Lenin and the Making of the Soviet Sate a Brief History with Documents

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Lenin and the Making of the Soviet Sate a Brief History with Documents

Question 1

The Lenin theory is termed as Leninism, which is an elemental facet in politics. This term was coined from the founder of this theory who was known as Vladimir Lenin. The contributing aspects that facilitated the theory of Leninism, which elaborated, on economic theories as well as social and political ones are the ideologies of Marxism. Through his experiences that centered on applying the Marxism theories in real life situation with application of socio-political conditions, he was able to develop an improved version, which is Leninism (Brooks and Chernyavskiy 34). Based on the experiences he derived from this practical application of Marxism, he decided to join the Bolsheviks who were members of the Vanguard party. This party incorporated the applications that were dependant on political philosophies and Marxist economics. This provided Lenin with a suitable experimental unit for applying the Marxist theories practically hence further improving the aspects, which were weak in terms of validity within the theory itself. Leninism became the principle and fundamental philosophy, which governed the Vanguard party, the sole purpose of Lenin was to create an environment free from capitalism. This would be achieved through ensuring that political consciousness was established by providing organization strategies and education to the literate and working persons within the state (Brooks and Chernyavskiy 36). For this environment to be maintained, it was imperative for Russia to acknowledge Leninism as the official ideology that the economy would monitored and regulated. Hence, to reinforce the importance of this theory to be inculcated in the state, the Russian Civil War was declared that disrupted all other forms of theories that were firmly held by Bolsheviks.

Question 2

Lenin had developed several objectives that he sought to achieve through the Vanguard Party to ensure that Russia was economically protected. His first objective was creation of a democratic nation that embodied the dictatorship aspect of the proletariats. The support for running this government would be offered by the learned and working class within the nation’s population. The main aim for developing this type of government was to ensure that its predecessor known as the Tsarist government would be deposed (Brooks and Chernyavskiy 67). Following this deposition, it would allow power to be transferred to the ruling class who are also considered as the working class in the society. This transfer, based on Lenin’s reasoning would allow for the development of socialism within the state. The third objective was empowering the members of the Vanguard party with the necessary resources required for a campaign that would further influence the impact on the nation as being the first revolutionary party to create change within the nation’s political framework. The fourth objective included ensuring that the opposing parties, which were the Bolshevik, were democratically centralized (Brooks and Chernyavskiy 70). This translated to the reality that they were inculcated into the Vanguard political party. However, they were expected to adhere to the official policy, which was determined by a consensus that was held by the party involving all the members.

Question 3

Various characteristics create the difference exist between Leninism and Marxism. Firstly, in terms of socialism, the Marxists theory depicted that there were striking similarities between communist and socialist societies. This is observed from his statements where he opined that these two concepts were similar in that they represented the different strata of the societal structure terming them as the upper and lower stages of a communistic society (Brooks and Chernyavskiy 75). The primary difference between the two theories, stem from definitions provided by Lenin indicating that communism and socialism are different. The second difference is worker’s state perceptions. Leninism considered the USSR as being a worker’s state whereas the Marxists viewed it as being degenerated (Brooks and Chernyavskiy 76). The third difference is concerning anti-revisionism. According to the Leninism, the characteristic was because of Stalin’s perception on Hoxhaism and Maoism. However, Marxist believed that it developed because of the distancing of Stalin from politics in USSR as he considered them as being revisionist.

The economic view presented by Lenin was more detailed as compared to Marx. This is especially observed from the perception of the Marxist theory whereby the driving economic elements were considered communistic revolutions that took place (Brooks and Chernyavskiy 79). However, Lenin presented the reality that the economy would be further improved by industrial development, which became the key objective of the Vanguard party. Imperialism is another differentiating element that sets the theories apart. According to Leninism, the working class was responsible for the expansion of imperialism (Brooks and Chernyavskiy 80). This was different from the Marxism theory, which opined that the ruling states would deter efforts geared towards achieving socialism. In terms of party politics, Marx theory elaborated that the development of class-consciousness would be facilitated by the working class. This was contrary to Leninism theory, which believed that establishment of political parties such as Vanguard would be instrumental in ensuring that the working class efforts were directed towards curtailing capitalism.

Works Cited

Brooks, Jeffrey, and Georgiy Chernyavskiy. Lenin And The Making Of The Soviet State. Boston [u.a.]: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007. Print.