Lenin

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Lenin’s Legacy
The continuing presence of Lenin’s body on display in the Masoleum on Red Square has great historical significance; it represents Lenin’s promise of prosperity and equality. Lenin, the father of the Russian Revolution, along with other revolutionary groups, waged war against czarism, banishing tsarist Russia and instituted a new Russia, the Soviet Union. He introduced and established a new ideology—socialism, which promised the Russian citizens the power to govern themselves. He took on the difficult tasks of radically amending all aspects of Czarist Russia—political, economic, military and social policies. These policies set a precedent for other leaders, who very often used Lenin’s cult to justify their own proposals. Lenin laid the foundations for a state so rugged that it would endure for seventy years, and so powerful that it would eventually challenge the United States for world supremacy. Lenin’s tomb is symbolic of his legacy.
Tsar Nicholas II abdicated his throne on March 3, 1917, ending over three centuries of uninterrupted Romanov rule in the Russian empire. The old regime was gone. A phenomenon of dual power emerged in Russia by March 1917 where the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviets shared ruling power. This system was soon overthrown by Lenin’s Bolsheviks who created a violent revolution with the help of the workers strikes of 1917. The Lenin platform was effective because it encompassed the desires of most segments of society—“Land, peace, and bread.”
Unlike other parties struggling for power during the Revolution, Lenin wanted to end Russia’s involvement in WWI. This gained him considerable military support. Lenin also called for an end to the old provincial governments and the turning over of all land to the peasants immediately. This gained him support from the large peasant population, which accounted for 80% of Russia’s citizens. Lenin also noted ...