reign: 1917-1924)
LENIN (Ulyanov) Vladimir Ilyich(10(22).04.1870-21.01.1924) - state and political figure, founder of the Bolshevik Party and the Soviet State.
Born in Simbirsk in the family of I.N. Ulyanov, a figure of public education who received hereditary nobility. In 1887 he graduated from high school with a gold medal. In the same year, Vladimir’s elder brother, Alexander, who was a supporter of the terrorist wing of populism, was executed for preparing an assassination attempt on Alexander III. In 1887, V. Ulyanov entered the law faculty of Kazan University. In December of the same year, he was arrested for participating in a student meeting and expelled from the university. Sent to the family estate in the village of Kokushkino, Kazan province. The death of his brother forced V. Ulyanov to turn to revolutionary activity. He took up the study of Marxism.
In 1891, he passed the university exams as an external student. From 1892 to 1893 worked in Samara as an assistant to a sworn attorney. Since 1893, he was a member of the student circle of Marxists at the Technological Institute, and carried out propaganda in working-class circles. In 1894-1895 came out first major works with criticism of populism and the justification of Marxism “What are “friends of the people” and how they fight against the Social Democrats”, “The economic content of populism...”. Then he met N.K. Krupskaya, who 4 years later became his wife. In 1895 - one of the founders of the Union of Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class. Was arrested. In 1897 V.I. was expelled. Ulyanov (Lenin) for 3 years in the village of Shushenskoye, Yenisei province. From then on he became a professional revolutionary.
In 1900 he went abroad. Together with G.V. Plekhanov began publishing the newspaper Iskra. He published his works under various pseudonyms, one of which - Lenin - remained with him forever. At the Second Congress of the RSDLP (1903) he headed the Bolshevik faction. In 1904 Yu.O. Martov was the first to use the term “Leninism,” denoting the movement of Lenin’s supporters. During the revolution of 1905-1907. Lenin oriented the Bolsheviks toward an armed uprising against tsarism and the establishment of a democratic republic. In November 1905 he returned to Russia illegally and led the work of the party. In December 1907 he emigrated. After the revolution of 1905-1907. took a number of steps to strengthen the Bolshevik wing of the RSDLP. He actively participated in the restoration of the central bodies of the party, which were in crisis after the defeat of the revolution.
At the 6th Prague Party Conference in 1912, he separated the Bolshevik wing of the RSDLP into a separate party - the RSDLP (Bolsheviks). Elected a member of the Central Committee, on his initiative the newspaper Pravda was created. He supported actions of forced expropriation of funds (bank robberies, etc.) to replenish the party coffers.
At the beginning of World War I, while on the territory of Austria-Hungary (Poronino), he was arrested on suspicion of espionage for Russia. After his release he went to Switzerland. He opposed the war and put forward the slogan of turning the imperialist war into a civil war. By the end of the summer of 1915, he concluded that in the era of imperialism " the victory of socialism is possible initially in a few or even in one individual capitalist country".
I learned about the victory of the February Revolution of 1917 from Swiss newspapers. On March 6, after the English and French governments refused to allow political emigrants into Russia, a meeting of their representatives accepted Martov’s proposal (at the suggestion of Parvus, an agent of the German General Staff) to return through Germany. The carriage in which the political emigrants were to travel was assigned extraterritoriality; under no circumstances were passengers to leave it. On March 27, the carriage with emigrants left Switzerland. Hoping that the activities of the Bolsheviks would weaken Russian army, Germany provided them with financial assistance.
April 3, 1917 V.I. Lenin returned to Russia. On April 4, he proposed a program for the transition from a bourgeois-democratic revolution to a socialist one under the slogan “All power to the Soviets!” (" April Theses"). G.V. Plekhanov assessed this program as an insane, extremely harmful attempt." sow anarchic unrest on Russian soil". At the 1st Congress of Soviets in June 1917, where Lenin was supported by only 10% of the delegates, he declared that the Bolshevik Party was ready to take power. In the July days, due to unrest among the soldiers of the St. Petersburg garrison, which was supposed to be sent to front, the Bolsheviks tried to achieve the transfer of power to the Soviets, but were unsuccessful. The Bolsheviks were accused of treason, Lenin and Zinoviev were forced to hide. At the beginning of October 1917, Lenin returned illegally to Petrograd at a meeting of the Central Committee on October 10 and 16, along with Trotsky. Kamenev and Zinoviev, achieved the decision to start an armed uprising. On the evening of October 24, he was in the Smolny Palace, from where he led the uprising. On October 26, at the 2nd All-Russian Congress of Soviets, according to his reports, decrees on peace and land were adopted, the congress formed the first Bolshevik government - the Council of People's Commissars. , of which Lenin was elected chairman.
Having become the head of the government, Lenin began to oust the “right” parties from political life Russia, some of them were banned, freedom of speech was ended. In January 1918, by order of Lenin, the Constituent Assembly, which refused to recognize the power of the Bolsheviks, was dispersed.
