Vladimir Lenin: A Catalyst for Change

Vladimir Lenin: A Catalyst for Revolution
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, revolutionary Vladimir Lenin was the driving force behind Russian Marxism, reformation and organization of the working class, and the political catalyst behind the Revolution of 1905. During this time period, the new Russian working class had left the countryside for urban factories. Workers revolted against Tsarist oppression and participated in illegal strikes. Lenin organized workers under the Social Democratic Party who petitioned for civil liberties, higher wages, and increased land for the peasantry. These petitions led to strikes across the Russian empire, spurring political change on account of Vladimir Lenin.
The many revolutionary ideologies which were introduced in the late 19th century spurred a clash between Lenin and other political groups. The Narodniks’ social movement was at its peak in the 1860s and 1870s and believed that the peasantry would over throw the Tsardom, but now without the help of extreme leaders. Lenin staunchly disagreed with the latter part of this belief, knowing that “the people” could organize to form a strong, cohesive organization capable of directing themselves. 1 He also criticized the Narodniks’ extreme methods which included sending daring and lonely revolutionaries to bomb or kill people connected to the tyrannous Tsardom “because it was the will of ‘the people’ ”. Lenin acknowledged that his followers had never “rejected terrorism on principle”, but disagreed with the individualized attacks carried out by the Narodniks. 2 He knew that a central revolutionary organization with complete harmony would be most effective in spreading Marxist ideals. Vladimir Lenin sparked interest in his revolution via anti-Tsarist and pro-Marxist propaganda. In the mid 1890s, Lenin travelled to Western Europe to learn about developments in their labor movement from leader in the Emancipation of Labor Group. 1 The group was made up of the oldest, most experienced analysts of Russian Marxism. The intellectuals who initially brought the ideas of Marxism from Western Europe to Russia were obliged to merge Marxist concepts with the direction of the working class. Lenin rose to prominence as he organized collections of his views on workers in “Rabotnik” (the Worker). 2 However, his sentiments were not able to reach the masses because as the proofs of the paper were being finalized, Lenin and other members of the Emancipation of Labor Group were arrested for illegal distribution. Though Lenin spent time and jail and was exiled into Eastern Siberia in 1895, he did not become inactive. In fact, he continued his political studies and worked on The Development of Capitalism in Russia. 3 This work, which was published under a pseudonym in 1899, began to establish his reputation and a prolific Marxist theorist. Lenin took an anti-Populist stance and argued that agrarian communes were already overshadowed and destroyed by capitalist motivations. He theorized that a national market may be more beneficial for Russia than the current local markets which relied on individualized efforts and subsistence farming. Also of note was his discussion of class divisions between the peasantry and the land-owning bourgeoisie. These circumstances provided Lenin with the opportunity to align the proletariat working class with the peasant workers in efforts against capitalists who spited their efforts for the masses. While physically separated from “the people”, he focused his energies on building a revolutionary working class organization.
In order to do this, he knew an all-Russian paper needed to be founded, which would centralize the Social Democratic movement. The “Iskra” (translates to “Spark”), published in 1900, was the nucleus of Russian socialist thought. 1 The newspaper, which initially reached approximately 8,000 people, held that “from a spark, a fire will flare up”. The following year, “Zarya”, a journal, was published. Lenin was on his way to ensuring that Marxism became a revolutionary force and would develop into a legitimate party. But, for the time being, Social Democracy was merely a group of people with a few similar traits, acting haphazardly “for the people”. However, Lenin recognized that the country needed an organization that could boldly break out of the local factions and stand strong, unified at the national level.
