MARX STALIN LENIN AND TROTSKY EVOLUTION OF IDEAS

MARX, STALIN, LENIN, AND TROTSKY: EVOLUTION OF IDEAS

RUSSIA AFTER REVOLUTION • Economy destroyed • Emigration • Decrease in trade and production

VLADIMIR LENIN (1870 -1924) • Primary leader of the Bolsheviks • Seen as “father of the revolution” • Had been planning overthrow of the Czar/Romanovs since early 1900 s • Ultimate goal was communism • Political and economic system • All property is owned by the public • All citizens work and share wealth

LENIN

KARL MARX (1818 -1883) AND COMMUNISM • “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. ” • “Our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie, possesses, however, this distinctive feature: it has simplified the class antagonisms: Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat. ” • Marx- “Manifesto of the Communist Party”

MARX

MARX AND LENIN • Lenin was heavily influenced by Marx’s ideas • A couple of key differences • Marx thought working conditions would lead the working class to revolution • Lenin thought revolutions needed to led by prominent revolutionaries • Marx thought the revolution would end with communal ownership • Lenin thought that administrators needed to be in place to ensure the community’s goals are met

LENIN’S SOLUTION • New Economic Policy • Partially capitalist, partially communist system • Government controlled major industries, but some private ownership was allowed • Economy mostly stabilized by late 1920 s • Production returned to pre-World War I levels

LENIN AND POWER • In 1922, Lenin formed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) • Inspired by Marx’s writings, the Lenin & the Bolsheviks rebranded themselves as The Communist Party • In reality, Lenin’s concept of Marx’s ideas differed from the ideas themselves • The Communist Party ruled as a dictatorship • Marx would have pictured that the people (or, the proletariat) would rule

POWER STRUGGLE • Lenin’s stroke in 1922 created tension over who would rule the party • Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin were the two main players • Lenin was wary of Stalin: • “Comrade Stalin… has concentrated enormous power in his hands, and I am not sure that he always knows how to use that power with sufficient caution. ”

LEON TROTSKY (1879 -1940)

JOSEPH STALIN (1878 -1953)

STALIN’S RISE • After Lenin’s stroke, Stalin (General Secretary at the time) started working behind the scenes to orchestrate his rise to power by slowly putting his close allies into positions of power • 1928 - Stalin takes control of party • 1929 - Trotsky exiled • After Trotsky’s exile, Stalin was the unopposed dictator of the USSR