Young Lenin

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Fischer 1964, p.19; Rice 1990, pp.32–33; Service 2000, p.72; White 2001, pp.30–31; Read 2005, p.18; Lih 2011, p.33.

Fischer 1964, p.94; Pipes 1990, pp.377–378; Rice 1990, pp.127–128; Service 2000, pp.223–225; White 2001, p.104; Read 2005, p.105. After his exile, Lenin settled in Pskov in early 1900. [56] There, he began raising funds for a newspaper, Iskra ( Spark), a new organ of the Russian Marxist party, now calling itself the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). [57] In July 1900, Lenin left Russia for Western Europe; in Switzerland he met other Russian Marxists, and at a Corsier conference they agreed to launch the paper from Munich, where Lenin relocated in September. [58] Containing contributions from prominent European Marxists, Iskra was smuggled into Russia, [59] becoming the country's most successful underground publication for 50 years. [60] He first adopted the pseudonym Lenin in December 1901, possibly based on the Siberian River Lena; [61] he often used the fuller pseudonym of N. Lenin, and while the N did not stand for anything, a popular misconception later arose that it represented Nikolai. [62] Under this pseudonym, in 1902 he published his most influential publication to date, the pamphlet What Is to Be Done?, which outlined his thoughts on the need for a vanguard party to lead the proletariat to revolution. [63] The Provisional Government had planned for a Constituent Assembly to be elected in November 1917; against Lenin's objections, Sovnarkom agreed for the vote to take place as scheduled. [162] In the constitutional election, the Bolsheviks gained approximately a quarter of the vote, being defeated by the agrarian-focused Socialist-Revolutionaries. [163] Lenin argued that the election was not a fair reflection of the people's will, that the electorate had not had time to learn the Bolsheviks' political programme, and that the candidacy lists had been drawn up before the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries split from the Socialist-Revolutionaries. [164] Nevertheless, the newly elected Russian Constituent Assembly convened in Petrograd in January 1918. [165] Sovnarkom argued that it was counter-revolutionary because it sought to remove power from the soviets, but the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks denied this. [166] The Bolsheviks presented the Assembly with a motion that would strip it of most of its legal powers; when the Assembly rejected the motion, Sovnarkom declared this as evidence of its counter-revolutionary nature and forcibly disbanded it. [167] Fischer 1964, pp.219, 256, 379; Shub 1966, p.374; Service 2000, p.355; White 2001, p.159; Read 2005, p.219. The existence of the Soviet Republic alongside the imperialist states over the long run is unthinkable. In the end, either the one or the other will triumph. And until that end will have arrived, a series of the most terrible conflicts between the Soviet Republic and the bourgeois governments is unavoidable. This means that the ruling class, the proletariat, if it only wishes to rule and is to rule, must demonstrate this also with its military organization.

A new turn in the situation

Fischer 1964, p.608; Lewin 1969, p.50; Leggett 1981, p.354; Volkogonov 1994, p.421; Service 2000, p.455; White 2001, p.175. Fischer 1964, pp.436, 442; Rice 1990, pp.183–184; Sandle 1999, pp.104–105; Service 2000, pp.422–423; White 2001, p.168; Read 2005, p.269.

In Lenin's absence, Stalin had begun consolidating his power both by appointing his supporters to prominent positions, [399] and by cultivating an image of himself as Lenin's closest intimate and deserving successor. [400] In December 1922, Stalin took responsibility for Lenin's regimen, being tasked by the Politburo with controlling who had access to him. [401] Lenin was increasingly critical of Stalin; while Lenin was insisting that the state should retain its monopoly on international trade during mid-1922, Stalin was leading other Bolsheviks in unsuccessfully opposing this. [402] There were personal arguments between the two as well; Stalin had upset Krupskaya by shouting at her during a phone conversation, which in turn greatly angered Lenin, who sent Stalin a letter expressing his annoyance. [403] You must attempt first to build small bridges which shall lead to a land of small peasant holdings through State Capitalism to Socialism. Otherwise you will never lead tens of millions of people to Communism. This is what the objective forces of the development of the Revolution have taught. Upon entering Kazan University in August 1887, Lenin moved into a nearby flat. [21] There, he joined a zemlyachestvo, a form of university society that represented the men of a particular region. [22] This group elected him as its representative to the university's zemlyachestvo council, and he took part in a December demonstration against government restrictions that banned student societies. The police arrested Lenin and accused him of being a ringleader in the demonstration; he was expelled from the university, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs exiled him to his family's Kokushkino estate. [23] There, he read voraciously, becoming enamoured with Nikolay Chernyshevsky's 1863 pro-revolutionary novel What Is to Be Done? [24] Fischer 1964, p.33; Pipes 1990, p.356; Service 2000, pp.114, 140; White 2001, p.40; Read 2005, p.30; Lih 2011, p.63. Fischer 1964, p.389; Rice 1990, p.182; Volkogonov 1994, p.281; Service 2000, p.407; White 2001, p.161.

Battle of Britain

Recognising that the situation was safer for him, Lenin returned to Petrograd. [150] There he attended a meeting of the Bolshevik Central Committee on 10 October, where he again argued that the party should lead an armed insurrection to topple the Provisional Government. This time the argument won with ten votes against two. [151] Critics of the plan, Zinoviev and Kamenev, argued that Russian workers would not support a violent coup against the regime and that there was no clear evidence for Lenin's assertion that all of Europe was on the verge of proletarian revolution. [152] The party began plans to organise the offensive, holding a final meeting at the Smolny Institute on 24 October. [153] This was the base of the Military Revolutionary Committee (MRC), an armed militia largely loyal to the Bolsheviks that had been established by the Petrograd Soviet during Kornilov's alleged coup. [154] Fischer 1964, pp.113, 124; Rice 1990, p.144; Pipes 1990, p.392; Service 2000, p.261; White 2001, pp.131–132. Pipes, Richard (1996). The Unknown Lenin: From the Secret Archive. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-06919-8.

Fischer 1964, p.18; Rice 1990, p.25; Service 2000, p.61; White 2001, p.29; Read 2005, p.16; Theen 2004, p.33. Fischer 1964, pp.95–100, 107; Rice 1990, pp.132–134; Service 2000, pp.245–246; White 2001, pp.118–121; Read 2005, pp.116–126. Rice 1990, pp.34, 36–37; Service 2000, pp.55–55, 80, 88–89; White 2001, p.31; Read 2005, pp.37–38; Lih 2011, pp.34–35. Fischer 1964, pp.64–67; Rice 1990, p.110; Service 2000, pp.192–193; White 2001, pp.84, 87–88; Read 2005, p.90.Pipes 1990, pp.552–553; Rice 1990, p.165; Volkogonov 1994, pp.176–177; Service 2000, pp.332, 336–337; Read 2005, p.192. Fischer 1964, pp.334, 343, 357; Leggett 1981, p.204; Service 2000, pp.382, 392; Read 2005, pp.205–206. Pipes 1990, p.421; Rice 1990, p.147; Service 2000, pp.276, 283; White 2001, p.140; Read 2005, p.157. Fischer 1964, pp.252–253; Pipes 1990, p.499; Volkogonov 1994, p.341; Service 2000, pp.316–317; White 2001, p.149; Read 2005, pp.194–195. Fischer 1964, p.51; Rice 1990, p.94; Service 2000, pp.175–176; Read 2005, p.81; Read 2005, pp.77, 81; Rappaport 2010, pp.132, 134–135.