Who is Lenin? IN AND. Lenin: short biography

Professional revolutionaries led a secret life, and often forgot their real names for a long time. Stalin, Kamo, Sverdlov, Trotsky and other ardent fighters for the people's happiness, even when communicating in private, used party pseudonyms. The same fully applies to the leader of the world proletariat, the creator of the world's first state of workers and peasants. Nikolai Lenin (Ulyanov Vladimir Ilyich) appeared on the political scene almost simultaneously with the fateful 20th century for mankind. At that time he was thirty years old.

Aliases of Ilyich

Indeed, Ronald Reagan, exposing the intrigues of world communism in his next speech (this was in the early eighties), turned out to be right, although some Soviet publications accused him of ignorance. “Not Nikolai, but Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, that’s how it’s right!”, because everyone is used to just such a combination of sounds and letters, pronounced a thousand times from the stands, replicated on posters and propaganda brochures, badges, pennants and letters of commendation. Nevertheless, those who knew history a little better than full-time propagandists and familiarized themselves with the works of the classic of Marxism could not but agree with the American president, not in the essence of his speech, of course, but regarding the accuracy of the reproduction of the party nickname.

Before going underground, the future leader was just a student Vladimir, even earlier - a high school student Vova and a curly-haired boy Volodya. And having become a revolutionary, Ulyanov changed many pseudonyms, having visited Vladimir Ilyin, and Jordan K. Yordanov, and K. Tulin, and Kubyshkin, and Starik, and Fedor Petrovich, and Frey, and even the mysterious Jacob Richter. But history has left a brief inscription on the mausoleum: “V. I. Lenin”, causing hostility and rejection in some, hope in others and leaving others indifferent.

Who is Lenin named after?

The simplest explanation for this pseudonym is its morphological relationship with the female name "Lena". That was the name of Ulyanov's old friend, Stasova (and also his classmate Rozmirovich, a chorus friend Zaretskaya ... but you never know Len in the world? years. But this side of the leader's life was not studied at school, but another version was spread. On the Siberian Lena River in 1906, certain popular unrest arose among the workers in the gold mines, which ended in their armed suppression. This version of the explanation deserves even less attention, despite its political consistency, since the execution of demonstrators took place five years later than the first newspaper articles signed by N. Lenin appeared. Prophecies were repeatedly attributed to the leader of the revolution, but he still was not a clairvoyant. To predict the world victory of communism is one thing, but to foresee a riot five years before it is quite another.

To try to explain the origin of this pseudonym, one can turn to the history of another. L. D. Bronstein became Trotsky, borrowing the name of the head of the Odessa central. Vladlen Loginov, a historian (his name alone is worth something!) Suggests that Nikolai Lenin is a very real person who lived in the Yaroslavl province. This respected man, a state councilor, died, and his children gave the passport to their friend, Vladimir Ulyanov. It was presumably in 1900, the year of birth had to be slightly corrected, but in all other respects the chronology converges. Photocards were not glued then.

There is another version that simply concerns Lena - not a beautiful woman, and not a place of bloody execution of workers, but a river, but historians and just curious people do not find it interesting. And in fact, there is little romance. And what is the truth, that, apparently, will never be known.

Childhood and adolescence

The centennial anniversary of the proletarian leader was magnificently celebrated in 1970, many films, paintings, literary works, poems, songs and cantatas were dedicated to him. A medal was also issued, which was awarded to the leaders of production. During the time of Soviet power, a whole direction of art was created, called Leniniana, and a considerable part of it described the childhood and youthful years of the life of the future Bolshevik leader. About what Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was like in the first years of his life, it is known mainly from the stories of his family members. The fact of his excellent school performance (gold medal) was documented, which gave propagandists reason to urge schoolchildren from all over the vast country to study only “excellently”. The city of Simbirsk, where Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was born, was renamed Ulyanovsk, and a memorial was erected there.

The father of the theoretician and practitioner of the world revolution was Ilya Nikolaevich Ulyanov, an official who held the post of inspector of public education. The boy studied at the gymnasium, then entered the University of Kazan. It was in 1887, and at the same time his older brother Alexander, a Narodnaya Volya member, was accused of participating in a conspiracy, arrested and executed. Volodya also suffered, but by no means for kinship with one of the terrorists who attempted to assassinate the tsar. He himself worked in an underground circle, was exposed, expelled from the university and exiled - no, not yet to Siberia, but home. The "arbitrariness of the authorities" did not last long, a year later Ulyanov was again in Kazan, and again among his Marxist friends. Meanwhile, my mother, having become a widow, bought a small estate (the village of Alakaevka, Samara Province), and the young man helps her run the business. In 1889, the whole family moved to Samara.

From Narodnaya Volya to Marxists

The young man was allowed to receive a higher education. He passed the exams for a lawyer externally in 1891 at the law faculty of the capital's university, without completing a course of study. The first place of work was the law office of N. A. Khardin in Samara, where the young specialist had to defend the parties to civil litigations. But it was not this boring occupation that fascinated him. In two years of legal practice, Vladimir Ilyich completely changed his worldview and political convictions, moving away from Narodnaya Volya and becoming a Social Democrat. The influence of Plekhanov's works in this process was great, but they were not the only ones that occupied the mind of the young Marxist.

Having resigned from Hardin, the lawyer Ulyanov goes to St. Petersburg, where he finds a new job, with M.F. Volkenstein, also a lawyer. But he is not only involved in court cases: the first theoretical works relating to political economy, the development of capitalist relations in Russia, reforms in the countryside, etc. belong to this period. These articles are sometimes published in periodicals. In addition, Ulyanov writes the program of the party he is going to create.

