Ideology of the Rulers: The communists-Lenin Flashcards
What political party was Lenin part of and what did this split into?
-The social democratic party
-Split into the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks
What were the main influences of Lenin’s emergence as a revolutionary?
-The communist Manifesto
-Lenin’s brother executed
-sent to a Siberian prison
-involved in opposition groups.
How does Lenin differ from the Marxist ideology?
-Russia can skip out on the full extent of capitalism stage and skip to the liberal democracy stage.
How did Plekhanov and Lenin differ?
-Plekhanov wanted a bloody civil war and ww2 to cleanse Russia and you cannot sip a stage of Marxism (Lenin disagrees)
How did Martov and Lenin differ?
-Martov thought Lenin wanted to be a dictator and he disliked this.
List the main differences between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks?
- Bolsheviks- all workers not intellectual- power needs to be transferred to a dedicated group of revolutionaries.
- Mensheviks- Create an individual dictatorship whilst class war went on until power can be transferred.
How was Lenin’s ideology slowly adjusted?
-Adjusted over time to gain power
- E.g. the change from war communism to the new economic plan.
By what year had Lenin fully embraced Marxism?
-1890s
What did Lenin and Martov booth initially agree on?
-workers attempts to gain higher wages and better working conditions.
What was done after the organisation of strikes in St Petersburg (reason why Lenin and Martov disagree)?
-Authorities reacted by exiling the ring-leaders.
What did Lenin believe that the authorities reaction to the St Petersburg strike prove?
-The ‘superstructure’ would always prevail in keeping workers in their place.
What book laid out Lenin’s revised version of Marxism?
-‘what is to be done’
What phase did Lenin argue could be sped up in Russia?
-The dialectical phase
What did Lenin propose to govern the interests of workers until they were ready to take control themselves?
-Party central committee.
What did Lenin’s interpretation of dictatorship of the proletariat cause?
-uproar in the RSDLP.
-by 1903 a deep split between Bolsheviks (Lenin Marxists) and Mensheviks (Marxists).
When did Lenin start implementing Lenin Marxism?
After the October revolution of 1917.
What did opposition to Bolsheviks ideology and rule result in?
-The Russian civil war.
Why did Lenin supposedly welcome the civil war?
-as a strategy to eradicate the Bourgeoise
What became evident through the transition from Lenin’s war communism to the new economic policies in terms of ideology?
-Tolerance of the moderates
What did war communism become directly associated with?
-Famine
What did Trotsky believe about communism in terms of the world?
-Communism should be global
What is an overall judgement on Lenin’s ideology?
-adjusted ideology to stave of opposition
-short term aim of dictatorship
Policy of appeasement did not fix the opposition
