The October Revolution 0f 1917
Radical: Vladimir Ilych Lenin 1870 – 1924
Radical: Leon Trosky 1879 – 1940
Vladimir Lenin was the first to utilize the Marxist model to start the machine in Russia. In 1917 there was a culture of corrupt capitalism and government that was being recognized by the Russian majority. The Russian economic system was quite different then that of American capitalist system but did rely on a type of free market system. The government was an autocracy. With the years of growing Russian bureaucracy, the Russian people had grown disgusted with the corrupt autocracy of Czar Nicholas II. The week government and growing bureaucratic social policies created inflation which influenced the Russian people ripe for revolution.
There was already a fear of the present system. Bloody Sunday of 1905, where peaceful unarmed protesters were gunned down by the Russian army, was an example of government desperation and lack of control. The protesters, led by Father Gapon, held religious icons and sang patriotic songs along with the famous “God Save the Tsar”. This large group of people cause panic amongst the soldiers which provoked the slaughter of innocent protesters. The numbers of dead vary in different reports. It has been said that 96 died and 333 were injured. Later Father Gapon was assassinated by the Socialist Revolutionary Party.
Lenin used the festering situation to create his empire and start the Marxist machine. The fallen economy and the lack of trust of the Russian Republic provide a void in the leadership of the majority and fuel for the machine. Lenin found that the Marxist model along with his own theories would equalize the classes and solve the social injustices that the working class had be subject to. In 1917 there were massive strikes as the Unions took control of production at factories and plants crippling the ability for the struggling nation to make it through post World War I fiscal hardships.
With a huge anti-World War I movement, Lenin led the Bolsheviks and thousands of workers and soldiers to take over the government. After a number of congressional maneuvers, Lenin was elected head of state in November of 1917. Leon Trotsky, a Marxist aiding Lenin in the creation of his regime, led the peace negotiations to end Russian involvement in World War I at the wishes of Lenin and the Soviets. Over the next year Lenin dissolved the Russian Constituent Assembly and implements his Marxist Regime. In March Russia would withdraw from the war.
There was a huge anti-Communist movement against Lenin. There were attempts at his assassination. In a telegram from Joseph Stalin, Stalin suggested that Lenin impose a terror campaign which was called “Red Terror” to suppress the anti-Communist movement. It was later announced through the newspapers as just that… “Red Terror”. Lenin supported public hangings and torture to suppress his opposition. Opponents were subject to scalping, being skinned alive, crowing with barbed wire, impaling, crucification, stoning, being burned alive in furnaces or boiled in water. These mass arrests, imprisonments, and executions were held by the Cheka. They often targeted the bourgeoisie or upper-class and the clergy. The clergy was a threat because they preached faith in God rather than faith in Lenin. In 1918 alone there were over 765 public executions of the opposition and 25 Tsarist ministers. Over 1,826 Red Army deserting soldiers were killed and 2,230 were executed. Some resources say that by the end of 1920, killed an estimated 50,000.
Once the country began to collapse economically, the government implemented War Communism during a short civil war. This system was to distribute supplies and food to the people. To enforce this system, The Cheka was used. This created a huge black market. With a huge devastating famine created from destroyed crops by the Germans and the black market due to a corrupt Communist regime, an estimated 5 million people died.
The tragedy in the Marxist attempt by Lenin was that he had good intentions. As he tried to implement his radical shift in control, the results were obviously disastrous. In his last testament before his death, he listed plans to diversify the power of government. He saw first hand that the War Communism system and New Economic Policy (Statist Capitalism) of wealth distribution was not working and feared that the heir to his throne may become drunk with power. It was Stalin he feared most. The testament would criticize Stalin and warn of his rudeness and suggest that he be removed. Incidentally Stalin intercepted the testament and suppressed it in order to maintain power for himself.
What is important to understand is that this transition is what the United States is facing now. When instability with bad economic conditions or crisis occur people become fearful. They look to their leadership for guidance. Lenin gave the people guidance by his Utopian Marxist ideals. The corruption destroyed any faith in the current system so many people followed Lenin in faith. We are seeing this now with people that is no loner happy with the Constitution simply because they don’t understand why we have failed its perfection. We must be really careful to not get rid of the current system because Marxist leaders will blame the current system as a “Failed policy of the past…”
