Bo N.

The Life and Death of Vladimir Lenin   

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov - Lenin, better known simply as Vladimir Lenin, was born on April 22, 1870, in Ulyanovsk, Russia. He is most well known for his instigation of the October revolution, being a Russian revolutionary leader and political theorist and as the founder of the Soviet Union. He was a militant who interpreted the philosophy of Karl Marx to create the Marxist Leninist ideology. He is also known for creating the first socialist state, with the discipline and centralism of his one-party communist government system surviving for decades after his death. 

Lenin was born into a close-knit family, and was extremely energetic and confident in youth, and soon adapted unorthodox political beliefs. He was a talented student, but self assertion first made themselves clear during his expulsion from Kazan university for participating in revolutionary actions. Despite this, he was not dissuaded from these beliefs, and soon began to further ingrain them in his mind with European revolutionary literature. He seemed to drop these more drastic world views when he became a lawyer as a young adult, though they made themselves apparent once more when he became head of an illegal organization that called itself Marxist Social Democratic Party of Germany (Stanford). He then went on to found an illegal organization of his own, titled the League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class in St. Petersburg, and paid the price for it. Once he was caught by the police, he spent over a year in prison, and was exiled in Siberia for over 6 years until the year 1900. He was once again not dissuaded, and while in Siberia continued to study the philosophical works of Marx and Engels. 

He moved back to European Russia in 1900, where he continued to spread his beliefs through a revolutionary newspaper. In 1903, he decided to become a member of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, a decision that would lead to one of the major turning points of his life (Stanford). His confidence in his centralized and militant political ideology caused a divide in the party, with Lenin's Bolsheviks and another member, Julius Martov’s , Mensheviks, entering into a bloody struggle. The party's first major action was in their participation in the revolution of 1905, in which working class members of the Russian society tried to take action against the Czarist government (Bradley). Although the effort ultimately failed, it succeeded in allowing Lenin to position himself as a leader in the minds of the Russian population, and became a very influential figure with his writings opposing the start of World War I.  

This influence allowed him to start the 1917 Russian Revolution, originally beginning with a workers strike, incited by Lenin, that called for the resignation of the Czar and weakened the Russian government, Lenin quickly made clear his intentions of seizing power in his work "April Theses.” The reason Lenin was so effective in his ability to seemingly control the working class population of Russia, was because of his charismatic personality and communist ideologies, which appealed to their working class people who were tired of a noble-led government. Lenin proposed a new form of Soviet government, that he claimed would be run solely by the working class and soldiers. It was with this hold over their minds that he incited the 1917 October Revolution, in which he and the Bolshevik party stormed the offices of the provisional government that had been formed in the absence of the Czar, and usurped its power. Despite this victory, this did not mean complete success for Lenin and his dreams of a new, radicalized form of government (Eben). Many were upset by the Bolshevik revolution, and in response formed the White Armies. Composed of various pro- Czarist groups, the White Armies sought to exterminate the Bolsheviks, represented by the Red Army, in the Russian Civil War of 1917.  After 6 long years of bloody warfare, it was the Bolsheviks who arose as the victors, and with no further opposition, they succeeded in the creation of the Soviet Union.  

Originally Lenin’s governmental rule was a complete success, as his promises of worker equality and economic prosperity for the working class seemed to take bloom. He abolished private property, gave peasants the right to claim land for their own benefit, and gave more working class citizens power under their bosses in their respective fields. He brought peace to the country by signing the 1918 peace treaty with Germany that effectively withdrew Russia from World War I and allowed him to concentrate on  reforming his society. Prosperity quickly ended though, as an already ongoing economic crisis was made more severe when the red army had to battle against further anti-revolutionary forces in the years of 1918-1920.  After putting in place a food and land confiscation system, forcing rural farmers and peasants to pass on a portion of their grain to the cities, much of the agricultural production began to dry out, as the farmers were left without incentive to work. He turned to an economic system called NEP (New Economic Policy), which allowed farmers to trade directly in local commerce, which although being anti-Marxist,  effectively restored production. That being said, it was not enough to save the rapid decline of the Soviet economy, and by the time of Lenin’s death in January of 1924, the Soviet Union was in an extremely desperate situation (Nikolai). 

Lenin, although driven by unorthodox thinking, was steadfast in his beliefs and established one of the most unique and well known systems of government in History. Although his time in power was rather short, his influence over Russian and global politics is fundamental and his passion for Marxist ideologies and the philosophies of his own have changed the course of history not only in the Soviet Union but in the global political and economic philosophies down through the decades. His difficult rise to power through leadership in various radical groups, attests to his charisma and his ability to appeal to the grievances and ideologies of the masses. This being said, his belief in a system of unchecked power in a dictatorship, and his often harsh economic policies were part of what led to his very limited success as a leader. 

Works Cited

Abramitzky, Ran. “Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov – Lenin.”  Accessed 8 November 2024.

Brokvin, Vladimir N. The Mensheviks After October. Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1987.

Bukham, Nikolai. Imperialism and World Economy. London Martin Lawrence Limited, 1917.

Lenin, Vladimir. “Lenin's Statement of Bolshevik Demands”. 1917.

Lenin, Vladmir Ilich. The State and Revolution. Columbia University Press, 2016. De Gruyter.

Putnam, Eben. “World War I Pamphlet Collection.” Archives West. Accessed 8 November 2024.

Worrell, Bradley. “A Bit Less Visibly, Lenin's Ghost Still Haunts Russia.” University of Colorado Boulder, 5 February 2024. Accessed 8 November 2024.

Artist's Statement

I chose Vladimir Lenin because I found his story extremely interesting and an often overlooked precursor to the more well-known rule of Stalin. The way he was so steadfast to his beliefs, that he continued to use them as fuel behind his career despite constant demotivation, is something I have never seen before when researching other historical figures. Additionally, the way he used these beliefs to capture the minds of the Russian people fascinated and surprised me, as I feel that there could be a lot of parallels drawn to current politics. Although we can never know for certain whether he truly strived for equality or just for power, I believe that this mystery is what makes his life and legacy so fascinating.