Bill of Rights

in Action
Constitutional
Rights
Foundation

SUMMER 2011 Volume 26 No 4

LENIN AND
THE RUSSIAN
R E VO LU T I O N
VLADIMIR LENIN DEVOTED HIS LIFE
TO REVOLUTION. A DISCIPLE OF
KARL MARX, HE SPENT MOST OF

Wikimedia Commons
HIS LIFE PLANNING A WORLD-WIDE
REVOLUTION. HE BELIEVED WORK-
ERS WOULD RISE UP AND DESTROY
CAPITALISM AND A HAPPY, CLASS-
LESS SOCIETY WOULD EMERGE.
IN 1917, LENIN, recently returned from Europe, made speeches calling for “all power to
IN RUSSIA IN 1917, LENIN AND HIS the soviets.”
BOLSHEVIK PARTY DID SUCCEED IN
SEIZING POWER AND IN FOUNDING building schools and training teach- away from noblemen who owned
THE FIRST COMMUNIST REGIME. BUT ers in thousands of villages. Lenin most of the farmland. He drafted
THE REVOLUTION DID NOT SPREAD was a top student in school and a plans to create an elected parliament,
INTO EUROPE, AS LENIN HAD HOPED, model of good behavior. But his life or Duma, which were completed the
AND HIS NEW RUSSIAN SOCIETY changed forever in March 1887 day before he died. But the plans
SOON DEGENERATED INTO A when his brother Alexander was ar- were never released, and after the
TOTALITARIAN STATE. rested and executed for plotting to assassination, his son, Alexander III,
assassinate the czar, Alexander III. became czar. Alexander III dismissed
Lenin was born in 1870 in Sim- The czar’s father, Alexander II, the idea of a Duma and began to
birsk, a small city far from the Russ- had been assassinated six years ear- clamp down on dissent. Russian
ian capital where, according to his lier. Alexander II had worked to re- factory workers, poorly paid, were
brother Alexander, “one could grow form and modernize Russia. He not allowed to protest and were
up completely dull.” His father was issued an edict that freed peasants— forbidden to form trade unions.
a school “inspector”—in charge of who had been serfs—and took land Student groups were closely watched
and constantly harassed by the
police. The suppression of civil
COMMUNISM liberties and police brutality returned
This edition of Bill of Rights in Action looks at issues related to communism. in full force. And terrorist groups,
The first article explores Lenin and the Russian Revolution, the revolution like the one that Lenin’s brother
that put the first communist government in power. The second article had joined, continued to plot assas-
examines the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Cold War standoff between the U.S. sinations and to incite revolution.
and Soviet Union that almost led to nuclear war. The last article looks at
North Korea, a poor, outcast, communist nation with nuclear weapons. Lenin’s Plans for
World History: Lenin and the Russian Revolution Revolution
U.S. History: The Cuban Missile Crisis Lenin enrolled in Kazan Univer-
sity in 1887, but he was expelled
Current Issue: North Korea: The Rogue Nation
after only three months for
Guest writer Lucy Eisenberg, Esq., contributed the first two articles on Lenin signing a petition complaining about
and the missile crisis. Our longtime contributor Carlton Martz wrote the student affairs. He earned a law
article on North Korea.

WORLD HISTORY
© 2011, Constitutional Rights Foundation, Los Angeles. All Constitutional Rights Foundation materials and publications, including Bill of Rights in Action, are protected by copyright. However, we hereby grant to all recipients
a license to reproduce all material contained herein for distribution to students, other school site personnel, and district administrators. (ISSN: 1534-9799)
 the communist structure and for
Wikimedia Commons: Bundesarchiv,
Bild 183-S01260 / CC-BY-SA

