VLADIMIR LENIN Demetrius Bolton Pic 1

CONTENTS Lenin’s Early Life Influences on Lenin Lenin’s Revolutionary Work Lenin’s Political Philosophy Lenin’s Late Life and Death Lenin’s Major Accomplishments and Influence Picture Bibliography Bibliography

EARLY LIFE Childhood –Born in Simbirsk—Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov –Highly educated and cultured parents –Father was a school inspector Education –Graduated from high school first in class –Expelled from college for taking part in an illegal student assembly –Finished university education without attending classes –Received First Class degree and admitted to practice law

REVOLUTIONARY WORK Became a Marxist in January 1889 Started practicing law in bars after police waived their political objections Clients were peasants and artisans Used law as a cover for revolutionary activist Moved to St Petersburg in August 1893 to work as a public defender Sent to contact Russian exiles Infiltrated worker education programs With other Marxists, unified Marxist groups as Union for the Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class Arrested and jailed for this activity Exiled 1897 to Siberia for three years after prison Married his fiancé in Siberia

INFLUENCES ON LENIN The educated and cultured intelligentsia of Tsarist Russia had no civil or political rights Father’ was forced to early retirement due to suppression of public education Brother was arrested and executed for plotting against the Tsar Read writings of Karl Marx who influenced his decision to turn to Socialism Read work of Georgy Plekhanov and adapted his idea for two stages of revolution. Leon Trotsky helped him with his writings and publishing Iskra (the spark)

POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY Hated Tsarist Russia and imperialists Turned to atheism as a young man Embraced Marxism after being dismissed from university Briefly embraced Plekhanov’s theory that Russia had to take path of 2 revolutions to become Socialist—bourgeois revolution and proletariat revolution Wanted his party to be a “vanguard of the proletariat” guided by “democratic centralism”—a highly disciplined centralized party with a small core of professional revolutionaries to run it Accused by adversaries including Plekhanov and Trotsky of wanting a dictatorship ‘over the proletariat not of the proletariat

Seizing power Deposed of tsar and set up a Provisional Government Lenin attacked them saying they were imperialists In November 1917 a group of soviets overthrew the Provitional Government and made Lenin the head of the new government. Russia soon torn into a civil war around the soviets The government however soon crushed anyone in their way and brought peace after the civil war and a more stable economy. Pic 3

LATE LIFE AND DEATH Victim of attempted assassination by Fanny Kaplan Suffered four strokes before death Dictated his political “Testament” to secretary while ill Recovered from first attack to give last speech Worked to form Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, his plan for organization of the federal system After second stroke could only write letters Last year of life might have been greatest— fought against abuses of Socialist ideals and corruption of power Finally lived in Gorki in isolation and died of last stoke in1924 Pic 2

MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND INFLUENCE Founder of Russian Communist Party Leader of the Bolshevik Revolution (1917) Organized Second Congress Greatest revolutionary leader and statesman of 20 th century Greatest revolutionary thinker after Marx Leninism joined with Marxism to become the Communist world view Writing –Iskra, newspaper meant to convey information about Socialism and unify socialist groups and governments –Imperialism, book used as a resource by communists

PICTURE BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY." Encyclopædia Britannica Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition. 2 Apr " Lenin, Vladimir Ilich." Encyclopædia Britannica Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition. 2 Apr Toynbee, Arnold. "A Centenary View of Lenin." International Affairs 46.3, Jul /3/07. Page, Stanley W. "Lenin's assumption of International Proletarian Leadership." The Journal of Modern History 26.3 Sep /3/07. Gilbert, Jim. "Leon Trotsky's Lenin." Lenin. 29 Mar 2007 < lenin02.htm>.