Professional revolutionaries led a secret life, and often forgot their real names for a long time. Stalin, Kamo, Sverdlov, Trotsky and other ardent fighters for the people's happiness, even when communicating in private, used party pseudonyms. The same fully applies to the leader of the world proletariat, the creator of the world's first state of workers and peasants. Nikolai Lenin (Ulyanov Vladimir Ilyich) appeared on the political scene almost simultaneously with the fateful 20th century for mankind. At that time he was thirty years old.
Aliases of Ilyich
Indeed, Ronald Reagan, exposing the intrigues of world communism in his next speech (this was in the early eighties), turned out to be right, although some Soviet publications accused him of ignorance. “Not Nikolai, but Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, that’s how it’s right!”, because everyone is used to just such a combination of sounds and letters, pronounced a thousand times from the stands, replicated on posters and propaganda brochures, badges, pennants and letters of commendation. Nevertheless, those who knew history a little better than full-time propagandists and familiarized themselves with the works of the classic of Marxism could not but agree with the American president, not in the essence of his speech, of course, but regarding the accuracy of the reproduction of the party nickname.
Before going underground, the future leader was just a student Vladimir, even earlier - a high school student Vova and a curly-haired boy Volodya. And having become a revolutionary, Ulyanov changed many pseudonyms, having visited Vladimir Ilyin, and Jordan K. Yordanov, and K. Tulin, and Kubyshkin, and Starik, and Fedor Petrovich, and Frey, and even the mysterious Jacob Richter. But history has left a brief inscription on the mausoleum: “V. I. Lenin”, causing hostility and rejection in some, hope in others and leaving others indifferent.
Who is Lenin named after?
The simplest explanation for this pseudonym is its morphological relationship with female name"Lena". That was the name of Ulyanov's old friend, Stasova (and also his classmate Rozmirovich, a chorus friend Zaretskaya ... but you never know Len in the world? years. But this side of the leader's life was not studied at school, but another version was spread. On the Siberian Lena River in 1906, certain popular unrest arose among the workers in the gold mines, which ended in their armed suppression. This version of the explanation deserves even less attention, despite its political consistency, since the execution of demonstrators took place five years later than the first newspaper articles signed by N. Lenin appeared. Prophecies were repeatedly attributed to the leader of the revolution, but he still was not a clairvoyant. To predict the world victory of communism is one thing, but to foresee a riot five years before it is quite another.
To try to explain the origin of this pseudonym, one can turn to the history of another. L. D. Bronstein became Trotsky, borrowing the name of the head of the Odessa central. Vladlen Loginov, a historian (his name alone is worth something!) Suggests that Nikolai Lenin is a very real person who lived in the Yaroslavl province. This respected man, a state councilor, died, and his children gave the passport to their friend, Vladimir Ulyanov. It was presumably in 1900, the year of birth had to be slightly corrected, but in all other respects the chronology converges. Photocards were not glued then.
There is another version that simply concerns Lena - not a beautiful woman, and not a place of bloody execution of workers, but a river, but historians and just curious people do not find it interesting. And in fact, there is little romance. And what is the truth, that, apparently, will never be known.
Childhood and adolescence
The centennial anniversary of the proletarian leader was magnificently celebrated in 1970, many films, paintings, literary works, poems, songs and cantatas. A medal was also issued, which was awarded to the leaders of production. During Soviet power a whole direction of art was created, called Leniniana, and a considerable part of it described the childhood and youthful years of the life of the future Bolshevik leader. About what Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was like in the first years of his life, it is known mainly from the stories of his family members. The fact of his excellent school performance (gold medal) was documented, which gave propagandists reason to urge schoolchildren from all over the vast country to study only “excellently”. The city of Simbirsk, where Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was born, was renamed Ulyanovsk, and a memorial was erected there.
The father of the theoretician and practitioner of the world revolution was Ilya Nikolaevich Ulyanov, an official who held the post of inspector of public education. The boy studied at the gymnasium, then entered the University of Kazan. It was in 1887, and at the same time his older brother Alexander, a Narodnaya Volya member, was accused of participating in a conspiracy, arrested and executed. Volodya also suffered, but by no means for kinship with one of the terrorists who attempted to assassinate the tsar. He himself worked in an underground circle, was exposed, expelled from the university and exiled - no, not yet to Siberia, but home. The "arbitrariness of the authorities" did not last long, a year later Ulyanov was again in Kazan, and again among his Marxist friends. Meanwhile, my mother, having become a widow, bought a small estate (the village of Alakaevka, Samara Province), and the young man helps her run the business. In 1889, the whole family moved to Samara.
