Who is Ulyanov Lenin. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin - biography, information, personal life

Vladimir Lenin is the great leader of the working people of the whole world, who is considered the most prominent politician in world history, who created the first socialist state.

The Russian communist theoretical philosopher, who continued the work and, whose activities were widely deployed at the beginning of the 20th century, is still of interest to the public today, since his historical role is of significant importance not only for Russia, but for the whole world. Lenin's activity has both positive and negative assessments, which does not prevent the founder of the USSR from remaining the leading revolutionary in world history.

Childhood and youth

Ulyanov Vladimir Ilyich was born on April 22, 1870 in the Simbirsk province of the Russian Empire in the family of school inspector Ilya Nikolaevich and school teacher Maria Alexandrovna Ulyanov. He became the third child of parents who invested their whole soul in their children - my mother completely abandoned work and devoted herself to raising Alexander, Anna and Volodya, after whom she also gave birth to Maria and Dmitry.

Vladimir Lenin and his sister Maria

As a child, Vladimir Ulyanov was a mischievous and very smart boy - at the age of 5 he already learned to read and became a "walking encyclopedia" by the time he entered the Simbirsk gymnasium. During his school years, he also showed himself to be a diligent, diligent, gifted and accurate student, for which he was repeatedly awarded commendable sheets. Lenin's classmates said that the future world leader of the working people enjoyed great respect and authority in the class, since every student felt his mental superiority.

In 1887, Vladimir Ilyich graduated from the gymnasium with a gold medal and entered the law faculty of Kazan University. In the same year, a terrible tragedy happened in the Ulyanov family - Lenin's older brother Alexander was executed for participating in organizing an assassination attempt on the tsar.

This grief aroused in the future founder of the USSR a protest spirit against national oppression and the tsarist system, therefore, already in the first year of high school, he created a student revolutionary movement, for which he was expelled from the university and sent into exile in a small village Kukushkino, located in the Kazan province.

Since that moment, the biography of Vladimir Lenin has been continuously connected with the struggle against capitalism and autocracy, the main goal of which was the liberation of workers from exploitation and oppression. After the exile, in 1888, Ulyanov returned to Kazan, where he immediately joined one of the Marxist circles.

In the same period, Lenin's mother acquired an estate of almost 100 hectares in the Simbirsk province and convinced Vladimir Ilyich to manage it. This did not prevent him from continuing to keep in touch with local "professional" revolutionaries, who helped him to find members of the People's Will and create an organized movement of Protestants of the imperial power.

revolutionary activity

In 1891, Vladimir Lenin managed to pass the exams externally at the Imperial St. Petersburg University at the Faculty of Law. After that, he worked as an assistant to a sworn advocate from Samara, dealing with the "state protection" of criminals.

In 1893, the revolutionary moved to St. Petersburg and, in addition to legal practice, began writing historical works on Marxist political economy, the creation of the Russian liberation movement, the capitalist evolution of post-reform villages and industry. Then he began to create a program of the Social Democratic Party.

In 1895, Lenin made his first trip abroad and made the so-called tour of Switzerland, Germany and France, where he met his idol Georgy Plekhanov, as well as Wilhelm Liebknecht and Paul Lafargue, who were leaders of the international labor movement.

Upon his return to St. Petersburg, Vladimir Ilyich managed to unite all the disparate Marxist circles into the "Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class", at the head of which he began to prepare a plan to overthrow the autocracy. For active propaganda of his idea, Lenin and his allies were taken into custody, and after a year in prison he was sent to the Shushenskoye village of the Elysian province.

During the exile, he established contact with the Social Democrats of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Voronezh, Nizhny Novgorod, and in 1900, at the end of the exile, he traveled all over Russian cities and personally established contact with numerous organizations. In 1900, the leader created the Iskra newspaper, under whose articles he first signed the pseudonym Lenin.

In the same period, he became the initiator of the congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, in which after that there was a split into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. The revolutionary headed the Bolshevik ideological and political party and launched an active struggle against Menshevism.

In the period from 1905 to 1907, Lenin lived in exile in Switzerland, where he was preparing an armed uprising. There he was caught by the First Russian Revolution, in the victory of which he was interested, since it opened the way to the socialist revolution.

Then Vladimir Ilyich illegally returned to St. Petersburg and began to act actively. He tried at all costs to win over the peasants to his side, forcing them to an armed uprising against the autocracy. The revolutionary urged people to arm themselves with everything at hand and to attack civil servants.

October Revolution

After the defeat in the First Russian Revolution, the solidarity of all Bolshevik forces took place, and Lenin, having analyzed the mistakes, began to revive the revolutionary upsurge. Then he created his own legal Bolshevik party, which published the newspaper Pravda, of which he was editor-in-chief. At that time, Vladimir Ilyich lived in Austria-Hungary, where he was caught by the World War.

After being imprisoned on suspicion of spying for Russia, Lenin prepared his theses on the war for two years, and after his release went to Switzerland, where he came up with the slogan of turning the imperialist war into a civil one.

In 1917, Lenin and his associates were allowed to leave Switzerland through Germany to Russia, where a solemn meeting was organized for him. The first speech of Vladimir Ilyich before the people began with a call for a "social revolution", which caused discontent even among the Bolshevik circles. At that moment, Lenin's theses were supported by Joseph Stalin, who also believed that power in the country should belong to the Bolsheviks.