A group of young revolutionaries in 1885 gathers an underground union for the "liberation of the working class", among them - Martov and Vladimir Ilyich. The purpose of this organization is to gather disunited circles of Marxists and lead them. This attempt ended in arrest, a year in prison and exile in the Yenisei province (village Shushenskoye). The then "prisoners of conscience" could not complain about the difficult conditions of detention. The main burden experienced by V. I. Lenin in those three years was the need to be content with boring lamb. However, it was possible to hunt, diversifying the menu with game. Even the future leader repaired skates for children when he wanted to take a break from thinking about the struggle of the proletariat.

Lenin in exile

Nikolai Lenin appeared in 1900. Vladimir Ilyich, whose brief biography was studied in all educational institutions of the USSR, spent most of his life abroad, in Europe. Immediately after the expiration of the exile, he goes to Munich, then to London and Geneva. Plekhanov, Pavel Axelrod, Vera Zasulich and other like-minded Marxists were already waiting for him there. They publish the Iskra newspaper. By the way, few people paid attention to the fact that decades later, when naming avenues and streets in part of this party printed organ, the executive committees of all cities necessarily added the word “Leninist”. The fact is that Iskra later became a Menshevik newspaper, so a clarification was necessary from a political point of view.

A well-known question: "What to do?" became the title of an article that Vladimir Ilyich Lenin wrote in 1902. It was this work that marked the choice of the direction of party development for the coming years. The main thesis was the need to turn the RSDLP into a militant organization bound by strict discipline and hierarchy. Many members of the party led by Martov spoke out against such a violation of democratic principles, for which, having lost the vote at the Third Congress (1903), they ended up in the "Mensheviks".

The first revolution and again a foreign land

In 1905, Vladimir Lenin came from Switzerland to St. Petersburg. Large-scale unrest began in Russia, which with a high degree of probability could lead to a change of power. He arrived under a false name, as a foreign spy, and got involved in the work of overthrowing tsarism. The positions of the Bolshevik wing of the RSDLP were quite strong; a congress of the Central and St. Petersburg Party Committees was held in the capital. The armed uprising practically took place, but ended in failure. Even in the conditions of an extremely unsuccessful war with Japan, the Russian Empire found the strength to suppress unrest and restore order. Vladimir Lenin declared the revolt on the Potemkin "undefeated territory", and in 1907 he again fled abroad.

This fiasco greatly upset the leadership of the Bolshevik Party, but did not lead to the abandonment of the struggle. Conclusions were drawn about the insufficient preparedness of party structures and the need to further strengthen the organization's combat wing.

Where does the money come from?

The modern reader, aware of the cost of living abroad, often wonders about the origin of the funds needed to publish subversive periodicals. In addition, even the inflexible Bolsheviks are living people, and human needs are not alien to them. There are several answers to this question. First, money was forcibly taken from individuals and organizations. These operations were called expropriations (exes), and separate Bolshevik structures were engaged in these robberies (for example, the “wonderful Georgian” Joseph Dzhugashvili-Stalin made a unique raid on a bank in Tiflis, which was included in forensic textbooks). Secondly, the RSDLP had sponsors among Russian business people who hoped to improve their position after the overthrow of tsarism (the most famous is the millionaire Savva Morozov, but there were others). Thirdly, information is available today about foreign intelligence support for subversive organizations. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin effectively used all the channels of material supply to the party.

Personal life

Everyone knows that the leader of the world proletariat was married. He was not handsome, he was small in stature, with a liquid beard and an early bald head, but history knows many examples of great success among the ladies' class of people and a more modest appearance - just remember Napoleon, Goebbels, Chaplin or Pushkin. It is not the cover of the book that is important, but its content, and the high intelligence of the leader of the Bolshevik Party was not questioned even by his irreconcilable opponents.

How did Nadezhda Konstantinovna captivate such an interesting man as Vladimir Ilyich Lenin? Krupskaya's biography contains many interesting facts regarding, for example, her party nicknames. The party members called her Herring, openly mocking her thinness and the peculiar look of her bulging eyes. The reason for both was quite valid (Gazedov's disease). She was not offended by her nickname, moreover, her character obviously had a sense of humor, otherwise her husband would not have endured even more humiliating treatment from her husband, who called her a lamprey. More important than appearance for Ulyanov, apparently, were excellent abilities for languages, amazing performance, the desire for self-education and devotion to the communist idea.

There were other women in his life for whom he had, perhaps, romantic feelings, but the main object of passion, of course, was politics. The affair with I. Armand ended only with her tragic death from the flu. The wife forgave everything. She probably loved her husband, considered him a great man and bowed before him. In addition, as a smart woman, she correctly assessed the degree of her external attractiveness, and as a real communist she despised jealousy and a sense of ownership. She never gave birth to children.

For a long time it was impossible to understand what kind of person Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was in real life from the popular image created by the powerful Soviet propaganda machine. Interesting facts, which were told in their memoirs by the closest associates, speak of his sometimes unusual manner of behavior. He, unlike Stalin, did not like to joke, he took any issue seriously. An interesting case during a trip in the notorious sealed German carriage. There was only one toilet, there were queues, and V. I. Lenin solved this problem in a Bolshevik way, giving each of the passengers a ticket indicating the time of his visit. He is also characterized by another moment concerning the wedding with Krupskaya in Shushenskoye. Vladimir Ulyanov himself forged two wedding rings from copper nickels (the spouses wore them until the end of their lives). But no matter what eccentricities historical characters show, they are judged primarily by the results of their activities.

The expression "Stalin's repressions" entered the political vocabulary after the XX Congress of the CPSU. In 1962, Lenin's mausoleum was freed from the remains of the dictator who ruined millions of destinies and lives. However, it should be taken into account that in none of his articles or speeches did I.V. Stalin ever call for mass executions or percentage destruction of the population, did not give orders for the extermination of entire estates and classes in the most direct sense. But Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, whose years of rule coincided with the time of the Civil War, gave such orders and demanded a report on their implementation on the ground. Millions of Russian citizens involved in the fratricidal slaughter were destroyed and died, and yet they constituted the spiritual, intellectual, scientific, technical and military elite of the country. We still feel the consequences of this crime today.