From Narodnaya Volya to Marxists
The young man was allowed to receive higher education. He passed the exams for a lawyer externally in 1891 at the law faculty of the capital's university, without completing a course of study. The first place of work was the law office of N. A. Hardin in Samara, where young specialist had to defend the parties to civil litigation. But it was not this boring occupation that fascinated him. In two years of legal practice, Vladimir Ilyich completely changed his worldview and political convictions, moving away from Narodnaya Volya and becoming a Social Democrat. The influence of Plekhanov's works in this process was great, but they were not the only ones that occupied the mind of the young Marxist.
Having resigned from Hardin, the lawyer Ulyanov goes to St. Petersburg, where he finds a new job, with M.F. Volkenstein, also a lawyer. But he is not only involved in court cases: the first theoretical works relating to political economy, the development of capitalist relations in Russia, reforms in the countryside, etc. belong to this period. These articles are sometimes published in periodicals. In addition, Ulyanov writes the program of the party he is going to create.
A group of young revolutionaries in 1885 gathers an underground union for the "liberation of the working class", among them - Martov and Vladimir Ilyich. The purpose of this organization is to gather disunited circles of Marxists and lead them. This attempt ended in arrest, a year in prison and exile in the Yenisei province (village Shushenskoye). The then "prisoners of conscience" could not complain about the difficult conditions of detention. The main burden experienced by V. I. Lenin in those three years was the need to be content with boring lamb. However, it was possible to hunt, diversifying the menu with game. Even the future leader repaired skates for children when he wanted to take a break from thinking about the struggle of the proletariat.
Lenin in exile
Nikolai Lenin appeared in 1900. Vladimir Ilyich, whose brief biography was studied in all educational institutions The USSR spent most of its life abroad, in Europe. Immediately after the expiration of the exile, he goes to Munich, then to London and Geneva. Plekhanov, Pavel Axelrod, Vera Zasulich and other like-minded Marxists were already waiting for him there. They publish the Iskra newspaper. By the way, few people paid attention to the fact that decades later, when naming avenues and streets in part of this party printed organ, the executive committees of all cities necessarily added the word “Leninist”. The fact is that Iskra later became a Menshevik newspaper, so a clarification was necessary from a political point of view.
A well-known question: "What to do?" became the title of an article that Vladimir Ilyich Lenin wrote in 1902. It was this work that marked the choice of the direction of party development for the coming years. The main thesis was the need to turn the RSDLP into a militant organization bound by strict discipline and hierarchy. Many members of the party led by Martov spoke out against such a violation of democratic principles, for which, having lost the vote at the Third Congress (1903), they ended up in the "Mensheviks".
The first revolution and again a foreign land
In 1905, Vladimir Lenin came from Switzerland to St. Petersburg. Large-scale unrest began in Russia, which a high degree probabilities could lead to a change of power. He arrived under a false name, as a foreign spy, and got involved in the work of overthrowing tsarism. The positions of the Bolshevik wing of the RSDLP were quite strong; a congress of the Central and St. Petersburg Party Committees was held in the capital. The armed uprising practically took place, but ended in failure. Even in the conditions of an extremely unsuccessful war with Japan, the Russian Empire found the strength to suppress unrest and restore order. Vladimir Lenin declared the revolt on the Potemkin "undefeated territory", and in 1907 he again fled abroad.
This fiasco greatly upset the leadership of the Bolshevik Party, but did not lead to the abandonment of the struggle. Conclusions were drawn about the insufficient preparedness of party structures and the need to further strengthen the organization's combat wing.
Where does the money come from?
The modern reader, aware of the cost of living abroad, often wonders about the origin of the funds needed to publish subversive periodicals. In addition, even the inflexible Bolsheviks are living people, and human needs are not alien to them. There are several answers to this question. First, money was forcibly taken from individuals and organizations. These operations were called expropriations (exes), and separate Bolshevik structures were engaged in these robberies (for example, the “wonderful Georgian” Joseph Dzhugashvili-Stalin made a unique raid on a bank in Tiflis, which was included in forensic textbooks). Secondly, the RSDLP had sponsors among Russian business people who hoped to improve their position after the overthrow of tsarism (the most famous is the millionaire Savva Morozov, but there were others). Thirdly, information is available today about foreign intelligence support for subversive organizations. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin effectively used all the channels of material supply to the party.
Personal life
Everyone knows that the leader of the world proletariat was married. He was not handsome, he was small in stature, with a thin beard and an early bald head, but history knows many examples of great success among the ladies' class of people and a more modest appearance - just remember Napoleon, Goebbels, Chaplin or Pushkin. It is not the cover of the book that is important, but its content, and the high intelligence of the leader of the Bolshevik Party was not questioned even by his irreconcilable opponents.