On October 20, 1917, Lenin arrived at Smolny and took over the leadership of the uprising, which was organized by the head of the Petrograd Soviet. Vladimir Ilyich proposed to act promptly, toughly and clearly - from October 25 to 26, the Provisional Government was arrested, and on November 7, at the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, Lenin's decrees on peace and land were adopted, and the Council of People's Commissars was organized, headed by Vladimir Ilyich.

This was followed by a 124-day "Smolnin period", during which Lenin carried out active work in the Kremlin. He signed a decree on the creation of the Red Army, concluded the Brest peace treaty with Germany, and also began to develop a program for the formation of a socialist society. At that moment, the Russian capital was moved from Petrograd to Moscow, and the Congress of Soviets of Workers, Peasants and Soldiers became the supreme body of power in Russia.

After the main reforms, which consisted in withdrawing from the World War and transferring the lands of the landlords to the peasants, the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (RSFSR) was formed on the territory of the former Russian Empire, the rulers of which were the communists led by Vladimir Lenin.

Head of the RSFSR

With the coming to power, Lenin, according to many historians, ordered the execution of the former Russian Emperor Nicholas II, along with his entire family, and in July 1918 approved the Constitution of the RSFSR. Two years later, Lenin eliminated the supreme ruler of Russia, Admiral, who was his strong opponent.

Then the head of the RSFSR implemented the "Red Terror" policy, created to strengthen the new government in the face of flourishing anti-Bolshevik activities. At the same time, the decree on the death penalty was restored, under which anyone who did not agree with Lenin's policy could fall.

After that, Vladimir Lenin set about destroying the Orthodox Church. Since that period, believers have become the main enemies of the Soviet regime. During that period, Christians who tried to protect the holy relics were subjected to persecution and executions. Special concentration camps were also created for the “re-education” of the Russian people, where people were imputed in especially harsh ways that they were obliged to work for free in the name of communism. This led to a massive famine that killed millions of people and a terrible crisis.

This result forced the leader to retreat from his planned plan and create a new economic policy, during which people, under the "supervision" of the commissars, restored industry, revived construction sites and industrialized the country. In 1921, Lenin abolished "war communism", replaced the food appropriation with a food tax, allowed private trade, which gave the broad mass of the population to independently seek means of survival.

In 1922, on the recommendations of Lenin, the USSR was created, after which the revolutionary had to step down from power due to a sharp deterioration in health. After a sharp political struggle in the country in pursuit of power, Joseph Stalin became the sole leader of the Soviet Union.

Personal life

The personal life of Vladimir Lenin, like that of most professional revolutionaries, was shrouded in secrecy for the purpose of conspiracy. He met his future wife in 1894 during the organization of the Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class.

She blindly followed her lover and participated in all the actions of Lenin, which was the reason for their separate first exile. In order not to part, Lenin and Krupskaya got married in a church - they invited Shushensky peasants as best men, and their ally made of copper nickels made wedding rings for them.

The sacrament of the wedding of Lenin and Krupskaya took place on July 22, 1898 in the village of Shushenskoye, after which Nadezhda became a faithful companion in the life of the great leader, whom she bowed to, despite his harshness and humiliating treatment of herself. Having become a real communist, Krupskaya suppressed her sense of ownership and jealousy, which allowed her to remain the only wife of Lenin, in whose life there were many women.

The question "Did Lenin have children?" still attracts worldwide interest. There are several historical theories regarding the paternity of the leader of the Communists - some claim that Lenin was barren, while others call him the father of many children of illegitimate children. At the same time, many sources claim that Vladimir Ilyich had a son Alexander Steffen from his beloved, an affair with which the revolutionary lasted about 5 years.

Death

The death of Vladimir Lenin occurred on January 21, 1924 in the estate of Gorki, Moscow province. According to official figures, the leader of the Bolsheviks died of atherosclerosis, caused by severe overload at work. Two days after his death, Lenin's body was transported to Moscow and placed in the Hall of Columns, where the farewell to the founder of the USSR was held for 5 days.

On January 27, 1924, Lenin's body was embalmed and placed in a specially built for this Mausoleum, located on the Red Square of the capital. The ideologist of the creation of Lenin's relics was his successor Joseph Stalin, who wanted to make Vladimir Ilyich a "god" in the eyes of the people.

After the collapse of the USSR, the issue of reburial of Lenin was repeatedly raised in the State Duma. True, he remained at the discussion stage as early as 2000, when the one who came to power during his first presidential term put an end to this issue. He said that he did not see the desire of the overwhelming majority of the population to rebury the body of the world leader, and until it appears, this topic will no longer be discussed in modern Russia.

"Who is Lenin?" - this offensive question is being asked by the younger generation more and more often. Returned social injustice seems to be the norm. But those who lived by the postulates of Lenin's teachings know that this is not at all the norm. In any case, his works are still available and even very topical. In addition, it is simply necessary to know the history of your country. And about who Lenin is, too. According to his teachings, the country lived for seventy years - this is quite a large part of the life of the state. With great victories. With faith in tomorrow. Let's hope that Vladimir Lenin is alive.

Childhood

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin) was the fourth child in the family of the director of public schools in the city of Simbirsk, Ilya Nikolaevich, was exceptionally friendly, because the mother devoted herself entirely to children. An extremely gifted pianist, excellently read - she had something to pass on to her children. Yes, and she herself is the best example in front of their eyes: she never raises her voice, a strict, but at the same time kind-hearted woman, fair, but able to understand her child and really delve deeply into the situation. All five of Lenin's brothers and sisters became revolutionaries. The eldest, Alexander, was executed for attempting to assassinate the tsar. Vladimir Ilyich always studied perfectly. He graduated from the Simbirsk gymnasium with a gold medal and entered Kazan University. For active participation in student unrest, he was expelled and exiled to the village of Kokushkino.

