In the beginning, the Bolshevik party - led by Vladimir Lenin - rebelled against the czarist rule. The ruler at the time was the czar Nicholas II. The Bolsheviks led many successful revolutions, such as the October revolution and the February revolution. Finally, after a long struggle, the Bolsheviks - representing Communism - caused the czar Nicholas II to step down. Lenin and his army were successful. Lenin had many thoughts on Communism. He believed that the enemies of Communism were the rich people, mainly factory owners and wealthy farm owners. He did not approve of this. He thought, if anything, the workers should hold the higher class and wealth. But Communism called for a classless, equal society. There were a few problems, unnoticeable at the time. First, although it was hard to admit - the cities of Russia were poor, impoverished places. People lived on the streets, fed off government bread handed out. Many children were motherless - and fatherless if their fathers were serving in the glorious Red Army. All the money and food was still held by peasants, who were eager to horde food and money for themselves. This caused many shop shelves to be bare. Currency did not have much effect for everything was supposed to be shared and equal. The second problem was that the officials - even including Lenin, Trotsky and glorious Stalin - were hogging much of what the country held - without the knowing of others. Many raids were made against the greedy peasants. Our country continued like this for some years, until Lenin lay dying. His two most trusted officials - Leon Trotsky and Josef Stalin - were the ones who were most likely to take power. Although Lenin favored Trotsky, Stalin went "behind stage" and manipulated many into letting him slowly take power until.... Look for my next post if you wish to read more.
HAH! I voted for everything! But in al seriousness, though I am not a communist, if I were, then I would favor Trotsky over Stalin, and the Mensheviks over the Bolsheviks.
To answer your questions: Lenin was dying, he did not have much influence. Also, I didn't see the historical section. I will put the next article there.
Lenin never tried to stop Stalin, in fact, Lenin sided himself more with Stalin than Trotsky. Joseph Stalin was the favorite to be the successor of Lenin, not Trotsky. Leon Trotsky lied about many things during the revolution. He was an enemy of Leninism.
An there all dead and people in russia probally live better without them/still live in unstable positions because they failed to either share the wealth or never built it up to be shared.
Taken from Lenin's Testament. Trotsky would have actually been a rather good leader. He'd already demonstrated his capability during the Civil War. He was rather popular.
Never would have expected such a serious well researched post from you, kudos my friend. To the OP.... Some of those facts are wrong. The best understanding of the Revolution and that time period comes from Jack Reeds, 10 days that shook the world.
Aha a trot, just what I needed. So was your point again that the bolsheviks wanted to push through a genuine revolution, but that the "objective conditions" (as you people like to call them) forced the bolsheviks to compromise more and more against their own principles thus leading up to Stalin's taking of power? Or was your point that the bolsheviks just wanted to create a power structure that lasted as long as possible so they could wait for the revolution in the west (e.g. Germany), without which they didnt think they could achieve the revolution, and never intended this power structure to actually correspond with their revolutionary goals (although if it was possible then it could), and that the degeneration occured when the party cadre dropped its theoretical analysis in favour of stalinism. Or do I need to view it in yet another way?
I do know that Lenin warned the party of Stalin.. and he did like Trotsky better than Stalin.. and i cant blame him
To clear up some of this: I was not really trying to take up a side, only share what I knew to the best of my knowledge. If you would like to share opinions or corrections, feel free to. Be aware that I am not perfect. Look out for my next post for more.
First off to the OP, a very good post. While someone of the content may be questionable (I am not sure given my complete lack of care for History post 17th century) it seemed both unbias & informative. My only suggestion is that you perhaps include sources or further reading to help support what you are saying That may be true however, Toast posted an excerpt from Lenin's testament which contradicts this & so I would advise you post a source that supports your opinion & make sure your opinions are influenced as little as possible by any bias you may or may not hold.
That is how should the situation should had ended. With the February Revolution. But of course, the Bolsheviks lost the elections and they played their other card.