In the beginning. 1918 Lenin actively fought with the “left communists” and Trotsky over the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty. As a result, the “shameful” Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed with Germany; Germany occupied a huge part of Russian territory. Resistance to the Bolshevik policies resulted in the Civil War.
After the suppression of the Left Socialist Revolutionary rebellion in July 1918, Lenin became the undisputed leader of the party and head of state. August 30, 1918 for the life of V.I. An assassination attempt was made on Lenin and he was seriously wounded. After this, “Red Terror” was declared in the country, which led to numerous casualties.
Lenin became the ideologist of the policy of "war communism". During the period of “war communism”, free trade was prohibited in the country, commodity-money relations were replaced by exchange in kind, and surplus appropriation was introduced. The policy of "war communism" caused discontent among the peasantry. Peasant uprisings took place throughout the country. In response, hundreds of political opponents of the Bolsheviks were arrested, imprisoned in concentration camps, expelled from the country, and a blow was struck against the Russian Orthodox Church. On Lenin’s personal instructions, over 8 thousand priests and monks were shot, monasteries and cathedrals were desecrated and looted.
As a result of "war communism" and the Civil War, the country lost approx. 10 million people, industrial production decreased by 1920 compared to 1913 by 7 times. But, despite the support of the anti-Bolshevik protests by the Entente countries and the complete international isolation of Lenin’s government, the Bolsheviks under his leadership managed to win the Civil War. In 1917-1922 Lenin's unique organizational talent and his will to win by any means emerged.
The sharp deterioration of the economic situation in the country, caused by the destructive fratricidal war, required a change in policy. At the Tenth Party Congress in March 1921, Lenin put forward a program of “new economic policy” (NEP), which soon brought positive results. The process has begun economic growth, however, Lenin did not have to pursue this economic policy; a serious illness put him out of action for a long time. His forced departure from leadership soon sparked a struggle for power in the country and the party, with Stalin and Trotsky vying for the role of leader. Already at the beginning 1923 Lenin, foreseeing a split in the Central Committee, in his “Letter to the Congress” described all the leading figures of the Central Committee and proposed to remove I.V. Stalin from the post of General Secretary. He also opposed the growth of the bureaucratic apparatus and for strengthening workers' control. However, his health deteriorated sharply, recent months During his life, Lenin was paralyzed and died of a cerebral hemorrhage. He was buried in Moscow in the Mausoleum on Red Square.
After his death, a grandiose myth was created around Lenin’s name; his biography was constantly “varnished” in accordance with the requirements of the current political moment. Nowadays, only one thing is indisputable, that he was a politician of global scale, who determined the long years development of world history of the 20th century.
Vladimir Lenin was a politician on a global scale. He managed to create a completely new state. On the one hand, he was able to win a political and triumphant victory. On the other hand, historically Lenin found himself in the camp of losers. After all, his cause, based on the principles of violence, was doomed from the very beginning. Despite this, it was Vladimir Ulyanov who determined the vector of development of world history of the twentieth century.
A complete biography of Lenin is contained not only in Soviet encyclopedias. Numerous books are dedicated to his life. There is a biography of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin on Wikipedia. It exists on various sites dedicated to history and biography. famous people. We studied the biography and personal life of Lenin, briefly presenting the information in the article.
Roots
The biography of Vladimir Lenin began in the mid-spring of 1870 in Simbirsk. His dad worked as a school inspector; he did a lot for public education. Ilya Nikolaevich lost his father early and his older brother took care of his upbringing. At that time he was a clerk at one of the city firms. Nevertheless, Lenin's father received a good education. He was a hardworking man - the leader of the proletariat inherited his colossal capacity for work from his father. Thanks to the merits of Ilya Nikolaevich, the Ulyanovs were even given hereditary nobility.
On his mother’s side, Lenin’s grandfather Alexander Blank was a doctor and medical inspector at the hospitals of the arms factory in Zlatoust. At one time he married a German girl, Anna Grosskopf. Later, my grandfather retired and received the rank of nobility. He even became a landowner, purchasing the Kokushkino estate.
Lenin's mother was a home teacher. She was considered an emancipated woman and tried to adhere to leftist views. She was known not only as an excellent and hospitable hostess, but also as a caring, fair mother. She taught her children the basics foreign languages and music.
There is still debate about Lenin's nationality (the biography contains a lot of contradictory information). Many are documented, but most are unsubstantiated. Lenin himself considered himself Russian.
Childhood
Lenin's life (his biography confirms this) was not initially distinguished by originality. He was a smart boy. When Volodya was five years old, he began to read. When Vladimir entered the Simbirsk gymnasium, he was considered a real “walking encyclopedia.” The future leader of the state was not interested in exact sciences. The young man loved history, philosophy, statistics, and economic disciplines.
He was a diligent, careful and gifted student. Teachers repeatedly presented Ulyanov with certificates of merit.