Revolutionary

In 1888 Vladimir Ilyich Lenin became a professional revolutionary. The study of Marx's "Capital" and the works of Engels, Plekhanov, Kautsky helped him in four years to comprehend all the heights and depths of political economy and philosophy. He carefully studied the economic conditions in Russia and the position of the proletariat and peasantry. At the same time, Vladimir Ilyich was preparing to take external exams at St. Petersburg University and passed them brilliantly, receiving a diploma of assistant attorney at law. True, he almost did not engage in legal practice, since other goals and objectives determined all his aspirations. Even then, being quite young, he surprised his comrades-in-arms with the versatility and quality of knowledge and the intransigence of his convictions.

Who is Lenin

Even his first philosophical works were brilliant. In 1894, a work was published entitled "What are the friends of the people ...", where the whole path of the working class through the revolution to freedom and prosperity against tsarism and capitalism and for socialism was already more clearly traced. Lenin continued the work of Marx and Engels, independently working out and developing their teaching. In 1897 he was sent into exile in Shushenskoye (Krasnoyarsk Territory). Here he worked hard on his books (including The Development of Capitalism in Russia). Changes also came in his personal life: he married whom he had been his first and most reliable assistant in all revolutionary affairs all his life. At the same time, in Shushenskoye, Lenin devised a means for rallying all the progressive forces of the country. This medium later turned out to be the Iskra newspaper.

Party leader

In 1903, Lenin contributed to the speedy convening of the second congress of the Social Democratic Labor Party. By this time, the Social Democrats no longer had the question of who Lenin was. His works were not only widely studied, but also gained their supporters and opponents. There, in London, the split of the party into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks, discovered by him back in Shushenskoye, was revealed. So Bolshevism took shape as an independent political movement. All subsequent years, Lenin worked tirelessly, living semi-legally either at home or abroad. He devoted most of his time to the study of labor reform, published the newspaper Novoye Vremya, and carried out revolutionary educational work. was severely suppressed. Vladimir Ilyich revealed all the objective and subjective reasons for the failure. The following years, especially from 1908 to 1911, were very difficult.

Innovative scientist

In 1911, a party school for workers began its work, where Lenin lectured on the theory and practice of party policy. After the conference, the newspaper Pravda appeared in St. Petersburg. It was then that the broadest sections of the Russian population learned about who Lenin was, what he called for, and in what way he would lead the working class to the victory of the revolution. Lenin directed the publication from abroad, wrote materials for it every day, which helped to attract the majority of class-conscious workers to the cause. The First World War was greeted by the people by no means enthusiastically. And Lenin called on the belligerents to turn their weapons against bloody tsarism and capitalism. In 1915, he substantiated the possibility of the victory of socialism in a single country. The February bourgeois year summoned Lenin from abroad to Petrograd. He edited Pravda, explaining the Bolshevik slogans and calls for a revolution that would be many times stronger than the February one. In addition, he conducted classes, gave speeches in the soldiers' barracks, in the work shops. The number of supporters of the revolution grew rapidly. An order was issued for the arrest of Lenin. Work continued underground.

Organization of the revolution

October 25, 1917 happened! Lenin's contribution to the revolution is indeed enormous. The doctrine he created about the party as the leader of the proletariat in the struggle for its dictatorship appeared for the bourgeoisie and all its manifestations. In addition, Lenin became the founder and leader of a new philosophical direction of the Marxist persuasion. The volume of works written by him is enormous: fifty-five volumes of learned texts. And the value set forth in them is immeasurable.

Disputes about the personality of Lenin and his influence on history have not subsided to this day. Some praise him, others attribute to him all the existing sins. We will try to avoid extremes and briefly describe what Lenin is famous for and what mark he left in history.

Origin of Lenin

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, whom the world knows today as Lenin, was born on April 22, 1870. His father was an inspector of public schools in the Simbirsk province, and his grandfather was a former serf. The subject of disputes and discussions is the nationality of Lenin. There is no reliable information about whether he himself attached any importance to this. In his family there were representatives of Russians, Jews, Kalmyks, Germans, Swedes and Chuvashs.

The brother of Vladimir Ilyich, Alexander, was in the ranks of the conspirators who were preparing an attempt on the life of the emperor. For this, the young man was executed, which was a heavy blow for the whole family. Perhaps it was this event that led Lenin to the path of revolution.

Beginning of revolutionary activity

In 1892-1893 Lenin became a supporter of social democratic ideas. He believed that the Russian workers should overthrow the tsarist government and lead their country, and then the whole world, to a communist revolution. Other Marxists were not so determined. They believed that Russia was not ready for such cardinal changes, that its proletariat was too weak, and that the material base for new production relations had not yet matured. Lenin, on the other hand, preferred to ignore the fears of his contemporaries and believed that the most important thing was to make a revolution.

Vladimir Ilyich contributed to the fact that the scattered revolutionary circles became a single "Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class." This organization was very active in propaganda activities. In 1895, Lenin, like many other members of the Union, was arrested. In 1897 he was sent into exile in the village of Shushenskoye. In 1898 he entered into an official marriage with his companion N. Krupskaya. At the request of the chief of police, they even got married, although they were atheists. One of the exiles made them wedding rings from a copper coin.