How did Nadezhda Konstantinovna captivate such an interesting man as Vladimir Ilyich Lenin? Krupskaya's biography contains many interesting facts regarding, for example, her party nicknames. The party members called her Herring, openly mocking her thinness and the peculiar look of her bulging eyes. The reason for both was quite valid (Gazedov's disease). She was not offended by her nickname, moreover, her character obviously had a sense of humor, otherwise her husband would not have endured even more humiliating treatment from her husband, who called her a lamprey. More important than appearance for Ulyanov, apparently, were excellent abilities for languages, amazing performance, the desire for self-education and devotion to the communist idea.
There were other women in his life for whom he had perhaps romantic feelings, but the main object of passion, of course, remained politics. The affair with I. Armand ended only with her tragic death from the flu. The wife forgave everything. She probably loved her husband, considered him a great man and bowed before him. In addition, as a smart woman, she correctly assessed the degree of her external attractiveness, and as a real communist she despised jealousy and a sense of ownership. She never gave birth to children.
For a long time it was impossible to understand what kind of person Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was in real life from the popular image created by the powerful Soviet propaganda machine. Interesting Facts, which the closest associates told about in their memoirs, speak of his sometimes unusual demeanor. He, unlike Stalin, did not like to joke, he took any issue seriously. An interesting case during a trip in the notorious sealed German carriage. There was only one toilet, queues arose, and V. I. Lenin solved this problem in the Bolshevik way, giving each of the passengers a ticket indicating the time of his visit. He is also characterized by another moment concerning the wedding with Krupskaya in Shushenskoye. Vladimir Ulyanov himself forged two wedding rings from copper nickels (the spouses wore them until the end of their lives). But no matter what eccentricities historical characters show, they are judged primarily by the results of their activities.
Expression " Stalinist repressions» entered political vocabulary after the XX Congress of the CPSU. In 1962, Lenin's mausoleum was liberated from the remains of the dictator who ruined millions of destinies and lives. It should, however, be taken into account that in none of his articles or speeches did I. V. Stalin ever call for mass executions or percentage destruction of the population, did not give orders for the extermination of entire estates and classes in the most direct sense. But Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, whose years of rule coincided with the time of the Civil War, gave such orders and demanded a report on their implementation on the ground. Millions of Russian citizens involved in the fratricidal slaughter were destroyed and died, and yet they constituted the spiritual, intellectual, scientific, technical and military elite of the country. We still feel the consequences of this crime today.
Man, image and attributes of the cult
In the official mythology, inculcated instead of a desecrated religion, the citizens of the USSR from childhood were inspired by the idea of great kindness, which distinguished Lenin Vladimir Ilyich. The death of the leader in Gorki (1924) was declared almost self-sacrifice, it was explained by the consequences of being wounded at the Michelson plant in 1918. However, according to the conclusion of doctors published in the Soviet press, the brain of the main practitioner of Marxism was almost petrified due to calcification of the vessels. A person with such a disease cannot make adequate decisions, let alone lead the state.
Official propaganda created an image that was impossible not to worship. Everything human was completely emasculated from it, Lenin's mausoleum became a place of pilgrimage for tens and hundreds of millions of people from all over the world, the leader's works were printed (with some cuts), but few people read them, and even fewer students thought about these texts. But multi-volume collections and separate collections of articles have become an indispensable attribute of the authorities' offices. Having taken away moral guidelines and faith from citizens, the leaders who came after them gave them a new deity, which Lenin Vladimir Ilyich became after his death. Photos and paintings replaced icons, solemn chants supplanted church hymns, and banners became analogous to banners. A tomb was erected on Red Square, which over time acquired a necropolis of leaders of a lower rank. Birthday of Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Soviet times was a holiday during which it was necessary at least a little, symbolically, to partake of free labor. Somehow, in the understanding of almost the whole world, the communist idea became associated with Russia, although it was our country that suffered from it more than anyone else. Now those who would like to somehow show their anti-Russian orientation are destroying the monuments to Lenin. In vain.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (real name - Ulyanov) is a great Russian political and public figure, revolutionary, founder of the RSDLP party (Bolsheviks), creator of the first socialist state in history.
The years of Lenin's life: 1870 - 1924.
Lenin is known primarily as one of the leaders of the great October Revolution of 1917, when the monarchy was overthrown and Russia turned into a socialist country. Lenin was chairman of the Soviet People's Commissars(governments) new Russia- RSFSR, is considered the creator of the USSR.
Vladimir Ilyich was not only one of the most prominent political leaders in the entire history of Russia, he was also known as the author of many theoretical works on politics and social sciences, the founder of the theory of Marxism-Leninism and the creator and main ideologist of the Third International (an alliance of communist parties from different countries).