Man, image and attributes of the cult

In the official mythology, inculcated instead of a desecrated religion, the citizens of the USSR from childhood were inspired by the idea of ​​great kindness, which distinguished Lenin Vladimir Ilyich. The death of the leader in Gorki (1924) was declared almost self-sacrifice, it was explained by the consequences of being wounded at the Michelson plant in 1918. However, according to the conclusion of doctors published in the Soviet press, the brain of the main practitioner of Marxism was almost petrified due to calcification of the vessels. A person with such a disease cannot make adequate decisions, let alone lead the state.

Official propaganda created an image that was impossible not to worship. Everything human was completely emasculated from it, Lenin's mausoleum became a place of pilgrimage for tens and hundreds of millions of people from all over the world, the leader's works were printed (with some cuts), but few people read them, and even fewer students thought about these texts. But multi-volume collections and separate collections of articles have become an indispensable attribute of the authorities' offices. Having taken away moral guidelines and faith from citizens, the leaders who came after them gave them a new deity, which Lenin Vladimir Ilyich became after his death. Photos and paintings replaced icons, solemn chants supplanted church hymns, and banners became analogous to banners. A tomb was erected on Red Square, which over time acquired a necropolis of leaders of a lower rank. The birthday of Lenin Vladimir Ilyich in Soviet times was a holiday during which one should have at least a little, symbolically, partake of free labor. Somehow, in the understanding of almost the whole world, the communist idea became associated with Russia, although it was our country that suffered from it more than anyone else. Now those who would like to somehow show their anti-Russian orientation are destroying the monuments to Lenin. In vain.

In the biography of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin this time occupied a special place: at first the boy received an education at home - the family spoke several languages ​​\u200b\u200band attached great importance to discipline, which she followed mother . The Ulyanovs at that time lived in Simbirsk, so he later studied at the local gymnasium, where he entered in 1879 and was headed by the father of the future head of the Provisional Government Alexander Kerensky - F.M. Kerensky. In 1887, Lenin graduated with honors and continued his studies at the University of Kazan. It was there that his passion for Marxism began, which led to joining a circle where the works of not only K. Marx and F. Engels were discussed, but also G. Plekhanov, who had a great influence on the young man. A little later, this became the reason for expulsion from the university. Subsequently, Lenin externally passed the exams for a lawyer.

The beginning of the revolutionary path

Leaving his native Simbirsk, where he lived parents , he studied political economy, was interested in social democracy. Also, this period was distinguished by the trips of the future leader to Europe, upon his return from which he founded the "Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class".

For this, the revolutionary was arrested and exiled to the Yenisei province, where he not only wrote most of his works, but also arranged a personal life with N. Krupskaya.

In 1900, his exile ended, and Lenin settled in Pskov, where Vladimir Ilyich published the Zarya magazine and the Iskra newspaper. In addition to him, S. I. Radchenko, as well as P. B. Struve and M. I. Tugan-Baranovsky were engaged in the publication.

Years of the first emigration

Much is connected with the life of Lenin during this period. interesting facts . In July of the same year, Vladimir Ulyanov left for Munich, where Iskra settled for two years, then moved first to London, where the first congress of the RSDLP was held, and then to Geneva.

Between 1905 and 1907 Lenin lived in Switzerland. After the failure of the first Russian revolution and the arrest of its instigators, he became party leader.

Active political activity

Despite the constant moving, the decade from the first to the second revolution passed very fruitfully for V.I. Lenin: he published the newspaper Pravda, worked on his journalism and the preparation of the February uprising, and after the October revolution, which ended in victory. Complete the biography says that during these years Zinoviev and Kamenev were his associates, at the same time he first met I. Stalin.

The last years of life and the cult of personality

At the Congress of Soviets, he headed the new government, called the Council of People's Commissars (SNK).

Brief biography of Lenin says that it was he who negotiated peace with Germany and softened domestic policy, creating conditions for private trade - since the state was not able to provide citizens, it gave them the opportunity to feed themselves. Under his leadership, the Red Army was founded, and in 1922 - a whole new state on the world map, called the USSR. It was also Lenin who introduced the initiative of widespread electrification and insisted on a legislative settlement of terror.

In the same year, the health of the leader of the proletariat deteriorated sharply. After a two-year illness, he died on January 21, 1924.

Lenin's death brought to life a phenomenon that later became known as the cult of personality. The body of the leader was embalmed and placed in the Mausoleum, monuments were erected throughout the country and numerous infrastructure facilities were renamed. Subsequently, the life of Vladimir Lenin was devoted to many books and films. for children and adults who painted him exclusively in a positive way. After the collapse of the USSR, controversial issues of the biography of the great politician began to rise, in particular nationality.

Vladimir Lenin is the great leader of the working people of the whole world, who is considered the most prominent politician in world history, who created the first socialist state.

Embed from Getty Images Vladimir Lenin

The Russian communist theoretical philosopher, who continued the work and, whose activities were widely deployed at the beginning of the 20th century, is still of interest to the public today, since his historical role is of significant importance not only for Russia, but for the whole world. Lenin's activity has both positive and negative assessments, which does not prevent the founder of the USSR from remaining the leading revolutionary in world history.

Childhood and youth

Ulyanov Vladimir Ilyich was born on April 22, 1870 in the Simbirsk province of the Russian Empire in the family of school inspector Ilya Nikolaevich and school teacher Maria Alexandrovna Ulyanov. He became the third child of parents who invested their whole soul in their children - my mother completely abandoned work and devoted herself to raising Alexander, Anna and Volodya, after whom she also gave birth to Maria and Dmitry.

Embed from Getty Images Vladimir Lenin as a child

As a child, Vladimir Ulyanov was a mischievous and very smart boy - at the age of 5 he already learned to read and by the time he entered the Simbirsk gymnasium he became a "walking encyclopedia". During his school years, he also showed himself to be a diligent, diligent, gifted and accurate student, for which he was repeatedly awarded commendable sheets. Lenin's classmates said that the future world leader of the working people enjoyed great respect and authority in the class, since every student felt his mental superiority.