In exile, Lenin advised the peasants on legal issues, prepared documents for them, established contacts with the Social Democrats in large cities, and also wrote many of his fundamental works. Later he settles in Pskov, publishes the Iskra newspaper, the Zarya magazine, organizes the second congress of the RSDLP, draws up the party charter and work plan. During the revolution of 1905-1907. he was in Switzerland. Many party members were arrested, with the result that leadership passed to Lenin. A long period of emigration begins. In January 1917, in Switzerland, he says that he does not hope to live to see the coming great revolution, but he believes that the present younger generation will see it. Soon, the February Revolution took place in Russia, which Lenin considered a conspiracy of "Anglo-French imperialists."

Rise to power

April 3 (16) Lenin returns to his homeland. Speaking at the Finland Station, he called for a "social revolution". Such radicalism confused even his devoted supporters. In the famous "April Theses", he proclaims the course towards the transition of the bourgeois revolution to the proletarian one.

Lenin becomes the leader of the October armed uprising. The seizure of power was successful, as the country was going through an acute economic, political and military crisis. How old was Lenin when he made the revolution? He was 47, but for his ideas he fought with youthful uncompromisingness.

In 1917, contemporaries did not take the revolution seriously. They called it a coup and considered it a misunderstanding - accidental and temporary. But no matter how we evaluate Lenin's personality today, one thing cannot be taken away from him: he was able to feel the pain points of the people and subtly played on this. He understood that ordinary people were most concerned about two issues: the distribution of land and the conclusion of peace. The elite called Lenin's supporters German spies and accused them of betrayal. But for ordinary people, traitors were those who drove the soldiers to war and did not give the peasants land. Having come to power, the Bolsheviks began to eliminate the chaos in which the country was mired after the February revolution. They opposed order to anarchy and squabbles in the ranks of their opponents - and he naturally won.

In December 1922, Lenin's health was deteriorating. During this period, he dictated a number of notes, including the famous "Letter to the Congress." Some people tend to look at this document as Lenin's testament. They argue that if the country had continued to follow the true Leninist path, then many problems would not have arisen. If one adheres to this point of view, then Stalin deviated from the precepts of his predecessor, for which the whole people paid.

Lenin's key statements in the letter boil down to the following:

• difficulties in relations between Stalin and Trotsky threaten the unity of the party;
• perhaps Stalin will not be able to use his power carefully enough;
• Trotsky is a very capable man, but overconfident.

In recent years, some historians are beginning to doubt that the famous letter was really dictated by Lenin and attribute the authorship to N. Krupskaya. This question, obviously, will be the subject of discussion for a long time.

When Lenin died, the New Economic Policy was replaced by Stalin's radical industrialization. Because of this, Lenin and Stalin are sometimes contrasted on the principle of "good-bad". But Lenin himself viewed the NEP as a temporary measure. In addition, the Stalinist NKVD is the heir to the Leninist VKCh. History does not know the subjunctive mood, so we can evaluate Lenin only by his accomplishments.

For many people of the older generation, the leader of the revolution remains a great personality. They remember Lenin's birthday and believe that his path was in many ways the right one. Well, the younger generation has yet to give an objective assessment of his activities and do everything to prevent future leaders from repeating his mistakes.

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich(pseudonym) real name -Ulyanov"

• Childhood, family, study of V.I. Lenin
  
• revolutionary spiritLeninVladimir Ilyich
  
• Shushenskoe
• Life abroad
• PoliticsLeninVladimir Ilyich after the October Revolution
• last years of life
• The results of Lenin's activities
• Video about Lenin

"lenin Vladimir Ilich" (1870-1924)

Childhood, family, education

• The future revolutionary and leader of the proletariat was born into the Ulyanov family - representatives of the intelligentsia of Simbirsk (1870).
• His father was a teacher for a long time. Then he was appointed inspector of public schools in the province. And later became their director.
• For high merits in the field of public education, Ulyanov Sr. was repeatedly awarded orders, he was awarded the rank of a truly state councilor and granted the nobility.
• He died when the future leader of the proletariat was barely 15 years old.
• His wife was quite educated, and she herself taught a lot of children, of whom there were six in the Ulyanov family.
• According to genealogical research, among Lenin's ancestors were Jews, Germans, Swedes (by mother), Kalmyks (by father).
• Parents strongly encouraged the curiosity of children and supported them.
• Enrolling in the Simbirsk classical gymnasium (1879), he quickly became the first student, showing a special craving for history, philosophy, and literature.
• Vladimir graduated from this educational institution "with excellent marks". And he decided to continue his studies at Kazan University, choosing the profession of a lawyer.
• A big blow for the Ulyanovs was the death of the head of the family. And the execution of the eldest son that followed soon after. Alexander was arrested and sentenced to death for his role in organizing an assassination attempt against the emperor.
• And soon Vladimir was expelled from the university as one of the participants in the student meeting. And they are sent to the remote village estate of the mother.
• A few years later, the Ulyanovs moved to Samara. This is where his acquaintance with Marxist ideas begins.
• Without finishing his studies at Kazan University, Vladimir Ilyich managed to study externally at. After that, he was appointed to the position of a lawyer's assistant (sworn attorney) (1892).

revolutionary spirit

• Most researchers believe that the craving for revolutionary activity awakened in young Vladimir after the execution of his brother. Then there were the works of Marx, which strengthened it.
• Vladimir did not work in the legal profession for a long time - only a year. After that, he moved away from jurisprudence and moved to St. Petersburg. Here he joined the student circle of the Institute of Technology. The members of this community were engaged in an in-depth study of Marxist ideas.
• Two years later, he went abroad, where he had the opportunity to meet with many participants in the international labor movement.

