The Poignant Path to Despotism

By MARC G. RATCLIFF

January 21, 2024, will mark the 100th anniversary of Vladimir Lenin’s death. Aristocrat, lawyer, revolutionary, philosopher, and political leader. These are a few of Lenin’s roles during his relatively short life. He was born in 1870 in Ulyanovsk, Russia. His father was a Russian aristocrat who rose in the ranks of the Tzarist educational bureaucracy to the nobility. He attended university, albeit not without difficulties because of his radical beliefs, and received an education that any son of a Russian aristocrat would. He eventually graduated with a law degree. The turning point in Lenin’s life was when he witnessed his brother’s hanging for his participation in a failed scheme to assassinate the Tzar.

By 1893, when Lenin moved to St. Petersburg, he was a full-time revolutionary. Tzarist Russia was difficult for the proletariat and peasantry, and Lenin had their ear. There was terrific wealth separation in the Russian realm. In the following years, he would write and publish many revolutionary publications. His most remembered work historically is What are the Friends of the People and How Do They Fight against Social-Democracy? Published after his arrest and exile to Siberia.

A Marxist movement had gained momentum in Russia. It began to industrialize, urbanize, and grow a working class to fuel the growth. The revolutionaries wanted a bourgeois revolution that included industrialization, modernization, and Westernization, altering Russia into a democratic republic. One caveat existed, looming significant in hindsight. Lenin believed that intellectuals should ultimately guide the working class. Somewhat confusing, Lenin wanted the proletariat to dominate, being the utmost revolutionary class. He always considered intellectual contribution to be more critical. It is problematic, to say the least, in a society based on equality and opportunity for all.

The turn of the 19th century was a historical powder keg. A World War would start, a pandemic would break out, and the Russian Revolution would occur. This scratches the surface. Much like today, turmoil seemed to be confronting people at every turn. It seems the ruling status quo was in jeopardy.

In 1903 the Russian Marxists split—Lenin with the Bolsheviks and Martov with the Mensheviks, or the minority group. The failed 1905 revolution caught Lenin off guard as he could only return toward the end after living in Europe for several years. After 1905, Lenin asked his followers to prepare for an armed conflict. Returning to Europe, Lenin was shocked by the European socialists’ favoring their country’s participation in World War I. At this point, he decided against being a social democrat and termed communism. While in Switzerland again, he was surprised by the political upheaval in Russia. The tsarist government fell, and Lenin made plans to return in his famed sealed train through Germany to fill the vacuum. Lenin’s political savvy lay in handling growing frustration with the provisional government. A liberal-elected government was taken over after the Tsar fell. They had planned another military offensive in the World War and failed to pass land reform or hold elections. On Oct. 25, 1917, Lenin and the Bolsheviks took the reins of government and declared Soviet rule. After a failed assassination attempt in Aug. 1918, the Cheka, a Soviet police organization, brought on such a period of Red Terror with arrests, murders, etc., that a civil war ensued. The Civil War claimed 8 million lives in total and drained the country of resources in many areas.

Lenin thought, in agreement with Marx, that Socialism was irreversible. He admired the toughness of the Russian working class but was disappointed in its backwardness. Marx always thought that Socialism would succeed first in a Westernized country. Lenin hoped establishing his Soviet government would spawn European revolutions and see communism grow.

Lenin died of complications of a stroke on Jan. 21, 1924, and was succeeded by someone he considered unfit for the position, Joseph Stalin. Some historians commented that Lenin showed little compassion for people, especially those lost in the civil war. He was often characterized as a humorless fanatic. Pundits have described Lenin as someone willing to sacrifice millions of people for the hubris of the intellectuals and their ideological, impractical brand of government. It would do us good to remember that Lenin’s system of government was a model to not only Joseph Stalin but also Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, and Mao Tse Tung.

Democracy is a fragile thing that must always be guarded. We are free to think, create, and foster our ideas here in the United States. FDR was not a communist, Richard Nixon was a crook, and this country doesn’t need to be threatened and divided to scare us to vote for one political opponent or another. Let us use the anniversary of Lenin’s death to remind us of what the alternatives to Democracy are and how terrible they could be. On Guard.

Marc G. Ratcliff is a freelance writer in Forney, Texas. He is a graduate of Texas A&M University at Commerce, Texas, with a B.S. Degree in Technology and History. Email marcratcliff59@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, January 1-15, 2024

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