In 1887, Vladimir Ilyich graduated from the gymnasium with a gold medal and entered the law faculty of Kazan University. In the same year, a terrible tragedy happened in the Ulyanov family - Lenin's older brother Alexander was executed for participating in organizing an assassination attempt on the tsar.

This grief aroused in the future founder of the USSR a spirit of protest against national oppression and the tsarist system, therefore, already in his first year at the university, he created a student revolutionary movement, for which he was expelled from the university and sent into exile in a small village Kukushkino, located in the Kazan province.

Embed from Getty Images Vladimir Lenin's family

Since that moment, the biography of Vladimir Lenin has been continuously connected with the struggle against capitalism and autocracy, the main goal of which was the liberation of workers from exploitation and oppression. After the exile, in 1888, Ulyanov returned to Kazan, where he immediately joined one of the Marxist circles.

In the same period, Lenin's mother acquired an estate of almost 100 hectares in the Simbirsk province and convinced Vladimir Ilyich to manage it. This did not prevent him from continuing to maintain contacts with local "professional" revolutionaries, who helped him find Narodnaya Volya and create an organized movement of Protestants of the imperial power.

revolutionary activity

In 1891, Vladimir Lenin managed to pass the exams externally at the Imperial St. Petersburg University at the Faculty of Law. After that, he worked as an assistant to a sworn advocate from Samara, dealing with the "state protection" of criminals.

Embed from Getty Images Young Vladimir Lenin

In 1893, the revolutionary moved to St. Petersburg and, in addition to legal practice, began writing historical works on Marxist political economy, the creation of the Russian liberation movement, the capitalist evolution of post-reform villages and industry. Then he began to create a program of the Social Democratic Party.

In 1895, Lenin made his first trip abroad and made the so-called tour of Switzerland, Germany and France, where he met his idol Georgy Plekhanov, as well as Wilhelm Liebknecht and Paul Lafargue, who were leaders of the international labor movement.

Upon his return to St. Petersburg, Vladimir Ilyich managed to unite all the disparate Marxist circles in the "Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class", at the head of which he began to prepare a plan to overthrow the autocracy. For active propaganda of his idea, Lenin and his allies were taken into custody, and after a year in prison he was sent to the Shushenskoye village of the Elysian province.

Embed from Getty Images Vladimir Lenin in 1897 with members of the Bolshevik organization

During his exile, he established contact with the Social Democrats of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Voronezh, Nizhny Novgorod, and in 1900, at the end of his exile, he traveled all over Russian cities and personally established contact with numerous organizations. In 1900, the leader created the Iskra newspaper, under whose articles he first signed the pseudonym Lenin.

In the same period, he became the initiator of the congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, in which after that there was a split into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. The revolutionary headed the Bolshevik ideological and political party and launched an active struggle against Menshevism.

Embed from Getty Images Vladimir Lenin

In the period from 1905 to 1907, Lenin lived in exile in Switzerland, where he was preparing an armed uprising. There he was caught by the First Russian Revolution, in the victory of which he was interested, since it opened the way to the socialist revolution.

Then Vladimir Ilyich illegally returned to St. Petersburg and began to act actively. He tried at all costs to win over the peasants to his side, forcing them to an armed uprising against the autocracy. The revolutionary urged people to arm themselves with everything at hand and to attack civil servants.

October Revolution

After the defeat in the First Russian Revolution, the solidarity of all Bolshevik forces took place, and Lenin, having analyzed the mistakes, began to revive the revolutionary upsurge. Then he created his own legal Bolshevik party, which published the newspaper Pravda, of which he was editor-in-chief. At that time, Vladimir Ilyich lived in Austria-Hungary, where he was caught by the World War.

Embed from Getty Images Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin

After being imprisoned on suspicion of spying for Russia, Lenin prepared his theses on the war for two years, and after his release went to Switzerland, where he came up with the slogan of turning the imperialist war into a civil one.

In 1917, Lenin and his associates were allowed to leave Switzerland through Germany to Russia, where a solemn meeting was organized for him. The first speech of Vladimir Ilyich before the people began with a call for a "social revolution", which caused discontent even among the Bolshevik circles. At that moment, Lenin's theses were supported by Joseph Stalin, who also believed that power in the country should belong to the Bolsheviks.

On October 20, 1917, Lenin arrived at Smolny and took over the leadership of the uprising, which was organized by the head of the Petrograd Soviet. Vladimir Ilyich proposed to act promptly, toughly and clearly - from October 25 to 26, the Provisional Government was arrested, and on November 7, at the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, Lenin's decrees on peace and land were adopted, and the Council of People's Commissars was organized, headed by Vladimir Ilyich.

Embed from Getty Images Leon Trotsky and Vladimir Lenin

This was followed by a 124-day "Smolnin period", during which Lenin carried out active work in the Kremlin. He signed a decree on the creation of the Red Army, concluded the Brest peace treaty with Germany, and also began to develop a program for the formation of a socialist society. At that moment, the Russian capital was moved from Petrograd to Moscow, and the Congress of Soviets of Workers, Peasants and Soldiers became the supreme body of power in Russia.

After the main reforms, which consisted in withdrawing from the World War and transferring the lands of the landowners to the peasants, the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (RSFSR) was formed on the territory of the former Russian Empire, the rulers of which were the communists led by Vladimir Lenin.

Head of the RSFSR

With the coming to power, Lenin, according to many historians, ordered the execution of the former Russian emperor along with his entire family, and in July 1918 he approved the Constitution of the RSFSR. Two years later, Lenin eliminated the supreme ruler of Russia, Admiral, who was his strong opponent.

