Burdette--the words of Lenin that showed his complete desire for power

While Lenin may have put up a nice, neat, little front that made him seem like he had the people of Russia's best interests in mind, many of the statements he made showed how he intended to use strong-armed tactics to seize complete power.

His initial rallying cries drew people to him and to his cause (Socialism). He promised, "Peace, land, bread." (2) These were exactly what the starving, cold, broken people of Russia wanted! The troops were sick of fighting and losing; they were ready for peace (3). On top of the great amounts of food that had to be sent to the war front for the soldiers, there was also a food shortage in general that meant people were literally starving to death back home in Petrograd (2). Lenin's promise of peace, land, and bread was exactly what the people wanted to hear; it's exactly what they weren't getting under the provisional government. For this reason, I have to question Lenin's intentions. It was just too perfect. I think it was a political move on Lenin's part, designed to rally the Russian people to him and to his cause. Only with their support could he come into power. Even though Lenin's rallying cries seemed to be a true representation of the people's needs, it is very obvious to me that this move was simply a necessary step towards seizing power. Lenin couldn't come into power without first getting support from at least some of the people. So he promised the people exactly what they wanted. This shows one of Lenin's tactics for seizing power.

My personal favorite quote from Lenin reads: " Do you really believe that we can be victorious without applying the cruelest revolutionary terror?" (3) Lenin believed strongly in terror and the use of terror in keeping things in order. He had a secret police (the Cheka) put in place to take out opposition (3). He reinstated the death penalty, calling it "supreme measure" for a similar reason (3). Lenin felt that power couldn't be attained without terror. People have to be scared or they will oppose you and stand up to you. He must have seen the way the tsar was overthrown as an effect of a people who didn't feel terror. Through terror, a very strong-armed tactic, Lenin intended to seize power. This quote from Lenin just shows that he could not imagine a way to seize power without terrorizing the opposition and Russian people in general.

Another of Lenin's rallying cries was "dictatorship of the proletariat" (2). At first glance, this seems like a true representation of the people. How lovely...the workers are promised to be in charge. Aren't they the majority? Isn't that exactly what the majority wants--power? However, another quote from Lenin shows the true nature of what he had in mind: "Dictatorship implies and means a state of simmering war, a state of military measures of struggle against the enemies of the proletarian power...Socialism cannot be introduced, it emerges out of the most intense, the most acute class struggle." (3) To Lenin, dictatorship (part of his rallying cry) meant war. It meant a struggle to wipe out all opposition of the proletariats. Well, what happened to that peace he promised? It was just an empty promise to gain support. Support means power. Lenin's cause was socialism and the only way he saw that it could be put in place in Russia was through an "intense", an "acute class struggle." He loved his cause much more than he loved the people. We see this in that he was willing to enter into a struggle and a war and to wipe out opposition for his cause even though that went against what he promised the people earlier. His cry, "dictatorship of the proletariat", seems to contradict his earlier promise of peace when you look at his definition of dictatorship. His promises seemed nice, but his true intentions conflicted with them. Lenin's view that a struggle was just part of dictatorship shows how he intended to use strong-armed tactics to seize power.


And just for the record, while I think this whole mess in Russia was caused by Lenin making political moves and using strong-armed tactics that contradicted his promises, I believe Lenin's core beliefs inspired a great song. So this is my shout out to John Lennon's "Imagine" and how it reeks of Communistic principles. :)