According to classmates, young Lenin had great authority and respect. In addition, the head of the gymnasium, F. Kerensky, the father of the future head of the Provisional Government, at one time also gave a rather high assessment of Lenin’s abilities.
The beginning of the revolutionary path
In 1887, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, whose biography we are considering, completed his gymnasium education, receiving a gold medal. At the same time, he learned that his older brother Alexander was arrested. He was accused of attempting to assassinate the Russian autocrat. Before this, Sasha was a university student in the Northern capital. He learned the basics of biology, was considered a talented young man and planned to become a scientist. He didn’t have any radical ideas then. But, be that as it may, at the beginning of May 1887 he was executed.
Meanwhile, his younger brother Vladimir also became a student. He studied in Kazan and in his first year began to participate in the student revolutionary movement. After some time, he was completely expelled from the university. Soon the young revolutionary was sent into exile in the same province.
A year later, Ulyanov was allowed to return to Kazan. A little later, he and his family moved to Samara. It was in this city that the young man began to become thoroughly acquainted with the postulates of Marxism. He also became a member of one of the Marxist circles.
After some time, Ulyanov managed to pass exams as an external student in a law faculty course at the University of St. Petersburg. On next year the young lawyer became an assistant attorney. However, he was unable to fully prove himself as a specialist and soon finally parted with jurisprudence. Vladimir moved to the Northern capital and became a member of the Marxist student circle organized at the Technological Institute. In addition, he began to create a program for the Social Democratic Party.
As the biography tells - Russian), in 1895 he went abroad for the first time. Vladimir visited countries such as Germany, Switzerland and France. It was there that he managed to meet not only the leaders of the international labor movement V. Liebknecht and P. Lafargue, but also his political idol G. Plekhanov.
Emigration
When Vladimir Ulyanov returned to the capital, he attempted to unite all the disparate Marxist circles into one organization. It's about about the "Union of Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class." Of course, members of this organization have already tried to implement their plan to overthrow the Russian autocracy.
short biography V.I. Lenin contains information that he actively promoted this idea. As a result, the revolutionary was arrested. For a long time he was in a prison cell. And after that, in the early spring of 1897, he was deported to Siberia, to the village of Shushenskoye. The term of exile was determined to be three years. Here Ulyanov communicated with other exiles, wrote articles, and did translations.
As a brief biography of Vladimir Lenin tells, in 1900 he decided to emigrate. He lived in Geneva, Munich, London.
It was during these years that Vladimir created the political publication Iskra. On these pages, for the first time, he signed his articles with the party pseudonym “Lenin”.
After some time, he became one of the initiators of convening the Congress of the RSDLP. As a result, the organization was split into two camps. Ulyanov managed to lead the Bolshevik Party. He began to launch an active struggle against the Mensheviks.
In 1905, he continued to prepare an armed uprising in the Russian Empire. There Vladimir learned that the First Russian Revolution had begun in the country.
First blood
A short biography of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin suggests that he could not remain indifferent to the events in Russia. He arrived in his homeland for a short time. A little later, Lenin found himself in Finland. During this time, Ulyanov tried in every possible way to attract people to his side. He encouraged them to arm themselves and attack officials.
In addition, he proposed boycotting the first State Duma. Note that Lenin later admitted his mistake. He also supported the bloody Moscow uprising and from exile gave advice to the rebels.
Meanwhile, the revolution finally ended in failure. In 1907, at the fifth congress, all parties were already opposed. This factional struggle reached its climax at the party conference in 1912. This happened in Prague.
In addition, during the same period, Ulyanov managed to organize the publication of a legal Bolshevik newspaper. Note that initially this publication, in fact, was created by L. Trotsky. It was a non-factional newspaper. In 1912, Lenin, by and large, became the main ideologist of the publication. And Joseph Dzhugashvili was chosen as editor-in-chief.
War
After the defeat in the revolution, Ulyanov began to analyze the mistakes of the Bolsheviks. Over time, these failures turned into victories. The Bolsheviks rallied like never before and began new wave revolutionary movement.
And in 1914, Lenin was in Austria-Hungary. It was here that he learned that the First World War. The future head of the Soviet state was arrested. He was accused of spying for the Russian Empire. The consequences could have been more than dire, but the Austrian and Polish Social Democrats stood up for their associate. As a result, Lenin was forced to move to neutral Switzerland. It was during this period that the revolutionary made a call to overthrow the Russian government and turn the imperialist war into a civil war.
This position initially led him to complete isolation even in Social Democratic circles. In addition, when the war was going on, Ulyanov’s ties with the Motherland were almost completely severed. And the Bolshevik Party itself inevitably broke up into several separate organizations.
February 1917
When the February Revolution came, Lenin and his comrades received permission to come to Germany and from there go to Russia. Once in his homeland, Lenin was given a solemn meeting. He spoke to the people and called for " social revolution" He believed that power should belong to members of the Bolshevik Party. Of course, many people did not share this position at all.
Despite this, Lenin spoke at rallies and meetings literally every day. He tirelessly called for people to stand under the banner of the Soviets. By the way, at that time Stalin also supported the theses of the Bolshevik leader.