Embed from Getty Images Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

Then the head of the RSFSR implemented the "Red Terror" policy, created to strengthen the new government in the face of flourishing anti-Bolshevik activities. At the same time, the decree on the death penalty was restored, under which anyone who did not agree with Lenin's policy could fall.

After that, Vladimir Lenin set about destroying the Orthodox Church. Since that period, believers have become the main enemies of the Soviet regime. During that period, Christians who tried to protect the holy relics were subjected to persecution and executions. Special concentration camps were also created for the “re-education” of the Russian people, where people were imputed in especially harsh ways that they were obliged to work for free in the name of communism. This led to a massive famine that killed millions of people and a terrible crisis.

Embed from Getty Images Vladimir Lenin and Kliment Voroshilov at the Congress of the Communist Party

This result forced the leader to retreat from his planned plan and create a new economic policy, during which people, under the "supervision" of the commissars, restored industry, revived construction sites and industrialized the country. In 1921, Lenin abolished "war communism", replaced the food distribution with a food tax, allowed private trade, which gave the broad mass of the population to independently seek means of survival.

In 1922, on the recommendations of Lenin, the USSR was created, after which the revolutionary had to step down from power due to a sharp deterioration in health. After a sharp political struggle in the country in pursuit of power, Joseph Stalin became the sole leader of the Soviet Union.

Personal life

The personal life of Vladimir Lenin, like that of most professional revolutionaries, was shrouded in secrecy for the purpose of conspiracy. He met his future wife in 1894 during the organization of the Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class.

She blindly followed her lover and participated in all the actions of Lenin, which was the reason for their separate first exile. In order not to part, Lenin and Krupskaya got married in a church - they invited Shushensky peasants as best men, and their ally made of copper nickels made wedding rings for them.

Embed from Getty Images Vladimir Lenin and Nadezhda Krupskaya

The sacrament of the wedding of Lenin and Krupskaya took place on July 22, 1898 in the village of Shushenskoye, after which Nadezhda became a faithful companion of the life of the great leader, whom she bowed to, despite his harshness and humiliating treatment of herself. Having become a real communist, Krupskaya suppressed her sense of ownership and jealousy, which allowed her to remain the only wife of Lenin, in whose life there were many women.

The question "Did Lenin have children?" is still of interest all over the world. There are several historical theories regarding the paternity of the communist leader - some claim that Lenin was barren, while others call him the father of many children of illegitimate children. At the same time, many sources claim that Vladimir Ilyich had a son Alexander Steffen from his beloved, an affair with which the revolutionary lasted about 5 years.

Death

The death of Vladimir Lenin occurred on January 21, 1924 in the estate of Gorki, Moscow province. According to official figures, the leader of the Bolsheviks died of atherosclerosis, caused by severe overload at work. Two days after his death, Lenin's body was transported to Moscow and placed in the Hall of Columns, where the farewell to the founder of the USSR was held for 5 days.

Embed from Getty Images Funeral of Vladimir Lenin

On January 27, 1924, Lenin's body was embalmed and placed in a specially built for this Mausoleum, located on the Red Square of the capital. The ideologist of the creation of Lenin's relics was his successor Joseph Stalin, who wanted to make Vladimir Ilyich a "god" in the eyes of the people.

After the collapse of the USSR, the issue of Lenin's reburial was repeatedly raised in the State Duma. True, he remained at the stage of discussion back in 2000, when he came to power during his first presidential term put an end to this issue. He said that he did not see the desire of the overwhelming majority of the population to rebury the body of the world leader, and until it appears, this topic will no longer be discussed in modern Russia.

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin) is one of the greatest figures in the history of Russia and the world revolutionary movement. Nobody disputes his significance for the entire course of world, and especially Russian history, however, Lenin's philosophical and political views and his activities still cause the most controversial, extreme assessments. In the public consciousness, two mythological images coexist: the Soviet one, representing an almost ideal person and statesman, and the post-perestroika one, drawn almost exclusively in black paint. Both of them are quite far from reality.

George Vernadsky (historian):“Lenin's activity can be considered from various points of view, various assessments of its results are possible. But one cannot deny the fact that his personality had a tremendous impact on the course of the political development of Russia and, indirectly, world history.

Francesco Misiano (Italian politician): “No one is praised and scolded as much as Lenin, no one is spoken of so much good and so much bad as about Lenin. With regard to Lenin, no middle ground is known, he is either the embodiment of all virtues, or of all vices. In the definition of some, he is absolutely kind, and in the definition of others, he is extremely cruel.

Lenin's views were based on Marxism. At the same time, he did not consider all Marxist provisions to be dogma, and treated this doctrine creatively, making changes in relation to Russian conditions. This was especially evident in the period between the February and October revolutions and during the introduction of the NEP, when many associates even accused him of departing from Marxism.

Lenin proclaimed the class character of any state. For the transition to a just social and political system at the transitional stage, he considered it necessary to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat, believing that the only alternative to it could be the dictatorship of the landlords and capitalists. He regarded the Bolshevik Party as the vanguard of the working class. Lenin also considered morality to be a class concept, and contrasted bourgeois morality with revolutionary morality. “People have always been and always will be stupid victims of deception and self-deception in politics until they learn to look for the interests of certain classes behind any moral, religious, political, social phrases, statements, promises,” he believed.

The February bourgeois revolution of 1917 came as a surprise to Lenin. However, he quickly assessed the situation and decided to take the chance to prepare and carry out the socialist revolution. Returning to Russia in April 1917, he put forward the slogan: "No support for the Provisional Government, all power to the Soviets!". The popularity of the Provisional Government, torn apart by inter-party contradictions, continuing the First World War and postponing the solution of the most important issues of the state system, was steadily declining, while the Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies were gradually gaining strength. Taking advantage of this situation of dual power, the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, headed for an armed uprising, which they carried out practically without resistance on October 25, 1917. Lenin became the head of the Soviet state.

