Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich
Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich (1870–1924) Russian revolutionary. He evolved a revolutionary doctrine, based principally on Marxism, in which he emphasized the need for a vanguard party to lead the revolution. In 1900, Lenin went abroad and founded what became the Bolsheviks (1903). After the first part of the Russian Revolution of 1917, he returned to Russia. He denounced the liberal republican government of Kerensky and demanded armed revolt. After the Bolshevik revolution (November 1917), Lenin became leader of the first Soviet government. He withdrew Russia from World War I, and totally reorganized government and economy. He founded the third Communist International in 1919. In 1921, the New Economic Policy (NEP) marked a return to a mixed economy. In 1922, he headed the newly formed Soviet Union. In 1923 a new constitution established the supremacy of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Lenin's authority was unchallenged until he was crippled by a stroke in 1922. After his death, a struggle ensued between Trotsky and Stalin.
http://www.marxists.org.uk; http://www.aha.ru/~mausoleu
http://www.marxists.org.uk; http://www.aha.ru/~mausoleu
More From encyclopedia.com
NEARBY TERMS
Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich
