress of the Social Democratic Party of Russia took place, during which there was a split into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. He stood at the head of the Bolsheviks, and soon created the Bolshevik Party.
In 1905, Vladimir Ilyich led the preparations for the revolution in Russia. 
He directed the Bolsheviks to an armed uprising against tsarism and the establishment of a truly democratic republic.
During the revolution of 1905-1907. Ulyanov lived illegally in St. Petersburg and led the Bolshevik Party.
1907 - 1917 years were spent in exile.
In 1910, in Paris, he met Inessa Armand, with whom relations continued until Armand's death from cholera in 1920.
In 1912, at the Social Democratic Party Conference in Prague, the left wing of the RSDLP emerged as a separate party of the RSDLP(b), the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party of the Bolsheviks. He was immediately elected head of the central committee (CC) of the party.
In the same period, thanks to his initiative, the newspaper Pravda was created. Ulyanov organizes the life of his new party, encouraging the expropriation of funds (actually robbery) into the party fund.
In 1914, at the beginning of World War I, he was arrested in Austria-Hungary on suspicion of spying for his country.
After his release, he left for Switzerland, where he put forward a slogan calling for turning the imperialist war into a civil one, overthrowing the government that had drawn the state into the war.
In February 1917, I learned about the revolution that had taken place in Russia from the press. On April 3, 1917 he returned to Russia.
On April 4, 1917, in St. Petersburg, the theorist of communism outlined the program for the transition from the bourgeois-democratic revolution to the socialist one ("All Power to the Soviets!" or "April Theses"). He began preparations for an armed uprising and put forward plans to overthrow the Provisional Government.
In June 1917, the 1st Congress of Soviets was held, at which it was supported by only about 10% of those present, but it declared that the Bolshevik Party was ready to take power in the country into its own hands.
On October 24, 1917, he led the uprising in the Smolny Palace. And on October 25 (November 7), 1917, the Provisional Government was overthrown. The Great October Socialist Revolution took place, after which Lenin became chairman of the Council of People's Commissars - the Council of People's Commissars. He built his policy, hoping for the support of the world proletariat, but did not receive it.
At the beginning of 1918, the leader of the revolution insisted on signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. As a result, a huge part of the territory of Russia departed to Germany. The disagreement of the majority of the population of the country of Russia with the policy of the Bolsheviks led to the Civil War of 1918-1922.
The left-SR rebellion that took place in July 1918 in St. Petersburg was brutally suppressed. After that, a one-party system is established in Russia. Now V. Lenin is the head of the Bolshevik Party and all of Russia.
On August 30, 1918, an attempt was made on the life of the Head of the Party, he was seriously wounded. After that, the "Red Terror" was declared in the country.
Lenin developed the policy of "war communism".
The main ideas are quotes from his writings:
- The main goal of the Communist Party is the implementation of the communist revolution, followed by the construction of a classless society free from exploitation.
- There is no universal morality, but only class morality. The morality of the proletariat is moral that which meets the interests of the proletariat (“our morality is completely subordinated to the interests of the class struggle of the proletariat”).
- The revolution will not necessarily take place all over the world at the same time, as Marx believed. It can first occur in one, separately taken country. This country will then help the revolution in other countries.
- Tactically, the success of the revolution depends on the rapid capture of communications (post, telegraph, railway stations).
- Before building communism, an intermediate stage is necessary - the dictatorship of the proletariat. Communism is divided into two periods: socialism and communism proper.
According to the policy of “war communism”, free trade was prohibited in Russia, barter in kind (instead of commodity-money relations) and surplus appropriation were introduced. At the same time, Lenin insisted on the development of state-type enterprises, on electrification, and on the development of cooperation.
A wave of peasant uprisings passed through the country, but they were brutally suppressed. Soon, on the personal orders of V. Lenin, the persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church began. About 10 million people became victims of "war communism". Russia's economic and industrial indicators have declined sharply.