what would become the Bolshevik

Party. What needed to be done, he
wrote, was to create a party of pro-
fessional revolutionaries who would
dictate “a positive program of ac-
tion.” It would teach the working
classes that the whole political sys-
tem is worthless and combine the
existing revolutionary forces into “a
single gigantic flood” of revolution.
Under Lenin’s plan, as one com-
mentator described it, a small group
IN 1905, RUSSIAN troops massed outside the Winter Palace fired into a group of peaceful of professional revolutionaries
protestors. would be the architects, and the
workers would be the bricklayers
degree in 1891, and two years later, more class struggles and no need for to build a new structure “without
he moved to St. Petersburg, then the a government. having seen or understood, let alone
Russian capital, and began writing Many Russian liberals, including approved, the master blueprint for
revolutionary propaganda. In 1895, businessmen and some noblemen, the new society.”
he was arrested for attempting to or- did not agree with Marx’s socialist
ganize a labor movement and plot- theories. But they did believe in the The Revolutions of 1917
ting against Czar Alexander III. He overthrow of autocracy and in the At the turn of the 20th century,
spent 14 months in prison and was struggle for civil rights and demo- Russia was still an agricultural econ-
then sentenced to three years in cratic institutions, such as a repre- omy (four-fifths of its population
exile in Siberia. sentative Duma. But Nicholas II, were peasants). Most peasants did
During his time in exile, Lenin who became czar in 1894, had no in- not own the land they worked and
continued to read and write about terest in constitutional reform, which resented that most land was owned
revolution. He studied the works of he denounced as “senseless dreams.” by noblemen. Russia was just begin-
many revolutionary theorists and Lenin was initially conflicted ning to industrialize. With capital
Russian activists who were working about whether to support the liberal investments by European investors,
underground to end autocracy (a activist groups who were working to railways, mines, and factories were
regime where one person, such as establish a democratic government. being built. In search of better
the czar, rules with unlimited But by 1900, he had decided to work, millions of peasants began
power). Lenin also worked with Eu- break with the liberal bourgeoisie flooding into the cities. But urban
ropean socialists who were working and devote his time to organizing an conditions were generally terrible.
to foment the worldwide revolution effective revolutionary movement. Working days were long, wages low,
prophesied by Karl Marx. His goal would be to organize a po- and strikes were forbidden. Tensions
Marx was a German socialist litical party “to inculcate socialist and political unrest began to grow.
who had written a book 50 years ideas and political self-conscious- Political activism was on the
earlier titled The Communist Mani- ness into the mass of the prole- rise. Many revolutionary intellectu-
festo. Marx believed that industrial- tariat.” Accomplishing this goal, he als formed secret organizations ded-
ists and other businessmen, whom wrote, would require full-time pro- icated to organizing a peasant
he called the bourgeoisie, were fessional revolutionaries “who de- revolution and ending the evils of
using their wealth and political vote to the revolution not only their the landlords. Other Marxists, like
power to exploit the working class, free evenings, but their whole life.” Lenin, fled to Europe, where they
whom he called the proletariat. Ac- After completing his term of produced political propaganda, held
cording to Marx, this exploitation exile in Siberia in 1900, Lenin went party congresses, and made
would lead to a worldwide worker to Europe, where he lived until speeches to large groups of workers.
revolution and a “violent overthrow 1917. In Munich, he and a group of Russia’s defeat in the Russo-
of the bourgeoisie.” He believed that Marxist compatriots, founded a rev- Japanese war of 1904 inflamed anger
the proletariat would control the olutionary newspaper, Iskra. In at the czar and his government.
government, which would confis- 1902, he wrote out his ideas of how Anger grew after “Bloody Sunday” in
cate all the means of production, to make the revolution happen. In January 1905, when government
like factories, mines, and farms, and his essay titled “What Is To Be troops fired on people marching
that eventually there would be no Done,” Lenin laid out a blueprint for peacefully to the Winter Palace to