In early July, the Bolsheviks were once again accused of espionage and treason. Now - in favor of Germany. Lenin was forced to go into hiding. He and his associate Zinoviev ended up in Razliv. After some time, Lenin secretly moved to Finland.
And at the very end of the summer of 1917, the Kornilov performance began. The Bolsheviks were against the rebels and thus they managed to rehabilitate themselves in the eyes of socialist organizations.
Meanwhile, in mid-autumn, Lenin arrived illegally in the revolutionary capital. At party meetings, he and Trotsky managed to achieve the adoption of an official resolution related to the armed uprising.
October Revolution
Ulyanov acted harshly and quickly. The biography of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (Wikipedia also contains this information) says that on October 20, 1917, he began to lead the direct uprising. On the night of October 25-26, the Bolsheviks arrested members of the Provisional Government. A little later, decrees on peace and land were adopted. In addition, SovNarK was formed, headed by Ulyanov.
It has truly begun new era. Lenin had to deal with urgent issues. So, the head of state began to create the Red Army. He was also forced to conclude a peace treaty with Germany. In addition, the development of a program for the formation of a socialist society began. Thus, the Congress of Soviets of Workers, Peasants and Soldiers became a government body. And the capital of the proletarian state moved to Moscow.
However, several unpopular steps of the new government - such as the conclusion Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly led to a complete break with representatives of the Left Socialist Revolutionary movement. As a result, a rebellion began in July 1918. This action of the Left Social Revolutionaries was brutally suppressed. Eventually politic system became a one-party state and acquired totalitarian features. Taken together, all this caused discontent. Events resulted in a fratricidal civil war.
Civil War
During the war, Ulyanov was forced to monitor the progress of urgent mobilization into the Red Army. He was closely involved in issues related to weapons. He managed to organize the work of the rear. Actually, these measures subsequently influenced the outcome of the war.
In addition, Lenin was able to exploit the obvious contradictions in the white camp. He managed to create a 10-fold advantage of the proletarian army over the enemy. He also attracted royal military specialists to the work.
Unfortunately, at the very end of the summer of 1918, an attempt was made on the life of the leader of the state. As a result, the “Red Terror” began in the country.
War communism and new politics
Having recovered from his wounds, Ulyanov began economic reforms - the construction of the so-called military communism. He introduced it by directive throughout the country. Lenin at that time did not have a clear economic program, but nevertheless he introduced food appropriation, natural exchange and banned trade. A little later the industry was nationalized. As a result, the production of goods practically ceased.
Ulyanov tried to save the situation. That is why he decided to introduce compulsory labor service. Her evasion was punishable by execution.
However, the economic situation continued to deteriorate. Then, in 1921, Lenin announced a course towards a “new economic policy” in the country. The War Communist program was finally cancelled. The government allowed private trade. As a result, a long process of rebuilding the economy began. But Vladimir Ilyich was not destined to see the fruits of the new policy course.
Last years
Due to his failing health, Lenin was forced to step down from power. Joseph Dzhugashvili became the sole leader of the new state of the USSR.
Ulyanov continued to fight the disease with amazing courage and tenacity. To treat the leader, the authorities decided to involve a number of domestic and Western doctors. He was diagnosed with cerebral vascular sclerosis. This disease was caused not only by enormous overloads, but also by genetic reasons.
Everything was in vain - in Gorki on January 21, 1924, Vladimir Lenin died. After some time, the body of the founder of the USSR was transported to the capital and placed in the Hall of Columns of the House of Unions. For five days there was a farewell to the leader of the country.
On January 27, Ulyanov's body was embalmed and placed in the Mausoleum, which was specially built for this purpose.
Let us note right away that after the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1991, the issue of reburial of the head of the proletarian state was repeatedly raised. This topic is still being discussed.
Personal life of the leader
Ulyanov met his future wife Nadezhda Krupskaya back in 1894. Krupskaya's father was a tsarist officer. His daughter, Nadezhda, was a student of the famous Bestuzhev courses. At one time, she even corresponded with Leo Tolstoy himself.
When the woman began to live together with Ulyanov, she became not only her husband’s main assistant, but also a like-minded person. She always followed her husband and took part in all his activities. The woman also followed him when Lenin found himself in exile in Shushenskoye. It was here that the lovers got married in the church. The best men were peasants from this village. And an associate of Lenin and Krupskaya made wedding rings. They were made from copper nickels.
Lenin had no children. Although some historians believe that the leader had an only son. His name was Alexander Steffen. According to rumors, his associate gave him a child. They say that this relationship lasted almost five years.
The reader already knows briefly about the most important thing from Lenin’s biography. It remains only to highlight some Interesting Facts from the life of the leader of the proletariat:
- At the gymnasium, Ulyanov studied mostly with straight A's. In the certificate he received the only four - in the discipline “logic”. Nevertheless, he graduated with a gold medal.