In March 1921, at the Tenth Party Congress, V. Lenin put forward the program of the "new economic policy" (NEP), which slightly changed the economic crisis.
In 1922, the leader of the world proletariat suffered 2 strokes, but did not stop leading the state. In the same year, Russia was renamed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
At the beginning of 1923, realizing that a split was emerging in the Bolshevik Party, and that his health was deteriorating, Lenin wrote his Letter to the Congress. In a letter, he gave a description of all the leading figures of the Central Committee and proposed to remove Joseph Stalin from the post of General Secretary.
In March 1923, he suffered a third stroke, after which he became paralyzed.
January 21, 1924 V.I. Lenin died in the village. Gorki (Moscow region). His body was embalmed and placed in the Mausoleum on Red Square in Moscow.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the question was raised about the need to remove the body and brain of the first leader of the USSR from the Mausoleum and bury it. In modern times, there are still discussions about this by various government officials, political parties and forces, as well as representatives of religious organizations.
V. Ulyanov also had other pseudonyms: V. Ilyin, V. Frey, Iv. Petrov, K. Tulin, Karpov and others.
In addition to all his deeds, Lenin stood at the origins of the creation of the Red Army, which won the civil war.
The only official state award that a fiery Bolshevik was awarded was the Order of Labor of the Khorezm People's Socialist Republic (1922).
Lenin's name
The name and image of V. I. Lenin was canonized by the Soviet government along with 
October Revolution and Joseph Stalin. Many cities, towns and collective farms were named after him. In every city there was a monument to him. Numerous stories about “grandfather Lenin” were written for Soviet children, the words “Leninists”, “Leniniad”, etc.
Images of the leader were on the front side of all tickets of the State Bank of the USSR in denominations from 10 to 100 rubles from 1937 to 1992, as well as 200, 500 and 1 thousand "Pavlovian rubles" of the USSR 1991 and 1992 issue.
Lenin's works
According to a poll by the FOM in 1999, 65% of the Russian population considered the role of V. Lenin in the history of the country positive, and 23% - negative.
He wrote a huge number of works, the most famous:
- "The Development of Capitalism in Russia" (1899);
- "What to do?" (1902);
- "Karl Marx (a short biographical sketch outlining Marxism)" (1914);
- "Imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism (popular essay)" (1916);
- "State and Revolution" (1917);
- "The Tasks of Youth Unions" (1920);
- "On the pogrom persecution of Jews" (1924);
- "What is Soviet power?";
- "Our Revolution".
The speeches of the fiery revolutionary are recorded on many gramophone records.
Named after him:
- Tank "Freedom Fighter Comrade Lenin"
- Electric locomotive VL
- icebreaker "Lenin"
- "Electronics VL-100"
- Vladilena (852 Wladilena) - a minor planet
- numerous cities, villages, collective farms, streets, monuments.
Disputes about the personality of Lenin and his influence on history have not subsided to this day. Some praise him, others attribute to him all the existing sins. We will try to avoid extremes and briefly describe what Lenin is famous for and what mark he left in history.
Origin of Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, whom the world knows today as Lenin, was born on April 22, 1870. His father was an inspector of public schools in the Simbirsk province, and his grandfather was a former serf. The subject of disputes and discussions is the nationality of Lenin. There is no reliable information about whether he himself attached any importance to this. In his family there were representatives of Russians, Jews, Kalmyks, Germans, Swedes and Chuvashs.
The brother of Vladimir Ilyich, Alexander, was in the ranks of the conspirators who were preparing an attempt on the life of the emperor. For this, the young man was executed, which was a heavy blow for the whole family. Perhaps it was this event that led Lenin to the path of revolution.