In order to win the peasantry over to the side of the Bolsheviks, Lenin, in the April Theses, adopted some points of the Socialist-Revolutionary program. This caused the rejection of a significant part of the party members - some even believed that he was thereby sacrificing the proletariat to the peasantry. When the Bolsheviks took power in October 1917, one of the first decrees was the "Decree on Land", according to which private ownership of land was abolished, and peasants were allocated land plots free of charge. For the first time after the revolution, this contributed to the broad support of the Bolsheviks by the peasant masses, who made up the majority of the population of Russia.

The policy of military communism that followed during the years of the Civil War, one of the components of which was the surplus appropriation, dictated by the need to prevent starvation in the cities, caused mass discontent and peasant uprisings. In 1921, the transition to the New Economic Policy (NEP) was announced, allowing some market elements and replacing the surplus appropriation with a much more benign tax in kind. Even though Lenin viewed the NEP as a temporary tactical retreat, this decision provoked opposition from a large part of the party.

Lenin declared the First World War imperialist and unjust for all its participants. In this regard, he put forward the slogan of turning the imperialist war into a civil one. According to him, the soldiers had to turn their weapons against their own bourgeois governments, arrange revolutions in their countries, and then conclude a just peace without annexations and indemnities. Propaganda of such views, in the long run, contributed to the disintegration of the army.

The first decree of the Soviet government was the Decree on Peace. But, as Lenin admitted, "the war cannot be ended at will by sticking a bayonet into the ground." For its real implementation, a peace treaty with Germany was required, which was signed in Brest on March 3, 1918. To break through this decision, Lenin had to go into a serious conflict with a number of associates. Disputes over the Brest peace have not subsided to this day: assessments vary from an act of betrayal to a brilliant political move. On the one hand, Russia made territorial concessions and lost the opportunity to become one of the victorious countries and share the benefits of victory with the Entente states. On the other hand, the collapse of the army by that time had already reached such a degree that it was almost impossible to convince the soldiers to continue the war. The peace of Brest-Litovsk made it possible to obtain a respite for the formation of a new, worker-peasant Red Army.

Nikolay Berdyaev (philosopher):“He [Lenin] stopped the chaotic disintegration of Russia, stopped it in a despotic, tyrannical way. There is a similarity with Peter in this.

Lenin is considered one of the organizers and inspirers of the Red Terror policy. At the same time, he urged his comrades-in-arms to act only within the framework of necessity. In conversations and correspondence, he often used expressions such as "shoot" or "hang", but often they remained purely declarative and did not have the character of specific instructions. As for the execution of the royal family, Lenin's participation in making a decision about it has not been proven.

Heinrich Mann (German writer):"In Lenin's life, loyalty to a great cause is inevitably combined with intransigence towards everyone who tries to interfere with this cause."

When by 1919 it became clear that the hopes for a speedy world revolution were not justified, Lenin, who, in contrast to other Marxists of that time, had earlier spoken of the possibility of the victory of the socialist revolution in a single country, recognized the possibility of coexistence side by side of socialist and capitalist x states. At the same time, he proposed to adhere to the tactics of "setting the imperialists against each other." The emphasis in foreign policy was planned to be shifted from the West to the East, "to group around itself the awakening peoples of the East" and to help them in the national liberation struggle.

The Bolsheviks declared the right of nations to self-determination. If almost all political forces reconciled with the upcoming secession of Finland after the February Revolution, then few were ready to recognize the secession from the Russian Empire of its other parts. Meanwhile, independent republics were being formed on the outskirts of Russia. Lenin did a lot to ensure that Soviet power was established in these republics, and they became part of a new state formation - the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, as close as possible to the former borders of the Russian Empire. After the destruction of the bourgeois state, he energetically set about building the state of the socialist Fr.

Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich:"The Russian national interests were guarded by none other than the internationalist Lenin, who spared no effort in his speeches to protest against the division of the former Russian Empire."

During the Civil War and immediately after it, the country fell apart, it was torn apart by interventionists and nationalists, industry was largely destroyed, and, most importantly, during the First World War and the Civil War, huge human losses were suffered. It was necessary to build a new state, making decisions on the go. And here Lenin showed great political instinct and flexibility, sometimes taking actions that contradicted his previous views and statements and caused bewilderment among former comrades. Someone sees this as a manifestation of political unscrupulousness, and someone sees it as the ability to admit their own mistakes and correct them.

The indisputable merit of Lenin and the Bolshevik Party was the establishment of broad social rights and guarantees: the right to work and its normal conditions, free health care and education, equality of representatives of different sexes and nationalities.

Bertrand Russell (English scientist and philosopher):"Others could destroy, but I doubt if there would be even one person who could build so well anew."

Lenin's books and articles are distinguished by absolute confidence in his own rightness. He was irreconcilable to other people's views in matters of principle and, being an excellent polemicist, mercilessly ridiculed them. He fought dissent both within the party and in the new Soviet state. One of the manifestations of such a struggle was the expulsion of a large group of thinkers who disagreed with Marxism on the so-called "philosophical ship". However, for those harsh times, this decision can be called quite humane. Parting with the Motherland was a personal tragedy for everyone, but for many, this expulsion certainly saved their freedom and even life.

Lenin's harsh statements about the intelligentsia are known, which, for the most part, reacted to the Soviet government at least wary, if not outright hostile. However, despite the desire of the most radical Bolsheviks to abandon the old culture and art, Lenin opposed these trends. With his direct participation, the leading theaters and museums were preserved. Moreover, the project of monumental propaganda was intended to perpetuate and, thereby, propagate the work of outstanding figures of Russian and world culture, even those whose views were far from revolutionary. Leading artists, writers, musicians, scientists were provided with reinforced rations. Even during the years of the Civil War, new research organizations were created. At the same time, a grandiose plan for the electrification of the country, GOELRO, was being developed. But, at the same time, a significant part of the intelligentsia, which he often called the "near-Cadet public", was subjected to various repressions: deportations, arrests, and some ended up in the machine of the Red Terror.