Brief biography of Lenin
Lenin was born on April 22 in the city of Simbirsk, where he lived until the end of the Simbirsk gymnasium in 1887. After graduating from the gymnasium, Lenin left for Kazan and entered the university there at the Faculty of Law. In the same year, Alexander, Lenin's brother, was executed for participating in the assassination attempt on Emperor Alexander 3 - this becomes a tragedy for the whole family, as it is about Alexander's revolutionary activities.
While studying at the university, Vladimir Ilyich is an active participant in the banned Narodnaya Volya circle, and also participates in all student riots, for which he is expelled from the university three months later. A police investigation conducted after the student riot revealed Lenin's connections with banned societies, as well as his brother's involvement in the assassination of the Emperor - this entailed a ban on Vladimir Ilyich from re-establishing himself at the university and the installation of close supervision over him. Lenin was included in the list of "unreliable" persons.
In 1888, Lenin again came to Kazan and joined one of the local Marxist circles, where he began to actively study the works of Marx, Engels and Plekhanov, which in the future would have a huge impact on his political self-consciousness. Around this time, Lenin's revolutionary activity begins.
In 1889, Lenin moved to Samara and there he continued to look for supporters of a future coup d'état. In 1891, he externally took exams for the course of the law faculty of St. Petersburg University. At the same time, under the influence of Plekhanov, his views evolved from populist to social democratic, and Lenin developed his first doctrine, which laid the foundation for Leninism.
In 1893, Lenin came to St. Petersburg and got a job as an assistant lawyer, while continuing to conduct an active journalistic activity - he published many works in which he studied the process of capitalization of Russia.
In 1895, after a trip abroad, where Lenin met with Plekhanov and many others public figures, he organizes in St. Petersburg the "Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class" and begins an active struggle against the autocracy. For his activities, Lenin was arrested, spent a year in prison, and then sent into exile in 1897, where, however, he continued his activities, despite the prohibitions. During the exile, Lenin was officially married to his common-law wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya.
In 1898, the first secret congress of the Social Democratic Party (RSDLP) was held, headed by Lenin. Soon after the Congress, all its members (9 people) were arrested, but the beginning of the revolution was laid.
The next time, Lenin returned to Russia only in February 1917 and immediately became the head of another uprising. Despite being ordered to arrest him pretty soon, Lenin continues his activities illegally. In October 1917, after the coup d'etat and the overthrow of the autocracy, power in the country completely passes to Lenin and his party.
Lenin's reforms
From 1917 until his death, Lenin was engaged in the reformation of the country in accordance with social democratic ideals:
- Makes peace with Germany, creates the Red Army, which takes an active part in the civil war of 1917-1921;
- Creates the NEP - the new economic policy;
- Gives civil rights to peasants and workers (the working class becomes the main one in the new political system of Russia);
- Reforms the church, seeking to replace Christianity with a new "religion" - communism.
He dies in 1924 after a sharp deterioration in health. By order of Stalin, the body of the leader is placed in a mausoleum on Red Square in Moscow.
The role of Lenin in the history of Russia
The role of Lenin in the history of Russia is enormous. He was the main ideologist of the revolution and the overthrow of the autocracy in Russia, organized the Bolshevik Party, which was able to come to power in a fairly short time and completely change Russia politically and economically. Thanks to Lenin, Russia turned from an Empire into a socialist state based on the ideas of communism and the rule of the working class.
The state created by Lenin existed for almost the entire 20th century and became one of the strongest in the world. Lenin's personality is still controversial among historians, but everyone agrees that he is one of the greatest world leaders that ever existed in world history.
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov
V.Ilyin, V.Frey, Iv.Petrov, K.Tulin, Karpov, Lenin, Starik.
citizen of the Russian Empire, citizen of the RSFSR, citizen of the USSR
Kazan University, Petersburg University
Petersburg Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class
writer, lawyer, revolutionary
intelligentsia
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin(real name Ulyanov; April 10 (22), 1870, Simbirsk - January 21, 1924, Moscow province) - Russian, Soviet political and statesman, outstanding Russian thinker, philosopher, founder, publicist, greatest, creator, organizer and leader, founder, Chairman and, creator .
One of the most famous politicians XX century, whose name is known to the whole world.
Biography
Childhood, education and upbringing
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov was born in Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk) in 1870.
Lenin's grandfather - N. V. Ulyanov, a serf from Nizhny Novgorod province, later lived in the city of Astrakhan, was a tailor-craftsman. Father - I. N. Ulyanov, after graduating from Kazan University, taught in secondary schools in Penza and Nizhny Novgorod, and then was an inspector and director of public schools in the Simbirsk province. I. N. Ulyanov rose to the rank of real state councilor and received hereditary nobility. Lenin's mother - M. A. Ulyanova (nee Blank, 1835-1916), the daughter of a doctor, received home education, passed the exams for the title of teacher externally; devoted herself entirely to the upbringing of her children. Sisters - A. I. Ulyanova-Elizarova, M. I. Ulyanova and the younger brother - D. I. Ulyanov subsequently became prominent figures.