Beginning of revolutionary activity
In 1892-1893 Lenin became a supporter of social democratic ideas. He believed that the Russian workers should overthrow the tsarist government and lead their country, and then the whole world, to a communist revolution. Other Marxists were not so determined. They believed that Russia was not ready for such cardinal changes, that its proletariat was too weak, and that the material base for new production relations had not yet matured. Lenin, on the other hand, preferred to ignore the fears of his contemporaries and believed that the most important thing was to make a revolution.
Vladimir Ilyich contributed to the fact that the scattered revolutionary circles became a single "Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class." This organization was very active in propaganda activities. In 1895, Lenin, like many other members of the Union, was arrested. In 1897 he was sent into exile in the village of Shushenskoye. In 1898 he entered into an official marriage with his companion N. Krupskaya. At the request of the chief of police, they even got married, although they were atheists. One of the exiles made them wedding rings from a copper coin.
In exile, Lenin advised the peasants on legal issues, prepared documents for them, established contacts with the Social Democrats in large cities, and also wrote many of his fundamental works. Later he settles in Pskov, publishes the Iskra newspaper, the Zarya magazine, organizes the second congress of the RSDLP, draws up the party charter and work plan. During the revolution of 1905-1907. he was in Switzerland. Many party members were arrested, with the result that leadership passed to Lenin. A long period of emigration begins. In January 1917, in Switzerland, he says that he does not hope to live to see the coming great revolution, but he believes that the present younger generation will see it. Soon, the February Revolution took place in Russia, which Lenin considered a conspiracy of "Anglo-French imperialists."
Rise to power
April 3 (16) Lenin returns to his homeland. Speaking at the Finland Station, he called for a "social revolution". Such radicalism confused even his devoted supporters. In the famous "April Theses", he proclaims the course towards the transition of the bourgeois revolution to the proletarian one.
Lenin becomes the leader of the October armed uprising. The seizure of power was successful, as the country was going through an acute economic, political and military crisis. How old was Lenin when he made the revolution? He was 47, but for his ideas he fought with youthful uncompromisingness.
In 1917, contemporaries did not take the revolution seriously. They called it a coup and considered it a misunderstanding - accidental and temporary. But no matter how we evaluate Lenin's personality today, one thing cannot be taken away from him: he was able to feel the pain points of the people and subtly played on this. He understood that ordinary people were most concerned about two issues: the distribution of land and the conclusion of peace. The elite called Lenin's supporters German spies and accused them of betrayal. But for ordinary people, traitors were those who drove the soldiers to war and did not give the peasants land. Having come to power, the Bolsheviks began to eliminate the chaos in which the country was mired after the February revolution. They opposed order to anarchy and squabbles in the ranks of their opponents - and he naturally won.
In December 1922, Lenin's health was deteriorating. During this period, he dictated a number of notes, including the famous "Letter to the Congress." Some people tend to look at this document as Lenin's testament. They argue that if the country had continued to follow the true Leninist path, then many problems would not have arisen. If one adheres to this point of view, then Stalin deviated from the precepts of his predecessor, for which the whole people paid.
Lenin's key statements in the letter boil down to the following:
- difficulties in relations between Stalin and Trotsky threaten the unity of the party;
- perhaps Stalin will not be able to use his power carefully enough;
- Trotsky is a very capable man, but overconfident.
In recent years, some historians are beginning to doubt that the famous letter was really dictated by Lenin and attribute the authorship to N. Krupskaya. This question, obviously, will be the subject of discussion for a long time.
When Lenin died, the New Economic Policy was replaced by Stalin's radical industrialization. Because of this, Lenin and Stalin are sometimes contrasted on the principle of "good-bad". But Lenin himself viewed the NEP as a temporary measure. In addition, the Stalinist NKVD is the heir to the Leninist VKCh. History does not know the subjunctive mood, so we can evaluate Lenin only by his accomplishments.
For many people of the older generation, the leader of the revolution remains a great personality. They remember Lenin's birthday and believe that his path was in many ways the right one. Well, the younger generation has yet to give an objective assessment of his activities and do everything to prevent future leaders from repeating his mistakes.
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