Vladimir Lenin was born on 10th
of April 1870 in Simbirsk, Russia. His name at birth was Vladimir Ilyich
Ulyanov. The Ulyanov family had six children. Lenin’s father worked for the
government. On 1st of March 1881 when Vladimir was ten years old,
bombers set off two explosions near Czar Alexander’s carriage outside his
palace in Saint Petersburg. The second explosion killed the Czar. People’s
Will, the organization of the bombers believed that once the Czar was dead poor
people would rise up in revolution and take control of Russia’s government.
Vladimir earned top marks in
school. He excelled in Greek, Latin, German, algebra, and other classes. He was
also doing great in his writing class. Moreover, his favorite classes were
history and literature. Nikolay Gogol, Leo Tolstoy, and Ivan Turgenev were his
favorite Russian novelists. Lenin was not even sixteen when his father passed
away. Vladimir’s brother Alexander got inspired from the works of German
thinkers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Alexander along with other like-minded
fellows planned to murder the Czar. Alexander was to make the bomb. Before they
could execute their plan, the police caught them. On 8th May 1887
Alexander was executed. He did not beg for mercy as some of his other fellows.
Vladimir was greatly shaken by
the death of his brother. After graduating from Simbirsk Classical Gimnazia
with a gold medal Lenin hoped to attend Saint Petersburg University, but his
brother’s crime barred him from admission. Instead, he applied Imperial Kazan
University for Law, but the university officials kept a close eye on him. He
along with thirty-nine others were expelled from the school on joining a
protest against some harsh university regulations. Not giving up his thoughts
of becoming a lawyer, the self-taught young man stood first out of a class of
124 students. Lenin hated the Russian nobility and wanted a revolution to happen
and in the summer of 1893, Vladimir moved to Saint Petersburg.
He was twenty-three when he
arrived at Saint Petersburg. His fellow
revolutionaries used to call him Starik
(old man) as he appeared to be fully politically mature. Lenin was a powerful
speaker who had strong command over history, economics and political science.
Lenin met Nadezhda Krupskaya at a Marxist discussion circle in February 1894.
The two became close companions. Lenin saw liberals and reformers as members of
the bourgeoisie and enemies of the proletariat.
In Dec 1895, Lenin and his
colleagues were caught in the process of creating an illegal newspaper. As he
was waiting for his sentence Lenin stayed in cell 193 and engaged himself with
writing a book called The Development of
Capitalism in Russia. After more than a year of waiting he was punished. He
was to spend three years in exile in Siberia. There in Siberia he was was
reading, writing and hunting. Lenin’s companion Nadya was sentenced to exile in
Ufa. Claiming they were engaged they requested to be allowed to get married in
Shushenskoye. In Jan 1900, Lenin’s exile ended, but his wife had one year left
which she was to spend at Ufa.
After exile Lenin and his
comrades decide to produce papers abroad which they were to smuggle into
Russia. In 1902, Lenin met Trotsky and was impressed by the young man’s sharp
mind, and commitment to revolutionary cause. Lenin’s group was known as
Bolsheviks and Julius Marton’s group was known as Mehseviks. In the time period
around 1905 peasants wanted changes to land laws. Russia went to war with Japan, which further
angered the Russians. Russians started to doubt Czar’s ability to rule them. On
9th of January 1905 Georgy Gapon, a Russian Orthodox priest with
some 200, 000 people headed to the Czar’s winter palace with a petition signed
by 135000 people. Before the demonstration reached the palace soldiers fired on
them.
Uprisings continued throughout
Russia. By October 1905, Czar Nicholas agreed to create a constitution. He gave
people freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Politics were allowed to
operate. A Duma (parliament) was
allowed to operate, but he reserved the right to disband the Duma. According to
the author the elections of April 1906 were won by the Constitutional
democrats, nicknamed Cadets who were in favor of liberal reforms and a western
European style of democracy. Lenin criticized the Cadets and also was against
the Mensheviks
Nicholas disbanded the first
Duma within three months and called for new elections. Revolutionaries were
actively involved in activities against the Czar. Lenin left Russian for Finland in 1907. The
second Duma was also disbanded. In this socialist groups were quite successful.
In the third Duma which met for the first time in November 1907 there were
fewer Cadets, few socialists and more pro-Czarists.
In 1914 the great war had
started. Russia was on the side of Allied Powers. The author says that the
Russians were not well prepared for the war. Lenin and Krupskaya were in
Galacia, which was part of Austro-Hungarian Empire. When the war started they
left for Switzerland. Setting foot in Russia on 3rd of April 1917.
In May 1917 Leon Trotsky joined who was earlier in the Menshevik camp joined
the Bolshevik camp. The government troop caught Trotsky but Lenin managed to
escape to Finland. From Finland, he continued to direct Bolshevik activities.
Trotsky now released from prison, became the chairman of the Petrograd Soviet.
On 24 Oct 1917 Congress of
Soviet opened. The wheels of revolution were already in motion. On the same
day, late at night Bolshevik soldiers took over telephone exchanges, telegraph
offices, banks, railroad stations, power stations and bridges. On Oct 26 the
red guards entered the palace and arrested the palace. The Mensheviks and the
Social Revolutionary delegates denounced the coup at the Congress of Soviets.
Trotsky scolded them in return. On the evening of Oct 26, Lenin addressed the congress.
He ordered the peasants to take over all private land in Russia.
Soon after coming to power
Lenin established Cheka, the secret police force. Lenin struck down the law of
inheritance, gave women equal rights with men, nationalized big businesses and
tightened the control over smaller ones. In July 1918 the entire ruling family
of Russia was murdered. On 30 August, 1930 Lenin was shot thrice by a woman
named Fanya Kaplan. She did so because Lenin had disbanded the constituent
assembly earlier. The author stresses that for propaganda poets, authors,
artists, theatre and films were used. Even posters, slogans and musical works
were to follow the party line. In 1920 the civil war in Russia had ended in
favor of a red victory. It is estimated that millions perished during the
conflict.
On January 21, 1924, Lenin
fell into a coma. Later that evening, he died. He was fifty-three years old.
Before that, he had a few strokes which had partially paralyzed his body. Lenin
thought that Trotsky was the most capable person to succeed him, but Stalin
found the testament which Lenin tried to keep secret. The document did not
stand in the way of Stalin’s rise to power, as Stalin very much wanted. Lenin’s
body was not buried. His body was preserved and put in a glass coffin.
Petrograd, which was previously renamed from Saint Petersburg, was now renamed
as Leningrad.
Lenin who rose to become one
of the most powerful man in human history inspired millions throughout the
world. This book presents a leader who transformed Russia- for good or for bad
is another questions. A short read this book gives a short biographical account
of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.
