lenin + stalin

• Figes: 'Lenin used Russian revolutionary tradition 'to inject a distinctly Russian dose of conspiratorial politics into a Marxist dialect''
• Lenin's ideology and policy

  Transition into socialism once Bolsheviks were in power [Socialism though revolution]
• Historians thought it was more the circumstances that caused his policies, not his ideology
• Lenin's ideology and policy

  He hoped for a democracy as power and government should come from the people [acceptance of democracy]
• In rural lands peasants took over and shared out the vast land of the nobility [Socialism in practice]
• In urban areas, workers took control of the factories
• The wealthy made to share their homes and do labour like anyone else [breakdown in the class system]
• Foreign Policy


  Bolsheviks promised peace to Russian population [end to WWI]
• Russia signed the Germans Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
• Foreign Policy


  Terms of the treaty were very harsh, Lenin took the conservative view that ensuring national revolution was more important
• He thought for socialism to work, it had to exist internationally [he believed you cannot have a socialist state surrounded by capitalist states]
• However, very difficult following the Brest-Litovsk treaty
• The One-Party State


  Lenin believe that the 'dictatorship of the proletariat' should be exercised by the Bolsheviks [power to the working class]
• Didn't want to share power with any other socialists or political parties
• How he tried to create a one-party state

  1. Closed the Constituent Assembly

  2. Often would bypass the Petrograd Soviet

  3. March 1918, Bolsheviks became the 'Communist Party'

  4. Kamenev and Zinoviev both temporarily resigned as Lenin was creating the one-party state
• Lenin's idea of 'the dictatorship of the proletariat'

  He was determined to crush 'bourgeois attitudes'
• January 1918 demonstrators against dissolving the Constituent Assembly were shot,12 died, - highlighting that this was a dictatorship
• The Sovnarkom and 1918 constitution


  • Formed 1917 following October Revolution
  • Chairman of this council was the equivalent of a Prime Minister, met everyday
  • The 1918 Constitution - placing power in the hands of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets [responsible for electing the Sovnarkom]
• This was purely propaganda, Lenin wanted all the power he didn't trust others to carry out the revolution
• The Communist Party in reality chose the Sovnarkom not Congress
• Moscow becomes the capital in March 1918
• Murder of the Tsar and his family, july 1918
• Lenin denied ordering the murder, blamed local officials [unbelievable that anyone would do something so serious w/o order from above]
• Communists were worried the Tsar would become a figurehead for the White Armies in the Civil War
• Politburo


  • Created March 1919, Lenin wanted to concentrate decision making into the hands of a smaller group of Communist leaders
  • Took over formulating policy from the Sovnarkom, consisted of 7-9 members who held all of the significant power in Russia
• Orgburo


  • Created to supervise local party committees, make sure the Politburo's decisions were being followed
  • Stalin a member of the Politburo and Orgburo [significant influence in the party]
• Leninist-Marxism


  • Lenin adapted the theory to fit the situation he was in
  • He claimed that the party represented the people, their aims were clearly in the best interest of the people, something he would make people realise
  • Claimed he was in coalition with the left wing SRs, ended with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, 1918
• The first show trials 1922 of SRs, 34 condemned, 11 executed and the party banned
• Ideology - Preserving the state: repression


  • Anyone who didn't support the Bolsheviks was considered 'counter-revolutionary' even other forms of communism/socialism
  • Led to use of terror to remove all opposition, Cheka played a key role, 5000 Mensheviks arrested
• Bolsheviks centralised control of the economy, leading to 'War Communism' more pragmatic than ideology based, replaced by the NEP in 1921
• Lenin created principle that the party was always right and didn't make mistakes
• Censorship increased, dozens of russian writers deported to show that it wasn't a good idea to criticise the government [getting rid of Bourgeoise ideas]
• All books and other writings had to get government approval before published
• Church was attacked as it was a potential rival
• Cheka renamed the GPU 1922, secret police grew in importance - arbitrary arrest became normal experience for most russians
• The 'Ban of Factions' - 1921


  • Increasing use of terror and economic problems led to internal division in the party
  • Some felt the policies were too harsh and workers had not benefited enough from the October Revolution
  • The Tenth Party Congress in March 1921 to ban factions
  • When the Central Committee had made a decision, no member could openly disagree
  • Proves significant to Stalin as it enabled him to accuse his opponents of 'factionalism' to have them denoted/punished
• All support Bolsheviks had shown for national minorities was abandoned
• All independence movements were seen as 'counter-revolutionary'
• 1922 Stalin brutally suppressed the independence movement in his native Georgia, Horrified Lenin when he sound out stalin lied about popular support
• The 1922 Constitution established the USSR, Strongly controlled from the centre, with each republic's government being a branch of the Sovnarkom