Shushenskoe

• After returning from a trip abroad, together with L. Martov, he took an active part in the founding of the "Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class" of St. Petersburg, which carried out active propaganda among ordinary workers. However, he was soon arrested. He spent more than a year in prison, and then was sent to Siberia - to the village of Shushenskoye.
• The clean air and favorable climate of Shushensky had a beneficial effect on the health of the young revolutionary. Here he married N. Krupskaya, who, like him, was exiled for prohibited activities. He found in Siberia the application of his legal knowledge, giving advice to the peasants. He is also active in writing. His works bring him popularity among the followers of Marxism.

Life abroad

• Back in 1898, the First Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party was organized in Minsk. Its participants were dispersed and many were taken under arrest. Therefore, after returning from exile, the leaders of the Union of Struggle, including Lenin, are trying to gather scattered and scattered members of this party.
• As one of the means of association, they decide to use the newspaper. To seek support and negotiate with foreign supporters, Ulyanov again goes abroad.
• Living for a long time in Munich, London, Geneva, he meets the right people. He is included in the editorial board of the new Iskra newspaper. On its pages, he begins to sign with his pseudonym. Later it is used in life.
• Here in immigration, he formed his own vision of the tasks and goals of the Social Democratic Party.
• As a result, already during the second congress of the RSDLP (1903), the party split into "Mensheviks" and "Bolsheviks". The latter, who supported the position of Ulyanov-Lenin, got their name due to the fact that they made up the majority in the voting. Well, their opponents began to be called "Mensheviks".
• Almost at the same time, with the light hand of Martov, the term "Leninism" appeared. With him, a former associate of Lenin's, outlined radical methods in the theory and practice of the revolution.
• Having only briefly arrived in Russia during the years of the first revolution (1905-07), he actively worked at the head of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party and their new organ, Novaya Zhizn. Not sharing the opinion of those who were preparing the revolution, he nonetheless hoped for its victory: it was supposed to rid the country of autocracy and open a further path for the implementation of the plans of the Bolsheviks.
• However, after the unsuccessful completion of the uprising, he goes first to Switzerland, and then to Finland. But being there, he is keenly interested in what is happening in his homeland.
• So, he learned about the beginning of the war while in Austria-Hungary, in a remote town of Poronino (the territory of modern Poland). Here he was arrested, suspecting him of a Russian spy. Local Social Democrats helped him avoid a long prison term.
• Immediately after that, he began to vehemently oppose the war and advocated its end. Moreover, the fact that in the event of a cessation of resistance, Russia could completely end up in German occupation, did not bother him and did not stop him.
• The February revolution came as a complete surprise to him (as well as to the majority of immigrants and Russian social democrats).
• After that, after 17 years spent abroad, the leader of the proletariat was going to Russia.

Return to Russia

• He returned to Petrograd along with 35 of his associates. Moreover, they overcame the territory of enemy Germany completely unhindered, having secured the permission of the sweets of this country. It was in April (1917). And immediately upon arrival, right at the station, realizing that those gathered here did not come to arrest him, but to support him, he delivered his famous fiery speech, climbing onto an armored car.
• His radical idea of ​​an armed uprising of the workers was not supported by many party members. However, the people liked it.
• After Lenin's first unsuccessful attempt to take power into his own hands, as a result of which he was accused of treason in favor of Germany, he and several associates take refuge in the vicinity of Petrograd. He returned only a few months later to organize a revolutionary coup, or rather to give the final impetus to its implementation.
• When the October events had already become the past, Lenin and his followers, by hook or by crook, having eliminated their political opponents and dissenters, came to power. Vladimir Ilyich moved to the Kremlin, becoming not only the leader of the party, but also the country.

We can briefly say about Vladimir Ilyich Lenin that this is an outstanding figure who played a significant role in Russian history. Creator of the RSDLP and so-called. the leader of the world proletariat, regardless of the assessment of his activities, directed Russia along a special path of development, which affected the entire world history.