Jack Lindsay (English writer):“For me, Lenin is first of all the greatest intellect of the century. His books, his works have completed the process of re-education of many millions of people on earth.

Lenin was an implacable materialist and atheist, therefore he considered the fight against religion one of the most important things in building a new state. Religion, in his opinion, “is one of the types of spiritual oppression that lies everywhere and everywhere on the masses ... Religion is the opium of the people, a kind of spiritual fuselage in which the slaves of capital drown their human image, their demands for a life worthy of a man.” In the fight against religion, Lenin urged supporters to act flexibly, if possible not offending the feelings of believers. The “Decree on Separation from the State and the School of the Church” was one of the first signed, back in early 1918. This document declared freedom of conscience and equality of all religions. Church lands and property were nationalized, but could be transferred to religious organizations for free use by decision of local authorities. This inevitably led to excesses, sometimes ending in bloody clashes. There were especially many of them during the campaign to seize church valuables to help the starving people of the Volga region in 1922. Lenin secretly called on his comrades-in-arms to use it to discredit the church.

Patriarch Tikhon:"I have information about him [Lenin] as a kind man, a truly Christian soul."

Maksim Gorky:"His [Lenin's] private life is such that in religious times they would have made a saint out of him."

Lenin's personal modesty and simplicity were noted by almost everyone who had the opportunity to communicate with him personally. This was recognized even by his enemies. He considered himself not a great man, but a representative of a great idea and, at the same time, an instrument for its implementation. That is why in him, as in the religious figures of the past, kindness and cruelty paradoxically coexisted. Having set the goal of creating a society of social justice, Lenin was ready to achieve it in the most effective way at the moment. And, ultimately, the attitude towards the figure of Lenin largely depends on the attitude towards this goal and on what methods of its implementation are considered acceptable.

Winston Churchill (English politician):"Their [Russians'] greatest misfortune was his birth, but their next misfortune was his death."

Romain Rolland (French writer):“Never since the time of Napoleon the First has history known such a will of steel. Never since the heroic era have European religions known an apostle of such a granite faith. Never before has mankind created a ruler of thoughts, so absolutely disinterested.

V. I. Lenin, whose brief biography is given later in the article, was the leader of the Bolshevik movement in Russia, as well as the leader of the October Revolution of 1917.

The full name of the historical figure is Vladimir Ilyich. He can rightfully be called the founder of a new state on the world map - the USSR.

An outstanding personality, philosopher and ideologist, leader of the country of the Soviets, in his short life managed to turn the fate of countless people.

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich - meaning for Russia

The activity of the leader became a decisive factor in the course of preparing and carrying out the revolution in Tsarist Russia.

His numerous and stubborn appeals, articles and speeches became the detonator of the struggle for people's power not only in Russia, but also in other countries.

The highest ability for self-education allowed him to thoroughly study everything about the Marxist theory of building the world. Scientists suggest that Vladimir Ilyich knew 11 foreign languages. Unshakable self-confidence made the Marxist the leader of the revolution.

The majority of the Social Democrats rushed after the competent and active agitator, who suppressed any listener with his pressure, and with his help made the "preparatory" revolution of 1905-1907.

It was possible to completely crush the power of the Russian Empire only 10 years later, during the unfolding revolutionary actions of 1917. The result of the uprising was the formation of a new state with a government based on unlimited violence.

After a 7-year struggle against hunger, devastation and people's ignorance, Lenin at the end of his life realized the doom of the entire capitalist idea.

Unable to speak due to paralysis, he wrote the most important words about the failure and change of point of view on socialism. But his last weak appeals did not reach the masses, the Soviet state began its difficult path.

When and where was Lenin born

The world leader of the people's liberation movement was a descendant of the ancient Ulyanov family. His paternal grandfather was a Russian serf, his maternal grandfather was a baptized Jew.

Vladimir's parents were Russian intellectuals. For his services, his father was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir III degree, which gave him a title of nobility, inherited. Mother was educated as a teacher, was engaged in raising children.

Volodya was born in April 1870, he became the third child in a family that lived in Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk). The date of his birth, the 22nd according to the new style, subsequently began to be celebrated as a holiday in the Soviet Union.

The real name of Lenin

Vladimir Ilyich at the beginning of his political activity published personal works under various pseudonyms, including Ilyin and Lenin.

The latter became his second surname, under which the leader entered world history.

The blood name of the leader was Ulyanov, it was worn by Vladimir's father Ilya Vasilyevich.

Vladimir's mother was the daughter of a doctor, Israel Moishevich, a Jew by nationality, and as a girl, she bore the surname Blank.

Lenin as a child

Vladimir differed from other children in the Ulyanov family in his noisiness and clumsiness. The boy's body developed disproportionately, he had short legs and a large head with blond, later slightly reddish hair.

Due to weak legs, Volodya learned to walk only by the age of three, often fell with a roar and a roar and, unable to get up on his own, beat his big head on the floor in despair.

The roar accompanied almost any activity of the baby, he was very fond of breaking and disassembling toys and objects. However, the child grew up conscientious, and nevertheless admitted to his tricks after some time.

By mistake, an ophthalmologist at an early age diagnosed Ulyanov with strabismus, his left eye saw very poorly. And only towards the end of his life, Lenin learns that in reality he has myopia in one eye, and he should have worn glasses all his life.

Due to poor eyesight, Vladimir developed the habit of squinting during a dialogue with an interlocutor, thus his characteristic “Lenin squint” was born.

Lenin in his youth

Some physical deficiencies did not affect Vladimir's mental abilities. His intelligence and memory were significantly higher than those of his peers.

The director of the Simbirsk gymnasium, where the boy entered in 1879, recognized the primacy of the young Ulyanov among other gymnasium students. After 8 years, the best student completed his secondary education with a gold medal.

On the day of the final exam in geography, May 8, 1887, Vladimir's elder brother was executed for his part in the assassination attempt on Alexander III, the Russian emperor.