In 1879-1887, Vladimir Ulyanov studied at the Simbirsk gymnasium, led by F. M. Kerensky, the father of A. F. Kerensky, the future head. The spirit of protest against the tsarist system, social and national oppression, awakened early in him. Advanced Russian literature, the works of V. G. Belinsky, A. I. Herzen, N. A. Dobrolyubov, D. I. Pisarev, and especially N. G. Chernyshevsky contributed to the formation of his revolutionary views. From his older brother Alexander, Lenin learned about Marxist literature. In 1887 he graduated from the gymnasium with a gold medal and entered the law faculty of Kazan University. F. M. Kerensky was very disappointed with the choice of Volodya Ulyanov, as he advised him to enter the Faculty of History and Literature of the University due to the great success of the younger Ulyanov in Latin and literature.
In the same year, 1887, on May 8 (20), the elder brother of Vladimir Ilyich, Alexander, was executed as a member of the Narodnaya Volya conspiracy to attempt on the life of the emperor Alexander III. Three months after admission, Vladimir Ilyich was expelled for participating in student riots caused by the new university charter, the introduction of police supervision of students, and an anti-student campaign. According to the student inspector, who suffered from student unrest, Vladimir Ilyich was in the forefront of the raging students, almost with clenched fists. As a result of the unrest, Vladimir Ilyich, along with 40 other students, was arrested the next night and sent to the police station. All those arrested were expelled from the university and sent to the "place of the motherland." Later, another group of students left Kazan University in protest against the repressions. Among those who voluntarily left the university was Lenin's cousin, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Ardashev. After the petitions of Lyubov Aleksandrovna Ardasheva, Vladimir Ilyich's aunt, he was sent to the village of Kokushkino, Kazan province, where he lived in the Ardashevs' house until the winter of 1888-1889. From that time on, Lenin devoted his entire life to the cause of the struggle against autocracy and capitalism, to the cause of the liberation of the working people from oppression and exploitation.
Beginning of revolutionary activity
In October 1888 Lenin returned to Kazan. Here he joined one of the Marxist circles organized by N. E. Fedoseev, in which the works were studied and discussed. In 1924, N. K. Krupskaya wrote in:
Vladimir Ilyich loved Plekhanov passionately. Plekhanov played a major role in the development of Vladimir Ilyich, helped him find the correct revolutionary path, and therefore Plekhanov was surrounded by a halo for him for a long time: he experienced every slightest disagreement with Plekhanov extremely painfully.
The works of Marx and Engels played decisive role in the formation of Lenin's worldview - he becomes a staunch Marxist.
For some time Lenin tried to deal with agriculture in the estate bought by his mother in Alakaevka (83.5 acres) in the Samara province. Under Soviet rule, a house-museum of Lenin was created in this village. In the fall of 1889, the Ulyanov family moved to Samara.
In 1891, Vladimir Ulyanov passed the exams externally for the course of the law faculty of St. Petersburg University.
In 1892-1893. Vladimir Ulyanov worked as an assistant to the Samara barrister (lawyer) N. A. Khardin, conducting most of the criminal cases, conducted "state protection". Here in Samara, he organized a circle of Marxists, established contacts with the revolutionary youth of other cities of the Volga region, and spoke with essays directed against populism. The first of Lenin's surviving works, the article "New Economic Movements in Peasant Life", belongs to the Samara period.
At the end of August 1893, Lenin moved to St. Petersburg, where he joined the Marxist circle, whose members were S. I. Radchenko, P. K. Zaporozhets, G. M. Krzhizhanovsky and others. Unshakable faith in the victory of the working class, extensive knowledge, a deep understanding of Marxism and the ability to apply it to the resolution of vital issues that worried the masses, won the respect of the St. Petersburg Marxists and made Lenin their recognized leader. He establishes contacts with advanced workers (I. V. Babushkin, V. A. Shelgunov, and others), leads workers' circles, and explains the need for a transition from circle propaganda of Marxism to revolutionary agitation among the broad proletarian masses.
Lenin was the first of the Russian Marxists to set the task of creating a party of the working class in Russia as an urgent practical task and led the struggle of the revolutionary Social Democrats for its implementation. He believed that it should be a proletarian party of a new type, in terms of its principles, forms and methods of activity, meeting the requirements of a new era - the era of imperialism and.
Having accepted the central idea of Marxism about the historical mission of the working class - the grave-digger of capitalism and the creator of communist society, Lenin gives all the strength of his creative genius, all-embracing erudition, colossal energy, rare efficiency to selfless service to the cause of the proletariat, becomes a professional revolutionary, is formed as the leader of the working class.