- In his youth, the future head of the Soviet state smoked. One day his mother said that tobacco was too expensive. And there wasn't much money. As a result, Ulyanov gave up the bad habit and never smoked again.
- Ulyanov had about 150 pseudonyms. The most common are Statist, Meyer, Ilyin, Tulin, Frey, Starik, Petrov. Origin famous pseudonym“Lenin” is still not known exactly.
- Ulyanov could be among the Nobel Prize winners. In 1918, his candidacy was considered and they wanted to award him the Peace Prize. But the fratricide began Civil War. As a result, it was these events that were able to deprive Lenin of the prestigious Nobel Prize.
- A number of new names were invented in honor of Lenin: Varlen, Arvil, Arlen, Vladlen, Vladilen, Vilen, etc.
- Ulyanov was considered a great gourmet. However, his wife was not a fan of cooking. Therefore, the Ulyanovs specially hired a cook.
Lenin wrote hundreds of works, even his biographical chronicle. Many readers know not only every day, but also almost an hour of his life. And it still remains a mystery how this man, who spent almost the entire beginning of the twentieth century abroad (until one thousand nine hundred and seventeen) managed to lead the Russian revolution, come to power at the head of his party and, most importantly, retain it. The years of Lenin's reign begin with the year in which the Great Revolution. Bloody event for Russia!
A kind old man who loved children and peasants so much, but most of all abroad
IN Soviet Russia everyone was fed the image of the great leader - good grandfather Lenin. A dear old man who loved the proletariat infinitely. But what did this good-natured old man, who really loved spending time abroad, think about the people, as well as the unfortunate residents of Russia? Vladimir Ilyich quite openly promotes the idea that the authorities need not only to intimidate defeated country and her people. The population needs to be broken!
Simply conquering the Russian Empire was not enough for bankers such as Schiff, Morgan, and Warburg. They needed guarantees that this great country won't rise anymore. It will not capture the route along which bread came from Turkey to Europe. They had to be sure that the Russian peasant would not further ruin the British wheat producer.
Destruction of the market economy
It was important to the authorities of the United States of America and Great Britain that the Russians did not begin to expand again Far East. In this regard, Vladimir Lenin, having finished with the Russian intelligentsia, takes on the peasantry. It must be said that in the first years of Lenin’s reign there was no famine in the villages. Interruptions occurred only in St. Petersburg.
But Vladimir Ilyich, who knew perfectly well that food policy can only work effectively in conditions of famine, decides to organize it himself. During Lenin's reign, the state's food market was virtually destroyed. He introduces executions for private trade. This is what helps create hunger in big cities. His next step was to incite anger towards the peasants among the working class, based on the fact that the latter did not want to provide bread to the cities.
Surrender bread or live into the ground
Hiding behind an artificially created famine, the Bolsheviks began a war with villages and villages. Food detachments began to be sent there to seize grain reserves. Because of this, famine is now starting in the villages as well. The process of confiscation of bread itself took place in the most terrible way.
A well-armed detachment with a machine gun appeared in the village, the peasants were herded into livestock and demanded to hand over all the grain they had. And when he was not there, because this was not the first food detachment, they took the first man and buried him alive in the ground. Vladimir Ilyich loved his people very much!
A terrible famine in the once richest empire
Thanks to the efforts of the Bolsheviks, a terrible famine began during Lenin's reign. And this despite the fact that even before the revolution Russian empire could not only feed itself, but also undermine grain production in England. Now the people were forced to survive by picking berries and mushrooms, and sometimes even quinoa. The management knew this very well, since it was the fruit of their labor. But, according to Trotsky, this was not yet a famine. He cited the example of Jerusalem when Titus took it. Then Jewish mothers ate their own children.
But in fact, there were no problems with bread supplies in Russia. Those who served Vladimir Ilyich faithfully were paid in gold and fed to their fill. The famine helped set off not only workers and peasants, but also the plunder of Russian churches. During Lenin's reign, Russian churches were not only burned; first, representatives of the new government plundered church property.
Popular uprisings against usurpers
It should be noted that the peasants offered fierce resistance to the regime of Vladimir Ilyich. Mass uprisings broke out throughout the state. People driven to despair began to take up arms. Fiery hatred of the Bolsheviks grew everywhere.
For Russian people It became clear that enemies had seized power in the state. In one thousand nine hundred and eighteen, the Tambov province rebelled. Its population was about four million. And from the twentieth, the Tambov People's Republic and the partisan region arose with their three armies of thirty regiments of peasants.
More than two million people died as a result of the mass peasant uprisings. Almost the same thing happened throughout the country. These were the results of Lenin's reign. The common people resisted the new usurper power as best they could. And, characteristically, the Red Army suffered its main losses not in battles with the White Guard, but precisely in the war against its own population - the peasants.
The date of Lenin's reign is connected with which was supposed to liberate the common people from the autocracy of the kings. But what was the main reason for the coup became clear after the first months of Vladimir Ilyich’s leadership. Lenin very harshly, bloodily and persistently solved his task - to destroy Russian state, Russian power.
Real surname, name and patronymic - Ulyanov Vladimir Ilyich. Literary pseudonyms: Vladimir, Vl., V. Ilyin, N. Lenin, Petersburger, Petrov, William Frey, K. Tulin. Party nicknames: Karpov, Meyer, Nikolai Petrovich, Old Man, etc.
Social and political figure, revolutionary, one of the leaders of the RSDLP, RSDLP(b), RCP(b), publicist. The founder of one of the directions of Marxism, who carried out a synthesis of the ideas of the founders of Marxism (K. Marx, F. Engels, G. Plekhanov, K. Kautsky) and Russian Blanquism (P.N. Tkachev). Founder of the Soviet state.
Member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RSDLP(b) (10(23).10 - 4(17).11.1917). Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR (10/27/11/9/1917 - 01/21/1924). Member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) (03/25/1919 - 01/21/1924). Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (07/06/1923 - 01/21/1924). Chairman of the Council of Labor and Defense of the USSR (07/17/1923 - 01/21/1925).
Biography and career
From the family of an inspector, then director of public schools in the Simbirsk province, actual state councilor Ilya Nikolaevich Ulyanov, who received hereditary nobility. Mother - Maria Alexandrovna Ulyanova (née Blank). Paternal grandfather - Nikolai Vasilyevich Ulyanov, from the serf peasants of the Sergach district of the Nizhny Novgorod province, a tailor-artisan in Astrakhan. Maternal grandfather - Alexander Dmitrievich Blank, physiotherapist, retired state councilor, nobleman, landowner of the Nizhny Novgorod province. The Ulyanov family had eight children (Anna, Alexander, Olga, Vladimir, Olga, Nikolai, Dmitry, Maria), two of whom (Olga and Nikolai) died in infancy. Since July 20 (22), 1898, he has been married to Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya. Had no children.
In 1879-1887 he studied at the Simbirsk gymnasium. In 1887, V. Ulyanov graduated with a gold medal and entered the Faculty of Law of Kazan University. In December of the same year, he was expelled from the university for participating in a student gathering and sent under secret police supervision to the Kokushkino estate, which belonged to his mother, in the Kazan province. In September 1891, he passed the exams at St. Petersburg University for a law faculty course as an external student.
The young Vladimir Ulyanov was greatly impressed by the execution of his older brother Alexander, one of the organizers of the Terrorist Faction of the People's Will party group, who was hanged in 1887 for preparing an assassination attempt on Emperor Alexander III.
Living under police supervision in Kokushkino, Vladimir Ulyanov devoted time to self-education, became familiar with the works of N.G. Chernyshevsky. Subsequently, he repeatedly recalled the novel “What is to be done?”, which influenced the formation own worldview. In October 1888 he returned to Kazan, where he joined one of the Marxist circles. Here Ulyanov studied Volume I of “Capital” by K. Marx and the work of G.V. Plekhanov "Our differences". Since 1889, in Samara he has become close to the Narodnaya Volya and Marxists. In 1892-1893 he worked as an assistant to a sworn attorney in Samara. In 1893, Ulyanov submitted his first article for publication in the journal “Russian Thought” - “New economic movements in peasant life.” However, his first work was rejected by the editors.
In August 1893, Vladimir Ulyanov moved to St. Petersburg. Here he was able to quickly gain authority among local Marxists. He was especially famous for his essay “On the so-called question of markets” and the illegally published work “What are “friends of the people” and how do they fight against the Social Democrats?”, in which he sharply criticized populist ideas. In particular, Lenin tried to refute the populist thesis, according to which the ruin of the peasantry meant a narrowing of the market for the development of capitalism. Also, from the position of historical materialism, he criticized the sociological concept of N.K. Mikhailovsky. In his first works, Lenin saw the only path to socialism in Russia through the development of the labor movement, considering the proletariat as the vanguard force in the revolutionary struggle against the autocracy.
In the article “The Economic Content of Populism and Its Criticism in Mr. Struve’s Book” (1895), Lenin entered into polemics with the so-called “legal Marxists,” in other words, with those authors (P.B. Struve, M.N. Tugan- Baranovsky and others), who, relying on the works of K. Marx and F. Engels, stated the fact of the progressiveness of capitalism in Russia. Accusing his opponents of “bourgeois objectivism,” Lenin contrasted them with the concept of “partisanship” in the social sciences. In 1894-1895 he conducted propaganda in workers' circles, while simultaneously studying the situation of the working class in Russia.
In May 1896, in Switzerland, V. Lenin met with members of the Liberation of Labor group. Returning from a trip abroad, he supported the idea of the transition of Marxists from propaganda to mass agitation. In November 1895, the group of “old men” led by him merged with the group of Yu.O. Martov to the citywide social democratic organization of St. Petersburg, called the “Union of Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class.” On the night of December 8-9 he was arrested. On March 1, 1897, after imprisonment, he was exiled to Siberia for three years. He served exile in the village of Shushenskoye, Minusinsk district, Yenisei province.
While in exile, he completed work on the book “The Development of Capitalism in Russia,” published in 1899. In this work, relying on a large amount of factual material, V.I. Lenin argued that Russia had already become a capitalist country. At the same time, he noted the preservation in Russia of many remnants of pre-capitalist relations. Lenin concluded that the political strength of the Russian proletariat is greater than its share in the mass of the population. In 1899, he organized a protest by a group of exiles against the spread of the ideas of “economism” in the Social Democratic movement. At this time, as a result of correspondence, Lenin, Martov and Potresov agreed to publish an all-Russian Social Democratic newspaper. At the end of their exile, in February 1900, they held a meeting in Pskov. In July they went abroad, where, together with members of the Liberation of Labor group, they formed the editorial board of the newspaper Iskra and the magazine Zarya. At this time, Lenin lived in Munich, London, Geneva, continuing his discussion with the “economists”. In 1902, his book “What to Do” was published, which outlined the concept of a centralized proletarian party, the purpose of which is to carry out a political revolution in Russia through an armed uprising of the masses. For the first time in this work the principles of “democratic centralism” were set out. Lenin took an active part in the discussion of what G.V. wrote. Plekhanov of the draft program of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party.
At the Second Congress of the RSDLP in July 1903, V. Lenin headed the faction of “hard” Iskrists (Bolsheviks). In an effort to secure a leading role in the Social Democratic movement in Russia, he proposed reducing the number of members of the Iskra editorial board to three and establishing a Party Council. After Plekhanov went over to the Menshevik side, Lenin retained his position in the Central Committee, where he was co-opted in November 1903. In the book “One Step Forward, Two Steps Back” (1904), in which he criticized his opponents at the Second Party Congress and questioned the value of democratic norms in the party. Soon he put forward the idea of convening a new congress of the RSDLP, which, however, did not receive the support of the Central Committee. In response to the discrepancy with the decision of the majority, he formed from his supporters the Bureau of Majority Committees (BCB), which prepared the convening of the Third Congress, consisting exclusively of Bolshevik delegates.
This congress, which approved Lenin's proposals on tactics, was held in London in April 1905. In the book “Two Tactics of Social Democracy in the Democratic Revolution,” he commented on the results of this congress, arguing for the need to establish the hegemony of the proletariat in the struggle to overthrow the autocracy and an armed uprising, which would result in the establishment of a “dictatorship of the proletariat and peasantry” in Russia. Having solved this problem, the Social Democratic Party will be able to move directly to the implementation socialist revolution. At the Third Congress of the RSDLP he emphasized that the main task of the unfolding revolution was the elimination of autocracy and the remnants of the serfdom system in Russia. In his letters to Russia, he demanded that the Bolsheviks organize combat detachments preparing for an armed uprising, carrying out military actions in the form of attacks on police and military personnel. At the beginning of November 1905, Lenin returned to St. Petersburg, where he headed the editorial office of the newspaper “New Life”.
It was published in many languages of the world big number works of art literature about V.I. Lenin. Among the most early works refers, for example, to the poem by V.V. Mayakovsky "Vladimir Ilyich Lenin". Many were also filmed feature films about him. One of the first images of Lenin was captured in S. Eisenstein’s film “October” (1927). For example, most of the works fiction and films about him were made in the USSR and the countries of the “socialist” bloc. Also an integral part of Soviet monumental art were monuments to Lenin. He was also depicted in numerous paintings. One of the first artists to reflect the image of Lenin in their works was I.I. Brodsky (1919 - “Lenin and Manifestation”). The set of works of fiction dedicated to him was called “Leninana”. His portraits and busts were required to decorate Soviet institutions. Among the people folklore works There are numerous anecdotes about Lenin, many of which are passed on from mouth to mouth in our time. Also in the USSR they named after Lenin settlements(for example: Leningrad), as well as enterprises, military and civilian ships.
The day Lenin died is written in black letters in Russian history. This happened on January 21, 1924, the leader of the world proletariat did not live only three months before his 54th birthday. Doctors, historians, and modern researchers have not yet agreed on why Lenin died. Mourning was declared in the country. After all, the man who managed to be the first in the world to build a socialist state, and in the largest country, has passed away.
Sudden death
Despite the fact that Vladimir Lenin was seriously ill for many months, his death was sudden. This happened on the evening of January 21. The year was 1924, and a Soviet authority, and the day when Vladimir Ilyich Lenin died became a national tragedy for the entire state. Mourning was declared throughout the country, flags were lowered at half-mast, and mourning rallies were held at enterprises and institutions.
Expert opinions
When Lenin died, a medical council was immediately assembled, in which leading doctors of that time participated. Officially, doctors published this version of premature death: acute circulatory disturbance in the brain and, as a result, hemorrhage in the brain. Thus, the cause of death could have been a repeated major stroke. There was also a version that Lenin suffered for many years from a venereal disease - syphilis, which a certain French woman infected him with.