General characteristics and performance evaluations

• Vladimir Ilyich Lenin is a man to whom an incredible number of books, articles, and publications are dedicated. His characteristics range from servile worship, recognition as a genius of all times and peoples, to outright abuse and denigration, identification with the devil who plunged Russia into hell.
• Of course, all Soviet literature belongs to the first kind of assessments. This is not surprising. The man who was the leader of the Bolsheviks and carried out the October Revolution could not help but become a role model in the state he created. Despite Stalin's purges, during which former heroes of the revolution were easily forgotten and erased from memory, Lenin's authority was never questioned. Interestingly, even rivals in the ideological struggle ( Stalinists, Trotskyists, Zinovievists), disagreeing, always looked for Lenin's statements confirming their correctness.
• After the exposure of the "cult of Stalin" and his associates, during which the very principles of the development of the Soviet state were questioned, Lenin also remained at an unattainable height. Criticism of the leader not only did not exist, but it simply could not arise among the population.
• Of course, this situation was possible for several reasons. First, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin left an incredible literary legacy. All his notes, not excluding the most trifling ones, were carefully collected and published in the form of a collection of works, which seemed to be the pinnacle of human wisdom. Lenin was a rather flexible politician, and in his writings, depending on the political moment, one can find direct contradictions to himself. However, there are hardly many people who have seriously read the entire collection of his works. Most often, they were simply used to confirm their own thoughts or actions.
  Secondly, even during his lifetime, Lenin was literally deified, to be sure about the halo of inaccessibility that was created after his death. Stories for children about Lenin are striking in their naivety and simplicity, and after all, more than one Soviet generation was brought up on them.
• Finally, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was indeed an outstanding personality. Possessing a great intellect, he could easily talk about some high economic problems and at the same time furiously, without understanding the expressions, attack his ideological opponents. Many, by the way, attribute to him the tradition of using not quite decent words and expressions in journalism ("sharks of imperialism", "political prostitute", etc.).
• The very fact of the implementation of the socialist revolution in a particular country, the formation of a state that announced plans to build communism, cannot but cause a special attitude towards Lenin. Being a fanatic of the revolution, he completely subordinated his life to this goal. The mentality of the Russian people allows you to forgive the most terrible deeds of a person who does not seek only personal well-being.
• The opposite point of view belongs to Russian emigrants who were forced to flee Russia after the revolution and some modern Russian historians. The position of the emigrants is understandable. Having lost all their fortune, they were expelled from their own country and declared enemies of the new state. The main culprit for what happened for them was Lenin. These assessments bear an enormous stamp of subjectivity (for example, Bunin about Lenin: "Oh, what an animal this is!").
• Huge streams of mud were poured after Perestroika on the entire Soviet historical period, including on Lenin. This is a completely understandable phenomenon: after years of censorship, people were able to openly express their opinions. But attributing all mortal sins to Lenin, declaring him an enemy of all mankind, operating with unproven evidence and facts is too reminiscent of Soviet times, only with the opposite sign.
• At the present time, when the era of the USSR is beginning to be considered more objectively, works appear impartially covering the personality of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Both negative and positive aspects of his activity are recognized.

The main directions of Lenin's policy before the seizure of power

• Leading the fight against the tsarist government, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, at the head of the Bolshevik Party, immediately took an uncompromising position, excluding the possibility of any compromise. He considered the ultimate goal of his activity only a revolution, for the achievement of which all means are suitable.
• The success of the Bolshevik agitation cannot be explained solely by the personal qualities of Lenin or other members of the party. Russia was indeed in an extremely difficult situation. Despite the vast territory, rich natural resources and human potential, the country still lagged behind the leading world powers, but at the same time resolutely declared its imperial ambitions. The mediocre Russian-Japanese war, which resulted in the revolutionary events of 1905-1907, vividly showed the failure of the state system. The creation of the State Duma, attempts to carry out some half-hearted reforms could no longer calm the population, but only postponed the next explosion of discontent.
• The true cause of the revolution, along with the poverty of the bulk of the population, was World War I. General jingoistic enthusiasm, faith in Russian "miracle soldiers" quickly gave way to disappointment and a premonition of disaster. Lenin was a genius or not, but only he was able to get the most out of what was happening. Having declared from the very beginning that the war was imperialist and wrong, he resolutely spoke out against waging it and, in general, against winning the war. Lenin agitated that the bayonets of the soldiers should be deployed in a different direction, towards their own government. The Bolshevik agitation against the war could not in itself be the cause of the defeat, but it lay on the fertile soil of the soldiers' discontent.
• The logical result was the February Revolution, after which we can already talk about the real influence of the Bolsheviks and Lenin on political processes through the councils of workers' and soldiers' deputies. The well-known Order No. 1 of the Petrograd Soviet actually meant the collapse of the Russian army and defeat in the war. The state no longer has an authoritative political leader or movement capable of rectifying the situation. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin played on these sentiments, calling for a radical break in the existing system. The slogans of the Bolsheviks were as simple as possible and close to the people, ready for anything, if only to somehow improve their situation.
  In the end, Lenin simply showed maximum composure and readiness to take power into his own hands. The October Revolution, despite its subsequent idealization and heroic chanting, took place almost without bloodshed. In general, there were no defenders.

Politics of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin after the October Revolution