Volodya did not have a close relationship with his executed brother, but his death left a terrible wound in the boy's heart. The entire subsequent struggle with the monarchy was waged by Lenin with a hidden thirst for revenge for the grief that befell the whole family.

In the same year, Vladimir entered Kazan University, however, he was soon expelled for a student meeting and exiled to the village of Kukushkino, where he educated himself.

In 1891, having prepared on his own, he nevertheless received a law degree from St. Petersburg University, having passed all the exams externally.

Participation of V.I. Lenin in political circles

After a short exile in 1888, Vladimir Ulyanov, returning to Kazan, joined the Marxist circle led by N.E. Fedoseev, actively sought connections with professional revolutionaries.

The next year, the Ulyanov family moved to Samara, where Vladimir himself created a Marxist circle.

Among its participants, the future leader distributed his own translation from the German "Manifesto of the Communist Party", the work of F. Engels and K. Marx.

In 1893, the thirst for space led Ulyanov to St. Petersburg, where he actively began to lecture in working circles, becoming a member of the Marxist circle of the Technological Institute.

How did Lenin come to power?

For organizing the activities of the Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class, the revolutionary was exiled to the Yenisei province.

There, over the years of his life in the village of Shushenskoye, many volumes of works published under various pseudonyms came out from his pen.

In the same place, 3 years later, Vladimir Ilyich married his faithful companion exiled after him, his wife's name was Krupskaya Nadezhda Konstantinovna.

In 1900, the future leader went abroad for 3 years. Upon his return, he becomes the leader of the Bolshevik Party in Russia.

As a former exile, Ulyanov was forbidden to live in large cities and the capital, so the leadership of the revolution in 1905-1907. he carried out, living in St. Petersburg illegally.

After the workers' strikes died down, Vladimir Ilyich spent 10 years abroad, where he actively participated in conferences, made contacts with like-minded people and published newspapers. Lenin learned about the overthrow of the monarch in February 1917 from the newspapers, at that time he lived in Switzerland.

The future leader immediately arrived in St. Petersburg with the aim of preparing the last, October socialist revolution, as a result of which he headed the new Soviet government - the Council of People's Commissars and took the post of chairman.

The role of Lenin in the October events of 1917

After a forced long emigration, on April 3, Ulyanov returned to his homeland as a world-famous personality among the Social Democrats, the leader of the Bolsheviks and the leader of the future socialist revolution.

A peaceful demonstration in St. Petersburg on June 18 under the slogan "All power to the Soviets!" did not bring the desired results. Therefore, the seizure of state power had to occur in the course of an armed uprising.

The Central Committee of the Party was slow to initiate armed actions; Lenin's calls for insurrection in letters were not brought to the attention of the people. And therefore, despite the threat of arrest, the revolutionary personally arrived at Smolny on October 20.

He took up the organization of the uprising so actively that on the night of October 25-26, the Provisional Government was arrested and power passed into the hands of the Bolsheviks.

Works and reforms of Lenin

The first working document of the new government, which was presented at the congress on October 26, was the decree on peace created by Vladimir Ilyich, which declared illegal any armed encroachment of a large state on weak nations.

The Decree on Land abolished private ownership of land; all land was transferred without redemption to committees and Soviets of Deputies.

For 124 days, working for 15-18 hours, the leader signed the decree on the creation of the Red Army, concluded a forced peace with Germany, and created a capable new state apparatus (SNK).

In April 1918, the newspaper "Pravda" published the work of the leader "The Immediate Tasks of Soviet Power". In July, the Constitution of the RSFSR was approved.

In order to split the peasant strata and liquidate the rural bourgeoisie, power in the villages was transferred to the poorest representatives of the peasants.

In response to the outbreak of the Civil War in the summer of 1918, the "Red Terror" was organized, the word "shoot" became one of the most frequently used.

A severe economic crisis as a result of the exhausting Civil War forced the leadership to create a New Economic Policy that allowed free trade, after which the difficult growth of the economy began in the country.

As an inflexible atheist, Vladimir Ilyich waged an uncompromising struggle with representatives of the clergy, allowing them to rob churches and shoot their ministers. In 1922, the USSR was officially created.

When Lenin died

After being wounded in 1918 and a busy working regime, the leader's health deteriorated. In 1922 he suffered 2 strokes.

In March 1923, a third stroke left him completely paralyzed. In 1924, in the village of Gorki near Moscow, the leader of the Russian revolution died, the date of death is January 21 according to the modern style.

When asked how many years Lenin lived, the answer is: 54 years.

Historical portrait of Lenin

As a historical figure, V.I. Ulyanov laid a solid foundation for the Bolshevik ideology, which was realized during the October Revolution.

The power of the Bolshevik Party, which later became the only one in the country, was held by the unlimited terror of the Cheka.

Lenin became a cult personality during his lifetime.

After the death of Vladimir Ilyich, thanks to the efforts of V.I. Stalin, the former leader of the revolution, began to be idolized.

The role of Lenin in the history of Russia

A brilliant Marxist revolutionary, a cunning and prudent avenger for his executed brother, Vladimir Ulyanov served to accomplish the All-Russian Socialist Revolution in a short time.

Millions of people became victims of military actions under his leadership: both opponents of the Bolshevik regime at the hands of the Red Terror, and people ruined and starved to death during the formation of the USSR.

The sparkling revolution, the merciless destruction of the enemies of Soviet power, the execution of the royal family, laid down the political portrait of Vladimir Ilyich as a brilliant leader and tyrant who fought for power for so long and ruled for so short.

Conclusion

Vladimir Ulyanov dreamed of a world revolution. Russia in his plans was only the beginning of a long journey, carefully prepared during the years of forced emigration.

But illness and death stopped the never tired revolutionary who played his significant role in history. His mummified body in the mausoleum was the object of worship for millions of people, but this time has passed.