In 1894, Lenin wrote the work "What are the "friends of the people" and how do they fight against the Social Democrats?", in late 1894 - early 1895. - work " Economic content Populism and its Criticism in Mr. Struve's Book (Reflection of Marxism in Bourgeois Literature)." Already these first major works of his were distinguished by a creative approach to the theory and practice of the labor movement. In them, Lenin subjected the subjectivism of the Narodniks and the objectivism of the “legal Marxists” to annihilating criticism, showed a consistent Marxist approach to the analysis of Russian reality, characterized the tasks of the Russian proletariat, developed the idea of an alliance between the working class and the peasantry, substantiated the need to create a truly revolutionary party in Russia.
In April 1895, Lenin went abroad to establish contact with the Emancipation of Labor group. In Switzerland he met Plekhanov, in Germany - with W. Liebknecht, in France - with P. Lafargue and other figures of the international labor movement. In September 1895, returning from abroad, Lenin visited Vilnius, Moscow, and Orekhovo-Zuevo, where he established contacts with local Social Democrats. In the autumn of 1895, on his initiative, the Marxist circles of St. Petersburg united into a single organization - the St. Petersburg "Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class", which was the embryo of a revolutionary proletarian party, for the first time in Russia began to unite scientific socialism with the mass workers' movement.
The "Union of Struggle" carried out active propaganda activities among the workers, they issued more than 70 leaflets. On the night of December 8 (20) to December 9 (21), 1895, Lenin, along with his associates in the Union of Struggle, was arrested and imprisoned, from where he continued to lead the Union. In prison, he writes "The Project and Explanation of the Program of the Social Democratic Party", a number of articles and leaflets, prepares materials for his book "The Development of Capitalism in Russia". In February 1897 he was exiled for 3 years to the village of Shushenskoye, Minusinsk district, Yenisei province. For active revolutionary work, N. K. Krupskaya was also sentenced to exile. As the bride of Lenin, she was also sent to Shushenskoye, where she became his wife. Here Lenin established and maintained contact with the Social Democrats of St. Petersburg, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Voronezh and other cities, with the Emancipation of Labor group, corresponded with the Social Democrats who were in exile in the North and Siberia, rallied the exiled social workers around him. Democrats of the Minusinsk District. In exile, Lenin wrote over 30 works, including the book The Development of Capitalism in Russia and the pamphlet The Tasks of the Russian Social Democrats, which were of great importance for the development of the program, strategy and tactics of the party.
By the end of the 90s, under the pseudonym "K. Tulin ”V. I. Ulyanov is gaining fame in Marxist circles. In exile, Ulyanov also advised local peasants on legal issues and drafted legal documents for them.
First emigration -
In 1898, Minsk took place, proclaiming the formation of the Social Democratic Party in Russia and publishing the Manifesto of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. Lenin agreed with the main provisions of the Manifesto. However, the party has not actually been created yet. The congress, which took place without the participation of Lenin and other prominent Marxists, was unable to develop a program and party charter, to overcome the disunity of the social democratic movement. In addition, all members of the Central Committee elected by the congress and most of the delegates were immediately arrested; many of the organizations represented at the congress were crushed by the police. The leaders of the Union of Struggle, who were in Siberian exile, decided to unite the numerous Social Democratic organizations and Marxist circles scattered throughout the country with the help of an all-Russian illegal political newspaper. Fighting for the creation of a proletarian party of a new type, irreconcilable to opportunism, Lenin opposed the international Social Democracy (E. Bernstein and others) and their supporters in Russia (the "economists"). In 1899, he compiled the "Protest of the Russian Social Democrats", directed against "". The "Protest" was discussed and signed by 17 exiled Marxists.
After the end of his exile, on January 29 (February 10), 1900, Lenin left Shushenskoye. On his way to his new place of residence, Lenin stopped in Ufa, Moscow and other cities, illegally visited St. Petersburg, establishing ties with the Social Democrats everywhere. Having settled in Pskov in February 1900, Lenin did a great job of organizing the newspaper, and in a number of cities he created strongholds for it. On July 29, 1900, he went abroad, where he set up the publication of the Iskra newspaper. Lenin was the direct head of the newspaper. The editorial board of the newspaper included three representatives of the emigrant group "Emancipation of Labor" - Plekhanov, P. B. Axelrod and V. I. Zasulich and three representatives of the "Union of Struggle" - Lenin and Potresov. The newspaper had an average circulation of 8,000 copies, with some issues up to 10,000 copies. The distribution of the newspaper was facilitated by the creation of a network of underground organizations on the territory of the Russian Empire. Iskra played an exceptional role in the ideological and organizational preparation of the revolutionary proletarian party, in demarcation with the opportunists. It became the center for uniting party forces and educating party cadres.