Lenin’s theory of “economism” helped him bring more workers onto his peasant and proletariat heavy bandwagon because of their mutual political struggle. Even trade union workers were subjected to subordination by the bourgeoisie. Marxist thought predicted that there would be a period of transition between the defeat of capitalism and the victory of socialism. He assumed that the ranks of the working class would continuously expand as bourgeoisie would be forced to sell their land for their well-being. 2 So Lenin determined that the first stage of the revolution would be bourgeois-democratic, concentrating on solving the problem of ending feudalism and completing the agrarian revolution apart from ending the system of Tsarist absolution and replacing it with a democratic republic. Lenin prompted all Marxists to join in a bourgeois revolution wherein the proletariat would yield de jure politics to the bourgeoisie while the Social Democrats would continue to promote themselves through propaganda. Lenin published a political pamphlet called “What is to be Done?” which initiated thoughts of a
Marxist political party to act as a vanguard for their ideas. Published in 1902, the pamphlet emphasized that small economic battles with local employers would not persuade workers to join the Marxist movement. Instead, workers should look beyond the scope of their neighborhoods and take their issues to a national level to be understood by all classes. If people from outside the working class could empathize with their low wages, long hours and terrible working conditions, then the workers may become a political force. 1 If they were able to reach beyond their own scope, Lenin said that “the broader, the more varied, the richer and the more fertile will be the influence of the Party on the elements of the working-class masses surrounding it and guided by it". 2
The events which culminated from Lenin’s theologies and his organizational development, though not completely successful, were necessary steps to challenging society’s ruling class. On January 22, 1905, Russian Orthodox priest Georgy Gapon led workers on strike in St. Petersburg. More than 3,000 workers and their families wore their “Sunday best” and held religious symbols while marching to the Tsar's Winter Palace. They planned to give the Tsar Nicholas II a petition demanding "amnesty, civil liberties, higher wages, the gradual granting of land to the peasantry and the convocation of a Constituent Assembly". 3 The group approached the palace without commotion until an army of Cossacks began firing into the crowd. On this “Bloody Sunday”, reportedly thousands of people were killed or wounded, bringing about immediate disorder throughout the city and the country. Strikes swept the empire from Poland to Finland to the Caucasus. Less than a year later, over 2 million workers refused to work for the government that had betrayed them. Lenin thought the tsarist dictatorship established the theoretical foundations of terror as a state policy. Therefore, he found the creation of the State Duma and foundation of the Russian Constitution of 1906 to be major successes. Tsar Nicholas II vowed to introduce further civil liberties under the State Duma, which also included legislative and oversight powers for unprecedented political balance. The Russian Constitution of 1906 ensured that this balance was maintained. No laws were to be enacted without the approval of the two-housed Parliament. 1 Democracy was further extended to the people as the lower house of the Duma was elected by people of various classes. Though the economy suffered and many workers died on account of the Revolution of 1905, Lenin’s political goals for the country were coming to fruition.
Overall though, the aftermath of the Revolution of 1905 was demoralizing and unfulfilling for the workers. Revolutionary leaders were forced back into exile as Tsarism remained victorious. Lenin still sent magazines made from his printing press to be smuggled into Russia from his Paris residence. 2 The Marxists reflected on the revolution and finalized their party’s structure while Tsarism still thrived. Lenin, still tasting bitter defeat said that "victorious Tsarism is compelled speedily to destroy the remnants of the pre-bourgeois, patriarchal mode of life in Russia. Russia's development along bourgeois lines marches forward with remarkable rapidity. Revolutionary parties must complete their education. They have learned how to attack. Now they must learn how to retreat properly". 3 Lenin and his revolutionaries ultimately did face defeat, only provided them with additional incentives to unite while the capitalist movement under Tsar Nicholas II played out.
The proletarian-run events that preceded the Revolution of 1905 followed Lenin’s master plan of spreading Marxism throughout Russia in the early 20th century. The class conscious socialists who acted as the vanguard ensured that their party unified under common ideals. Vladimir Lenin’s pamphlets and other various publications spread the party leader’s views, educating and encouraging citizens of all classes to join the Social Democratic movement. By opposing the capitalist tsardom and defying the de jure power of the bourgeoisie, the socialists found victory as a cohesive unit. Lenin was instrumental in initiating change in the class structure and essential in ensuring the changes were enforced by the new ruling class: the workers.