This version has not been excluded from the causes of the death of the proletarian leader to this day.
Could syphilis be the cause?
When Lenin died, an autopsy was performed on his body. Pathologists discovered that there was extensive calcification in the vessels of the brain. Doctors could not explain the reason for this. First of all, he drove enough healthy image life and never smoked. He was not obese or hypertensive and did not have a brain tumor or other obvious lesions. Also, Vladimir Ilyich had neither infectious diseases nor diabetes, in which the vessels could have suffered such damage.
As for syphilis, this could have been the cause of Lenin’s death. After all, at that time this disease was treated with very dangerous medications that could cause complications for the entire body. However, neither the symptoms of the disease nor the results of the autopsy confirmed that the cause of death could be a venereal disease.
Bad heredity or severe stress?
53 years old - that’s how old Lenin died. For the beginning of the twentieth century, this was a fairly young age. Why did he leave so early? According to some researchers, the reason for this early death The leader could also have had bad heredity. After all, as you know, his father died at exactly the same age. According to the symptoms and descriptions of eyewitnesses, he had the same disease that his son later suffered from. And other close relatives of the leader had a history of cardiovascular diseases.
Another reason that could have affected Lenin’s health was his incredible workload and constant stress. It is known that he slept very little, had practically no rest and worked quite a lot. Historians describe known fact, when in 1921, at one important event, Lenin completely forgot the words of his own speech. He had a stroke, after which he had to learn to speak again. He could barely write. He had to spend a lot of time on rehabilitation and recovery.
Unusual seizures
But after Ilyich suffered a hypertensive stroke, he came to his senses and recovered quite well. In the early days of 1924, he was so fit that he even went hunting himself.
It is unclear how the leader’s last day went. As the diaries show, he was quite active, talked a lot and did not complain about anything. But a few hours before his death, several strong events happened to him. seizures. They did not fit into the picture of a stroke. Therefore, some researchers believe that the cause of the sharp deterioration in health could be ordinary poison.
Stalin's hand?
When Lenin was born and died, not only historians know today, but also many educated people. Previously, every schoolchild remembered these dates by heart. But neither doctors nor researchers can still name the exact reason why this happened. There is another interesting theory- Lenin, they say, was poisoned by Stalin. The latter sought to gain absolute power, and Vladimir Ilyich was a serious obstacle on this path. By the way, later Joseph Vissarionovich resorted to poisoning as the right way eliminating your opponents. And this makes you think seriously.
Lenin, who initially supported Stalin, sharply changed his mind and bet on the candidacy of Leon Trotsky. Historians claim that Vladimir Ilyich was preparing to remove Stalin from governing the country. He gave him a very unflattering description, called him cruel and rude, and noted that Stalin was abusing power. Lenin's letter addressed to the congress is known, where Ilyich sharply criticized Stalin and his leadership style.
By the way, the story of the poison also has a right to exist because a year earlier, in 1923, Stalin wrote a report addressed to the Politburo. It said that Lenin wanted to poison himself and asked him to get a dose of potassium cyanide. Stalin said that he could not do this. Who knows, maybe Vladimir Ilyich Lenin himself suggested the scenario of his death to his future successor?
By the way, for some reason doctors did not conduct a toxicological study at the time. Well, then it was too late to do such tests.
And one moment. At the end of January 1924, the 13th Party Congress was to take place. Surely Ilyich, speaking at it, would again raise the question of Stalin’s behavior.
Eyewitness accounts
Some eyewitnesses also speak in favor of poisoning as the sure cause of Lenin’s death. The writer Elena Lermolo, who was exiled to hard labor, communicated with Vladimir Ilyich’s personal chef Gavriil Volkov in the 30s of the twentieth century. He told the following story. In the evening he brought dinner to Lenin. He was already in poor condition and could not talk. He handed the cook a note in which he wrote: “Gavryushenka, I was poisoned, I am poisoned.” Lenin understood that he would soon die. And he asked that Leon Trotsky and Nadezhda Krupskaya, as well as members of the Politburo, be informed about the poisoning.
By the way, for the last three days Lenin complained of constant nausea. But during the autopsy, doctors saw that his stomach was in almost perfect condition. He could not have had an intestinal infection - it was winter, and such diseases are uncharacteristic for this time of year. Well, only the freshest food was prepared for the leader and it was carefully checked.
Leader's funeral
The year when Lenin died is marked with a black mark in the history of the Soviet state. After the death of the leader, an active struggle for power began. Many of his comrades were repressed, shot and destroyed.
Lenin died in Gorki near Moscow on January 24 at 18:50. His body was transported to the capital by steam locomotive, and the coffin was installed in the Hall of Columns of the House of Unions. Within five days, the people could say goodbye to the leader of the new country, which had just begun to build socialism. Then the coffin with the body was installed in the Mausoleum, which was specially built for this purpose on Red Square by the architect Shchusev. Until now, the body of the leader, the founder of the world's first socialist state, remains there.