In 1900-1905. Lenin lived in Munich, London, Geneva. In December 1901, for the first time, he signed one of his articles, published in, with the pseudonym "Lenin".
In the struggle to create a new type of party, Lenin's work What Is To Be Done? Painful questions of our movement. In it, Lenin criticized "economism", highlighted the main problems of building the party, its ideology and politics. The most important theoretical issues were outlined by him in the articles "The Agrarian Program of Russian Social Democracy" (1902), "The National Question in Our Program" (1903).
Participation in the work of the II Congress of the RSDLP (1903)
From July 17 to August 10, 1903 was held in London. Lenin took an active part in the preparation of the congress not only with his articles in Iskra and Zarya; since the summer of 1901, together with Plekhanov, he worked on a draft party program, prepared a draft charter, drew up a work plan and drafts of almost all resolutions for the upcoming party congress. The program consisted of two parts - the minimum program and the maximum program; the first involved the overthrow of tsarism and the establishment of a democratic republic, the destruction of the remnants of serfdom in the countryside, in particular the return to the peasants of the lands cut off from them by the landlords during the abolition of serfdom (the so-called "segments"), the introduction of an eight-hour working day, the recognition of the right of nations to self-determination and the establishment of equality nations; the maximum program determined the ultimate goal of the party - the structure and conditions for achieving this goal - and .
At the congress itself, Lenin was elected to the bureau, worked on the program, organizational and mandate commissions, chaired a number of meetings and spoke on almost all issues on the agenda.
Organizations that were in solidarity with Iskra (and were called Iskra) and those that did not share its position were invited to participate in the congress. During the discussion of the program, a controversy arose between the supporters of the Iskra, on the one hand, and the "economists" (for whom the provision on the dictatorship of the proletariat turned out to be unacceptable) and the Bund (on the national question) on the other; as a result, 2 "Economists" and later 5 Bundists left the congress.
But the discussion of the Party Rules, Clause 1, which defined the concept of a Party member, revealed disagreements among the Iskra-ists themselves, who were divided into "hard" (supporters of Lenin) and "soft" (supporters of Martov). “In my draft,” Lenin wrote after the congress, “the definition was as follows: “A member of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party is anyone who recognizes its program and supports the party both with material means and personal participation in one of the party organizations.” Martov, instead of the underlined words, suggested saying: work under the control and leadership of one of the party organizations ... We argued that it was necessary to narrow the concept of a party member in order to separate the workers from the talkers, to eliminate organizational chaos, to eliminate such disgrace and such absurdity, so that there could be organizations consisting of party members, but not party organizations, etc. Martov stood for the expansion of the party and spoke of a broad class movement requiring a broad - vague organization, etc. ... “Under control and leadership,” I said, - mean in fact no more and no less than: without any control and without any leadership. The wording of paragraph 1 proposed by Martov was supported by 28 votes to 22, with 1 abstention; but after the departure of the Bundists and economists, Lenin's group won a majority in the elections to the Central Committee of the party; it's random as shown further developments, the circumstance forever divided the party into "Bolsheviks" and "Mensheviks".
Nevertheless, despite this, the process of unification of revolutionary Marxist organizations was actually completed at the congress and the party of the working class of Russia was formed on the ideological, political and organizational principles developed by Lenin. A proletarian party of a new type, the Bolshevik Party, was created. “Bolshevism has existed, as a current of political thought and as a political party, since 1903,” wrote Lenin in 1920. After the congress, he launched a struggle against Menshevism. In the work "" (1904), Lenin exposed the anti-party activities of the Mensheviks, substantiated the organizational principles of the proletarian party of a new type.
First Russian Revolution (1905-1907)
The revolution of 1905-1907 found Lenin abroad, in Switzerland. During this period, Lenin directed the work of the Bolshevik Party in leading the masses.
At a meeting held in London in April 1905, Lenin emphasized that the main task of the ongoing revolution was to put an end to the autocracy and the remnants of serfdom in Russia. Despite the bourgeois character of the revolution, its main driving force the working class was supposed to become the most interested in its victory, and its natural ally was the peasantry. Having approved the point of view of Lenin, the congress determined the tactics of the party: organizing strikes, demonstrations, preparing an armed uprising.
At the IV (1906), congresses of the RSDLP, in the book "Two Tactics of Social Democracy in the Democratic Revolution" (1905) and numerous articles, Lenin developed and substantiated strategic plan and the tactics of the Bolshevik Party in the revolution, criticized the opportunist line of the Mensheviks.