• Having seized power, the Bolsheviks declared their government temporary, as they promised to hold elections to the Constituent Assembly, which was supposed to decide the issue of the Russian state system. The elections were held in November 1918 and did not bring Lenin the desired result (the Bolsheviks received only 25% of the vote). However, the leader of the RSDLP already possessed all the main levers of state power, so the voting results did not play a big role for him.
• Critics of Lenin blame him for the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly at the beginning of 1918. However, this body did not have any real power. Ignoring by the Bolsheviks of his decisions and status in general did not affect the political situation in the country. In fact, only members of the Constituent Assembly remained dissatisfied. The few demonstrations against its crackdown confirm this.
• One of the blackest deeds of Lenin's policy is the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 1918) with Germany. The terms of the treaty were extremely humiliating. Huge territories were given to Germany, Russia was obliged to immediately demobilize the army and navy, a huge amount of reparations was imposed on it, etc. On the one hand, Lenin deliberately agreed to such conditions, since he understood that he needed forces to protect his own power. On the other hand, was there any real alternative to such a solution. Russia clearly could not continue the war, torn apart by internal contradictions. Dragging out the war could lead to even worse results. It is not known whether Lenin foresaw the subsequent events, but already in November 1918, during the revolution in Germany, the Soviet government unilaterally canceled the terms of the peace treaty. Ultimately, history confirmed that the signing of the treaty was not the worst decision at that time.
• One of the directions of Lenin's policy after the revolution was the elimination of political competitors. Initially, the Cadets party was outlawed as contrary to the very idea of ​​a socialist state. However, with the exception of the arrest of the party leaders, she was not persecuted for about six months and was even able to take part in the work of the Constituent Assembly.
• Gradually, the Bolshevik Party gained strength, and the struggle against political opponents was becoming more and more brutal. There are arrests, repressions, executions of people objectionable to the new government. A special direction was the struggle with the church and priests. The result is the Civil War.
  In this cruel clash, the Russian people suffered great losses. The country was subjected to the greatest disasters, from the consequences of which it was not easy to get rid of later. It is difficult to determine the right and wrong in this fratricidal war, but it cannot be said that the Bolsheviks won only thanks to a tough repressive policy. The white movement was not popular among the broad masses of the population, this is the reason for its defeat. Lenin, on the other hand, managed to captivate the people with his slogans, not all of which, unfortunately, were implemented in practice.
• Vladimir Ilyich Lenin declared the proletariat to be the main driving force in society; accordingly, the dictatorship of the proletariat became the form of power. Only in alliance with him will the other classes (peasantry and intelligentsia) be able to advance along the road of social progress towards building the highest phase—communism.
  The main directions of Lenin's policy, arising from the task set, were: the concentration of all power in the hands of one party; nationalization of all branches of production, lands, banks; abolition of private property; the eradication of religion as a means to stupefy the people, etc.
• Economic difficulties and the Civil War led Lenin to proclaim the policy of war communism, which included the implementation of a large-scale "Red Terror". Merciless extermination and robbery of the "exploiting" classes began in order to obtain material resources and food. These measures really characterize Vladimir Ilyich Lenin as a very cruel person, striding towards his goal over the corpses of enemies. The call for the destruction of the kulaks as a class led to the fact that agriculture lost its main producers. Protection primarily of the poor led to the fact that idlers and parasites often received power in the village.
• During the years of the Civil War, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin proved himself to be a brilliant organizer, who was able to achieve maximum centralization of power and the effective distribution of the limited resources available in a short time. The proclaimed social equality made it possible to promote many talented military leaders from among the people, who won victories over the white generals. As a result, by 1920 the main pockets of resistance had been crushed. Until 1922, only the struggle for the establishment of Soviet power on the outskirts of the former Russian Empire continued.
• However, the end of the Civil War posed new problems for Lenin. The policy of war communism had exhausted itself; a transition to peaceful construction was needed. In March 1921, Lenin announced the transition to the New Economic Policy (NEP), which consisted of some concessions to capitalism in order to overcome the economic crisis. The lease of small and medium-sized enterprises was allowed, it became possible to hire labor, instead of surplus appropriation and tax in kind, a progressive income tax was introduced for peasants, etc. On the whole, this policy brought results. So, by the mid-1920s. the country reached the pre-war level of production.

last years of life

• In August 1918, an assassination attempt was made on the leader of the revolution. According to the official version, F. Kaplan, a fan from the camp of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, shot at him. However, despite the severe injury, Lenin continued to work.
• After 4 years, according to his recommendation, the foundation of the USSR was formed. At the same time, there is a sharp deterioration in the health of the leader. For some time he struggled with the disease with varying success, continuing to work and lead the country.
• But at the beginning of 1924, the disease finally prevailed, and on January 21, a person, under whose strict guidance one state was destroyed and a completely different state was created, dies.

• Vladimir Ilyich Lenin became the initiator of one of the largest events in Russian and world history - the October Revolution. The world's first socialist state was created. The statement about the inevitability of building communism, of course, did not justify itself, but the fact that an absolutely new model of the state was created is beyond doubt.
• The USSR existed for almost 70 years, achieving, along with the United States, the status of a world leader. The Soviet state won the Second World War, gave the world a large number of scientific discoveries, scientists, artists, etc. The very existence of a socialist state influenced the development of all regions of the globe.

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (revolutionary pseudonym - Lenin) was born in Simbirsk on April 22, 1870. There he was baptized according to the Christian rite. His father, Ilya Nikolayevich, who managed to get an excellent education, was successfully promoted and reached the rank of 4th class in the table of ranks, which gave him the right to receive a noble title. In the last years of his life, Ilya Nikolayevich served as an inspector of public schools.

Did Volodya believe in God as a child? Probably, he simply fulfilled the requirements of the elders. He always had excellent marks in the Law of God. But at the age of sixteen he consciously retreated from faith in God.

Father was buried in 1886, at the age of 54, when Volodya Ulyanov was only 16 years old. In the summer of 1887 the family left Simbirsk for Kazan.

M.M., a party comrade-in-arms, wrote about her acquaintance with the Ulyanov family. Essen.

“It was a real family, as it was drawn to us in the distant future. Vladimir Ilyich's love for his family, tender care for his mother ... runs through Lenin's whole life.

When Vladimir entered Kazan University at the Faculty of Law, he greatly upset his mentor Fyodor Mikhailovich Kerensky, who insisted on continuing his education in literature and linguistics.

In 1887, the Ulyanov family learned about the participation of their eldest son and brother Alexander in revolutionary terrorist activities. On May 8, he was executed as a terrorist who encroached on the life of Emperor Alexander 3.

In the same period, Vladimir was involved in the work of the student circle "Narodnaya Volya", which was led by Lazar Bogoraz. And already three months after enrolling in the university, Vladimir Ulyanov was expelled from it for his involvement in student demonstrations that turned into riots and was subject to expulsion from Kazan.

At the request of L. A. Ardasheva, his maternal aunt, the deported V. Ulyanov went to the village of Kokushkino, Laishevsky district, Kazan province. Here, having settled in the house of the Ardashevs, he studied the works of N.G. Chernyshevsky, reading Marxist and other literature.

