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Ep. 126 Between czars, provisional governments and socialism: What was Lenin's proposed constitution for Soviet Russia?
What I will be reading today is Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s revisions to the party doctrine. Lenin had recently returned from exile at this point. He returned to Russia on April 16, a month after the Tsar’s abdication, after which he wrote the April Theses, where he raged against the provisional government as bourgeois and said that Russia was in the first stage of revolution, the next steps would need to include placing power in the hands of the proletariat. There’s a lot of other things that he calls for as well such as agrarian reform, the abolition of police and the wages of all officials to be the same as common workers, it’s overall an interesting set of directives. I mention it to place what I will be reading today in the context of the time. The Tsar was out of power, Russia was not yet communist, Lenin was back from exile, and the country was in turmoil, a lot of violence and uncertainty. Just a few months after this document was written, the October Revolution would take power and bring to power the first government based on the teachings of communism. Russia would become the first socialist country in the world. The first to go beyond the theory and take action. A grand experiment indeed.
But why am I reading this today? And on’t I know about all the atrocities committed by the soviet union? Wasn’t Lenin a bad person, an evil dictator, a killer and a tyrant? According to many and mainstream media yes, according to historical evidence and research, not really. I’m not here to say the soviet union was communist utopia, it wasn’t. I’m not here to say the USSR never committed any atrocities, they certainly did. I’m not here to say things were done perfectly, they were not. What I am here to do is paint a picture of the intentions of someone like Lenin and show that an immense amount of good was done by the soviets. I think we should first remember that there was no democratic tradition in Russia, there was never a democracy there. It’s rather rich to call Lenin a dictator when the guy before him was a Tsar! If anything Soviet Russia was more democratic than anything that Russians had ever known before it.
ALL RIGHTS AND CREDIT GO DIRECTLY TO RIGHTFUL OWNERS.
NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED.
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By Anani Kaike
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What I will be reading today is Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s revisions to the party doctrine. Lenin had recently returned from exile at this point. He returned to Russia on April 16, a month after the Tsar’s abdication, after which he wrote the April Theses, where he raged against the provisional government as bourgeois and said that Russia was in the first stage of revolution, the next steps would need to include placing power in the hands of the proletariat. There’s a lot of other things that he calls for as well such as agrarian reform, the abolition of police and the wages of all officials to be the same as common workers, it’s overall an interesting set of directives. I mention it to place what I will be reading today in the context of the time. The Tsar was out of power, Russia was not yet communist, Lenin was back from exile, and the country was in turmoil, a lot of violence and uncertainty. Just a few months after this document was written, the October Revolution would take power and bring to power the first government based on the teachings of communism. Russia would become the first socialist country in the world. The first to go beyond the theory and take action. A grand experiment indeed.
But why am I reading this today? And on’t I know about all the atrocities committed by the soviet union? Wasn’t Lenin a bad person, an evil dictator, a killer and a tyrant? According to many and mainstream media yes, according to historical evidence and research, not really. I’m not here to say the soviet union was communist utopia, it wasn’t. I’m not here to say the USSR never committed any atrocities, they certainly did. I’m not here to say things were done perfectly, they were not. What I am here to do is paint a picture of the intentions of someone like Lenin and show that an immense amount of good was done by the soviets. I think we should first remember that there was no democratic tradition in Russia, there was never a democracy there. It’s rather rich to call Lenin a dictator when the guy before him was a Tsar! If anything Soviet Russia was more democratic than anything that Russians had ever known before it.
ALL RIGHTS AND CREDIT GO DIRECTLY TO RIGHTFUL OWNERS.
NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED.