Lenin
"Unless we accept the claim that Lenin's coup d'etat gave birth to an entirely new state, and indeed to a new era in the history of mankind, we must recognize in today's Soviet Union the old empire of the Russians -- the only empire that survived into the mid 1980's" (Luttwak, 1). In their Communist Manifesto of 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels applied the term communism to a final stage of socialism in which all class differences would disappear and humankind would live in harmony. Marx and Engels claimed to have discovered a scientific approach to socialism based on the laws of history. They declared that the course of history was determined by the clash of opposing forces rooted in the economic system and the ownership of property. Just as the feudal system had given way to capitalism, so in time capitalism would give way to socialism. The class struggle of the future would bebetween the bourgeoisie, who were the capitalist employers, and the proletariat, who were the workers. The struggle would end, according to Marx, in the socialist revolution and the attainment of full communism (Groiler's Encyclopedia). Socialism, of which "Marxism-Leninism" is a
This was to be in opposition of the new majority of the congress, the Menshiviks, led by Trotsky. The frustrated tsar responded by stepping down from power, ending the 300-year-old Romanov dynasty (Farah, 580). The real issue was Lenin's control of the faction and the enforcement of his brand of Marxist orthodoxy. At that point the opposition parties took positions which were either equally vocal or openly anti-Bolshevik, and one after another, they were suppressed. The provisional government was so busy fighting the war that they neglected the social problems it faced, losing much needed support (Farah, 580). Trotsky set himself emphatically against this attitude and demanded an army organized in the conventional way and employing "military specialists" -- experienced officers from the old army. He exhibited his new faith and his polemical talents in a diatribe of that year against the peasant-oriented socialism of the Populists led by N. As a socialist movement and inclination, the Russian Social-Democratic Party continued the traditions of all the Russian Revolutions of the past, with the goal of conquering political freedom (Daniels 7). After Revolution broke out over Europe in 1848 the modern working class appeared on the scene as a major historical force. This in theory meant that the means of production was in the hands of the state. In agreement with their earlier anti-imperialist line, the Bolshevik negotiators, headed by Trotsky, used the talks as a discussion for revolutionary propaganda, while most of the party expected the eventual return of war in the name of revolution. At the top level individuals still spoke for themselves, and considerable freedom for factional controversy remained despite the principles of unity laid down in 1921. Lenin denouncedthe otzovists, also known as the recallists, who wanted to recall the Bolshevik deputies in the Duma, and the ultimatists who demanded that the deputies take a more radical stand -- both for their philosophical vagaries which he rejected as idealism, and for the utopian purism of their refusal to take tactical advantage of the Duma. This was known as the "October Revolution" (Luttwak, 74) Through this, control of Russia was shifted to Lenin and the Bolsheviks.
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Acceptance Essays
