Lenin: A Biography

Historical Monograph by Josh Skinner

The October Revolution (Bolshevik Revolution)

After the February Revolution in 1917, in which protestors forced the Tsar to abdicate his throne, a provisional government was established. Many did not support this provisional government, and turned to the Bolshevik party, led by Vladimir Lenin, as an alternative. In October of 1917, the Bolsheviks began organizing themselves and taking control of government facilities. On October 25th, they stormed the Winter Palace, the seat of the provisional government, and established Soviet rule over Petrograd. Many outside Petrograd were opposed to this endeavor, thus starting the Russian Civil War.

Leninism
Lenin was greatly inspired by works by Karl Marx including The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital. Leninism was Lenins response to Marxs theories. It is the practical usage of Marxism for the specific time and place it was used in: 20th-century Russia. The main difference between Marxism and Leninism is that, while Karl Marx believed the proletariat would be urban and industrialized, and would rise in rebellion spontaneously, Lenin needed to alter Marxism to fit his needs. Thus, according to Leninism, the proletariat would be agrarian, as they were in Russia, and would rise in rebellion with the leadership of a vanguard party, which in his case was the Bolshevik party.

The Red Terror

In response to assassination attempts upon Lenin and other party members, Joseph Stalin suggested that Lenin introduce terror into the Soviets hearts to keep them in support of the party. Thousands of death warrants were signed, and many more were sent as hostages to concentration camps in Siberia, where most died of exposure to the cold.

Most of the victims of the terror were peasants who opposed the communists known as kulaks, or deserters of the Red Army.
This marked the beginning of mass killings by communist regimes for the next century to come.

Assassination Attempts
The first failed assassination attempt on Lenin was in 1918, when a group of assassins ambushed Lenin in his car and opened fired, but failed to hit Lenin. Seven months later, in August of the same year, Fanya Kaplan, a socialist revolutionary who believed Lenin to be a traitor of the true revolution, shot Lenin after a speech. Bullets hit him in the arm, jaw, and neck, but Lenin survived, albeit with bullets still lodged in his body for fear of injuring his spine if doctors removed them This would prove to be detrimental to Lenins health, and in combination with a succession of strokes, Lenin was finally felled by a fourth stroke in 1924. His body was embalmed and put on permanent display in his mausoleum in Moscow.

Sources
Service, Robert. Lenin: A Biography. New York: Pan Macmillan Books. 2008. Print.