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Foundations of Leninism Explained

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels established the foundations of communist ideology in the mid-19th century based on the principles of materialism and dialectical materialism. They believed that class conflict and violence were natural and that religion had no place in communist society. Vladimir Lenin led the Bolshevik movement in early 20th century Russia and orchestrated the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, overthrowing the Russian monarchy. Lenin then instituted a repressive communist regime, establishing the secret police force known as the Cheka to terrorize opponents. This resulted in a brutal civil war and famine that cost millions of lives but allowed Lenin to consolidate power by destroying faith in the old order.

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93 views2 pages

Foundations of Leninism Explained

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels established the foundations of communist ideology in the mid-19th century based on the principles of materialism and dialectical materialism. They believed that class conflict and violence were natural and that religion had no place in communist society. Vladimir Lenin led the Bolshevik movement in early 20th century Russia and orchestrated the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, overthrowing the Russian monarchy. Lenin then instituted a repressive communist regime, establishing the secret police force known as the Cheka to terrorize opponents. This resulted in a brutal civil war and famine that cost millions of lives but allowed Lenin to consolidate power by destroying faith in the old order.

Uploaded by

Daria Vescan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Foundation of communist ideology

Mid. XIXth century


2 german philosophers: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
They believed in materialism, an ancient dogma
During the French Revolution, the materialism propagated throughout France
Materialism was against religion, and stated that conflict and violence were situated at
the base of nature
The ideology that Marx and Engels followed was the dialelictical materialism
They visualised the working class rise up
Family, religion found no place in the communist society
Darwin formulated a theory about how living things came to being, reffering to
materialism, but having had no scientific foundation he was not regarded with high
credibility
Marx and Engels believed in Darwins theory, and so darwinism soon became
associated with marxism
During the franco-prusian war of 1871, France was defeated and this was seen as an
opportunity for the communist experiment
Paris became a city of terror, the experiment having caused 18000 deaths among
citizens
Darwin denied the idea of Creation, believing humans were descendants of apes

The Bolshevik Terror

Beginning 20th century: tzarist regime in Russia (tzar Nicholas II)


Vladimir Lenin was the leader of the communist movement, being known as the
Bolsheviks, who were trying to create a bloody revolution
Along with the I WW outbreak in 1914, there came an opportunity for the Bolsheviks
to pursue their wishes
Russia was defeated 3 years in a row, and so in feb 1917 began the revolution in
Petrograd, the army taking over the city
Nicholas II set out to leave Russia by train, but was stopped by soldiers and arrested
The symbols of the tzarist regime had been removed, people believing this would
bring happiness and fulfillment in their lives, but they were absolutely wrong
While Lenin was in exile, he continued to organise the Bolsheviks for his own
revolution
In oct 1917 Lenins army attacks the Winter castle, the place of the government which
brought up a lot of soviet propaganda
Soldiers began to terrorize the country, which led to a 3 years civil war
The bolsheviks=Red Army, leader of which was Leon Trotsky
There had been a secret soviet police: CEKA
Tzar Nicholas II and his family were executed
All those who opposed the communist regime were arrested, tortured or executed

Lenin brought savagery over Russia along with his ideas

Famine caused by Lenin

The people of Russia had a miserable standard of living even before Lenin
In 1918 Lenin decides to disable private property and to confiscate lands and crops
from peasants, which brings disaster among them
So the famine and starvation began, which was seen as a positive fact by Lenin
Lenin felt a great amount of pleasure from the deaths of peasants, believing these
would destroy peoples faith in God and the tzar, ushering in socialism the entire
country

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