Vladimir Lenin's Deeds as a Soviet Leader

Even though the United Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), during its lifespan, gained a devastatingly large death poll, and Stalin who made citizens suffer and processed massacres for his own power and greed. Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov, also known as Lenin, should be recognized for the superior choices he made, such as overthrowing the miserable Russian Empire, and improving the living quality for millions.

Lenin overthrew the corrupt and inferiorly ruthless Russian Empire, and saved the civilians facing starvation. The Russian Empire of Romanov Rule lasted for nearly three centuries. People are uneducated, the poor peasants and factory workers became poorer, and the rich aristocrats and landowners only became richer. In 1881, revolutionaries killed king Alexander the II. Afterwards, his successor Alexander the III became aware of this crisis.

His Intelligence Agencies actively tried to find revolutionaries, and arrested them before they had a chance to kill the King. In one of those cases, Alexandr Ulyanov was leading a group of Revolutionaries, seeking the king’s death, and they were arrested. The king’s terms were that if he said that he was sorry for his actions, he would be spared of all punishments. And unsurprisingly, Alexandr Refused, so he was hanged. That was that biggest motivation for Vladimir, with his brother dead, he joined the revolutionaries and took the same path as his brother, which caused him to be exiled for 16 years. Back in the Russian Empire, Alexander the III died at the age of forty-nine, and his son Nicolai the II became the King. He was twenty-nine years old, definitely old enough to rule, but he grew up without struggle, resulting that he was too inexperienced to rule. In 1904-1905 Russia had war with Japan, and came to a tremendous loss, with 150, 000 soldiers dead, the public was no longer confident that Nicolai the II can rule the country. Citizen protesters gathered to protest for simple needs like more food or better working environment, and they were all gunned down by Nicolai’s Guards. World War One was also a significant impact to the Russian Empire, rather than giving the military control to his experienced generals, Nicolai the II gave himself the military control. There was a huge shortage in supply and weapons, and no strategy at all in the war, resulting in three million deaths. Meanwhile, the agriculture is damaged as peasants are forced to join the army, and started a food shortage. This made the situation even worse, as the working condition kept decreasing, and the starvation kept increasing, the revolution began. In the February Revolution, Nicolai II abdicates and ends three hundred years of Romanov rule. The members of the state assembly, the State Duma formed a provisional government, who shared power with the Petrograd Soviets, a worker and soldier elected council. The Petrograd Soviet was controlled by the Marxist Menshevik Party, and the Revolutionary Socialist Party, they have control over the army, transportation, and communication.

However, they still decided to continue the war against Germany and Austria-Hungary, supporting the Allies. This resulted the Bolshevik Party to gain much more power, and in November, when Lenin came back to Russia, The Bolsheviks has gain a respectable amount of power. The October revolution took place in November of 1917, Lenin came to power, he immediately demanded redistribution of land from rich land owners to peasants, and successfully transferred the power from the provisional government to the people’s soviets. The Bolsheviks program was summed up to the slogan “Bread! Peace! Land!”. This again goes to how much people suffered during the Romanov and Menshevik rule, they just wanted bread, peace and land. When Lenin finally claimed victorious in 1920, defeating the other parties and removed Nicolai’s family, two million soldiers died, and nine million more civilians died of starvation and disease. And if Lenin has not restored peace, the provisional government would keep their power, and support the aristocrats. The peasants would only starve further if it was not for Lenin who would rule and followed the Marxist ideology to distribute the property and restored the economy.

Lenin dramatically improved the living quality for millions of Russian citizens, including the introduction of the New Economic Policy. His noble decisions to introduce the New Economic Policy, repaired the soviet economy, kept the big industries under state control to make sure the products are produced with quality, and even allowed small private businesses to be ran. Unlike the Aristocracies before, even the poorest workers had equal rights, support in resources, and the opportunity to work in their desired jobs, create their own industries, or join the Bolshevik party. Not only did he distribute all the land and resources equally to everyone, he opened education to the working class, and the literacy rate went from only one-sixth of the population all the way to 85% of the population. Lenin also was extremely against antisemitism, he allowed Jewish people to rise to the highest offices for both state and party.

Lenin died the 21st of January in the year 1924, he wrote a testament to remove Stalin from office, due to Stalin and Leon Trotsky’s escalating conflict, Lenin decided that Leon Trotsky was a better fit to run the country. “Stalin is too rude and defect … becomes intolerable in a Secretary-General” states the 130-word addendum to the Lenin’s Testament. This was evidence for Lenin’s Commitment of improving the life of his citizens, even after his death. Lenin knew that Leon Trotsky would be a much more qualified leader than Stalin, and perhaps, if he actually lead the soviet union after Lenin’s death, the dreams of the soviet utopia might as well come true, where citizens live in peace. Unlike this dystopia Stalin caused for his own power and greed, leaving the citizens in famine and starvation. Thus, all Lenin’s decisions were to improve the living quality of the majority, specifically the working class, planning for the people even after his death.

Often the Soviet Union has a cruel reputation of massacring all the people that opposed itself. However, these policies are enacted after Lenin’s death, when Stalin took down Lenin’s Testament, and secretively change the information, so he would be the next leader of the Soviet Union, and he exiled Jewish Leon Trotsky out of the Soviet Union. Stalin cooperated with Adolf Hitler to attack Poland, starting World War II. Only later to fight against Hitler, starving the Soviet Union to near death, with 8. 8 Million military deaths, and a piercing 13. 7 Million soviet civilian deaths caused by famine, extreme labor in German Labor camps, one million Soviet-Jewish deaths at the Holocaust alone, the assassination of Leon Trotsky at Mexico in 1940.

Moreover, in the winter of 1932-1933, Stalin declared what was now known as the Holodomor (морити голодом) which means Death by Starvation, this event was to starve the population in the main grain-producing countries, killing 7 million Ukrainians alone in this event. All of these Catastrophes were decisions of Stalin, who Lenin ordered out of office in the Lenin’s Testament of 1922. “Comrade Stalin, having become Secretary-General, has unlimited authority concentrated in his hands, and I am not sure whether he will always be capable of using that authority with sufficient caution. Comrade Trotsky, on the other hand, as his struggle against the C. C. on the question of the People's Commissariat of Communications has already proved, is distinguished not only by outstanding ability. He is personally perhaps the most capable man in the present C. C. ” stated the Lenin’s Testament of 25 December 1922. Lenin made noble decisions, including the decision in the Lenin’s Testament, to kick Stalin out of office, and perhaps as well, prevent the dystopian massacres and atrocious famines that happened during the course of Stalin Rule.

From the dreadful Romanov Rule and the Menshevik party, forcing uneducated peasants to war and leaving the rest in famine, to Stalin, massacring citizens for personal benefits, deporting Jewish citizens of all jobs and races to German Concentration Camps. There was, truly, a peaceful era in the Soviet Union, that replenished the economy with NEP, with rapidly increasing literacy rates, and citizens of all religions and races were respected equally, even though for only a mere four years (1920-1924) that this utopia lasted, before it seized to exist under Stalin rule. This was all thanks to a honorable man, who worked hard and loyal to his Commitment of representing the people. His name was Lenin, Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov. Even though, through the ages of the mighty Soviet Union, many catastrophes took place, in which taking millions of lives, there was a brilliant leader, Vladimir Lenin, who cast an era of peace between the devastating catastrophes, he overthrew the corrupt and abominable Romanov and Menshevik before him, and committed to improve the life of his citizens.