At the first opportunity, on November 8, 1905, Lenin illegally, under a false name, arrived in St. Petersburg and headed the work of the Central and St. Petersburg Committees of the Bolsheviks elected by the congress; paid great attention to the management of newspapers " New life”,“ Proletarian ”,“ Forward ”. Under the leadership of Lenin, the party was preparing an armed uprising.
In the summer of 1906, due to police persecution, Lenin moved to Kuokkala (Finland), in December 1907 he was again forced to emigrate to Switzerland, and at the end of 1908 to France (Paris).
Second emigration ( - April )
In early January 1908, Lenin returned to Switzerland. The defeat of the revolution of 1905-1907 did not force him to fold his hands, he considered the repetition of the revolutionary upsurge inevitable. “Broken armies learn well,” wrote Lenin.
In 1912, he decisively broke with the Mensheviks, who insisted on the legalization of the RSDLP.
The first issue of the legal Bolshevik newspaper Pravda was published. Lenin was in fact its editor-in-chief. He wrote articles to Pravda almost daily, sent letters in which he gave instructions, advice, and corrected editorial errors. For 2 years, about 270 Leninist articles and notes were published in Pravda. Also in exile, Lenin led the activities of the Bolsheviks in the Fourth State Duma, was the representative of the RSDLP in the Second International, wrote articles on party and national issues, and studied philosophy.
From the end of 1912, Lenin lived on the territory of Austria-Hungary. Here, in the Galician town of Poronin, he was caught by the First World War. Austrian gendarmes arrested Lenin, declaring him a tsarist spy. To release him, the help of the deputy of the Austrian parliament, the socialist V. Adler, was required. To the question of the Habsburg minister "Are you sure that Ulyanov is an enemy of the tsarist government?" Adler replied: "Oh, yes, more accursed than Your Excellency." Lenin was released from prison, and after 17 days he was already in Switzerland. Shortly after his arrival, Lenin announced his theses on the war at a meeting of a group of Bolshevik émigrés. He said that the war that had begun was imperialist, unjust on both sides, alien to the interests of the working people.
Many modern historians accuse Lenin of defeatist moods, but he himself explained his position as follows: A lasting and just peace - without robbery and violence of the victors over the vanquished, a world in which no people would be oppressed, it is impossible to achieve while the capitalists are in power . Only the people themselves can put an end to the war and conclude a just, democratic peace. And for this, the working people must turn their weapons against the imperialist governments, turn the imperialist massacre into a civil war, into a revolution against the ruling classes, and take power into their own hands. Therefore, whoever wants a lasting, democratic peace must be in favor of a civil war against the governments and the bourgeoisie. Lenin put forward the slogan of revolutionary defeatism, the essence of which was to vote against war loans to the government (in parliament), to create and strengthen revolutionary organizations among workers and soldiers, to combat government patriotic propaganda, and to support the fraternization of soldiers at the front. At the same time, Lenin considered his position deeply patriotic: "We love our language and our homeland, we are full of a sense of national pride, and that is why we especially hate our slave past ... and our slave present."
At party conferences in Zimmerwald (1915) and Kienthal (1916), Lenin defended his thesis on the need to transform the imperialist war into a civil war and at the same time argued that in Russia he could win socialist revolution(“Imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism”). In general, the attitude of the Bolsheviks towards the war was reflected in a simple slogan: "The defeat of your government."
Return to Russia
April - July 1917. "April theses"
July - October 1917
Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917
After the Revolution and during the Civil War (-)
Last years ( -)
Illness and death
Key Ideas
Analysis of capitalism and imperialism as its highest stage
Lenin's awards
Official lifetime award
The only official state award that V. I. Lenin was awarded was the Order of Labor of the Khorezm People's Socialist Republic(1922).
Lenin did not have other state awards, both from the RSFSR and the USSR, and from foreign states.
Titles and awards
In 1917, Norway took the initiative to award Nobel Prize peace to Vladimir Lenin, with the wording "For the triumph of the ideas of peace", as a response to the "Decree on Peace" issued in Soviet Russia, which led Russia out of the First World War separately. The Nobel Committee rejected this proposal due to the delay of the application by the deadline - February 1, 1918, however, it decided that the committee would not object to awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to V. I. Lenin, if the existing Russian government establish peace and tranquility in the country (as you know, the path to peace in Russia was blocked, which began in 1918). Lenin's idea of turning the imperialist war into a civil war was formulated in his work "Socialism and War", written back in July-August 1915.
In 1919, by order of V. I. Lenin, he was admitted to the honorary Red Army soldiers of the 1st department of the 1st platoon of the 1st company of the 195th Yeysk rifle regiment.
Aliases of Lenin
Memories
Works of art
Photo albums and postcard sets
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"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 before 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 an 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). In his personal life, too, there were changes: he married who all his life was his first and most reliable assistant in all revolutionary affairs. 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 trend. 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.