In the autumn of 1888, with the permission of the authorities, he returned to Kazan, where he was introduced to one of the Marxist circles. At the meetings, the works of Marx, Engels, were comprehended and discussed.

In 1890, the authorities had mercy and allowed Vladimir Ulyanov to prepare externally for the exams for a lawyer. A year later, in November 1891, Vladimir Ilyich passed the exams for the entire course of the law faculty of the Imperial St. Petersburg University. He also studied literature on economics, and especially on agriculture.

Having received a diploma, Vladimir Ilyich worked as an assistant to the lawyer A.N. Hardin. The novice lawyer was entrusted mainly with "state protection" in criminal cases.

In May 1895, Vladimir Ilyich left for Europe, where he met:

• In Switzerland - with G. Plekhanov,
• In Germany - In Liebknecht,
• In France - P. Lafargue.

Returning to St. Petersburg, Lenin, together with Trotsky, Martov, and other future revolutionaries, set about uniting individual Marxist groups and circles into the "Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class." The first task that Lenin set before his comrades-in-arms was the overthrow of the autocracy.

For active participation in anti-government activities, Vladimir Ulyanov was taken into custody in December 1895. For more than a year, while the investigation was ongoing, he served time in a St. Petersburg prison, and in 1897 he was in the Minusinsk district of the Yenisei province. At the same time, Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya also went into exile, who was assigned the Ufa province as her place of departure. In order for Krupskaya to be allowed to come to Shushenskoye, Vladimir Ilyich had to get married, as required by Orthodox custom and Russian law.

In Siberia, the study "The Development of Capitalism in Russia", directed against populist theories, and more than 30 other books were written. He corresponded regularly with the Social Democrats of Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod and other large Russian cities. Provided legal assistance to local farmers. In revolutionary circles, Vladimir Ilyich was known as K. Tulin.

On July 29, 1900, Lenin emigrated to Switzerland, where he began publishing a newspaper, and later a theoretical journal. The editorial board included Plekhanov, V. I. Zasulich, P. B. Axelrod, representing the emigrant group "Emancipation of Labor", and three representatives of the "Union of Struggle" - Lenin, Martov and Potresov.

The first issue of Iskra was printed on December 24, 1900. The revolutionary newspaper came out with a circulation of 8 to 10 thousand copies. In April 1901, Krupskaya also arrived in Munich.

In the autumn of 1905, Lenin illegally arrived in the capital to lead the preparations for an armed uprising. During this period, 2 books were created:

• "Two Tactics of Social Democracy in the Democratic Revolution",
• "To the rural poor".

In December 1905, the first conference of the RSDLP took place, at which Lenin met I. Stalin.

Lenin and Krupskaya returned to Geneva in 1908, where they lived until April 1917. After the defeat of the first revolution, he decided not to give up. "Broken armies learn well." They have been living in exile for 9 years. It was then, in 1909, that an important event happened in Lenin's biography - an acquaintance with Inessa Armand. They will be together for 11 years, until her death. However, he does not abandon Krupskaya. It is believed that Armand was his mistress all these years, although their relationship may have been platonic.

At the party conference of 1912 there was a final disengagement from the Mensheviks.

On May 5, 1912, the Bolshevik newspaper Pravda began to be published in St. Petersburg, which was first edited by Stalin, and later by Kamenev.

There is evidence that the Germans, the enemies of Russia in the First World War, were engaged in pre-revolutionary financing of the Bolsheviks. With their money, Lenin and his comrades launched active propaganda against the tsar and against (which was extremely important for Germany) the war.

After the February Revolution, the Germans send the leader and several of his comrades to Russia in a sealed wagon. There they were actively involved in political life, and in April 1917 Lenin put forward his famous ones.

In October 1917, Lenin led the revolution. In an address written on October 25 (old style), Lenin announced the overthrow of the provisional government. On the same day, the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets opened, which approved the decrees on land and peace. At the congress, a new government was formed, headed by V. I. Lenin - the Council of People's Commissars.

On March 3, 1918, Lenin signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. It was a humiliating treaty for Russia, but it provided a respite from the war. In protest against this treaty, the social revolutionaries left the government.

Fearing the capture of Petrograd by the Germans, the Council of People's Commissars and the Central Committee of the RCP (b) relocated to Moscow. Since then, Moscow has regained the status of the capital, becoming the main city of the new state.

On August 30 of the same year, Lenin was committed. He was badly wounded. The Bolsheviks responded to this assassination attempt by the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of 09/05/1918 "On the Red Terror". A few months earlier, on July 26, Lenin wrote that it was necessary to encourage the energy and mass character of terror against counter-revolutionaries.

On January 20, 1918, the Decree on Freedom of Conscience, Church and Religious Societies was adopted. According to this decree, all the property of church societies was declared public property. It was declared that “every citizen can profess any religion or not profess any. Any right deprivation associated with the confession of any faith or non-profession of any faith is canceled.

However, in reality, believers were persecuted at the level of party and public organizations, in schools and universities. Lenin himself actively hated the Russian Orthodox Church, stigmatizing it as "a department of police Orthodoxy." The church lost the rights of a legal entity, the representatives of the clergy lost their political rights and freedoms. Monasteries and churches were closed, property was nationalized. Since the beginning of 1922, a mass execution of clergy began. Even when he was ill, Lenin waged an uncompromising struggle with the church.