2 WORLD HISTORY

(c) Teach Democracy

 present a petition to the czar. Work- On April 13, 1917, he arrived at aristocrats and landed gentry were
ers and soldiers began to organize in the Finland Station in St. Peters- seized without compensation, with
councils known as “soviets.” Unrest burg. The next day he delivered two the goal of distributing the land to
continued through the summer, cul- speeches, stating that he did not in- the peasants. But the result created
minating in a general strike in Octo- tend to cooperate with the Provi- more, not less, government control.
ber that paralyzed the country. sional Government and calling for The attempt to nationalize indus-
The czar responded to the gen- “all power to the soviets.” Over the try—referred to as “War Commu-
eral strike by forming a Duma and next six months, he persuaded the nism”—caused so much disruption
providing voting rights. Slowly, po- other leaders of the Bolshevik Party that strict economic centralization
litical unrest declined. But the out- to follow him and to assemble a was put in place. And after the land
break of World War I in 1914 small military force from soldiers in decree, the peasants were producing
brought new pressures on the gov- the Petrograd Soviet. On October 24, less food than usual, and the gov-
ernment. Russia had allied with the his troops occupied crucial points in ernment ordered food to be taken
West to fight against Germany. But the capital including banks, railroad from them.
the Russian army was repeatedly de-
feated, Russian cities suffered from
food shortages, and the troops
The revolution did not spread into
began to revolt. By early 1917, the Europe, as Lenin had hoped, and his
czarist government had lost all
power. The czar abdicated, and his new Russian society soon degenerated
brother, Michael, fearing for his into a totalitarian state.
safety, declined the throne. On
March 13, 1917, the 300 year-old stations, and bridges. The next day, The War Communism policy
Romanov dynasty ended. they took over the Winter Palace damaged the country’s economy.
The Duma assumed control as where the Provisional Government Russia was soon consumed by a
the Provisional Government, com- was headquartered. The prime min- civil war, which began as more and
posed largely of leaders of the ister escaped, but the other minis- more people became disenchanted
bourgeois and liberal parties. The ters were arrested and taken to jail. with the Bolshevik Party (which re-
Petrograd Soviet and Workers and A second revolution had taken named itself the Communist Party in
Soldiers Deputies emerged as a place, and a new government, with March 1918). Lenin’s decision to
separate, self-appointed govern- Lenin as chairman, was in power. withdraw from the World War I by
ment, which claimed to speak for all making peace with Germany in 1918
the workers and soldiers in Russia. The Aftermath (the treaty of Brest-Litovsk) helped
And then there was Lenin, who of Revolution fuel the anger of counterrevolution-
decided that his time had come to Shortly before arriving back in ary forces, which mobilized a
claim power and lead Russia. Russia, Lenin had finished writing a “White Movement” to fight to de-
Lenin favored Russia’s ending its pamphlet titled “The State and Rev- pose the Communist Party. Many
involvement in the war. The Ger- olution.” His pamphlet set forth a thousands died in the civil war,
man government, also wanting Rus- utopian view of how society would which lasted until 1921. As the
sia out of the war, arranged for a change after the revolution. In the country began sinking into a terrible
“sealed train” with German guards post-revolution society, he wrote, economic depression, thousands
to help carry Lenin back to Russia. people would subordinate their more died from famine and disease.
needs to the needs of the whole so- The party’s response to opposi-
Wikimedia Commons

ciety; there would be material abun- tion—and to an assassination at-

dance for all; and man’s competitive tempt on Lenin in August
spirit would disappear. In this 1918—was the “Red Terror.” In
utopian world, there would be no September 1918, the Communist
need for any coercion, and the state Party newspaper called for workers
would “wither away.” to “crush the hydra of counterrevo-
This was not to be. Between lution with massive terror.” Security
1917 and 1921, the Bolshevik Party police, called the Cheka, began
began its socialist program. Indus- arresting all opponents, including
tries and factories owned by the rioting workers and army deserters.
bourgeoisie were seized by the state The Red Terror was aimed at exter-
BOLSHEVIK TROOPS MARCH on and supposedly transferred to work- minating everyone who opposed the
Red Square, Moscow, during the ers’ control. Large estates owned by new regime. Thousands were
Russian Revolution.

WORLD HISTORY 3

(c) Teach Democracy

 shot without even the formality of a capitalism. The NEP ended the food institutions. In one article, he wrote
trial or revolutionary tribunal. requisitions from the peasants and of the need to change the focus
“Class enemies” were put in forced allowed small businesses to open from political struggle and revolu-
labor camps policed by the Cheka. for private profit. And it proved tion to “peaceful, organizational
As a result, all vocal opposition successful: Agricultural production ‘cultural’ work” and of the need for
disappeared, and the bourgeoisie increased dramatically, and by 1928, a “cultural revolution” to bring uni-
vanished from the political system. the economy had been restored to versal literacy to Russia. In his last
the pre-World War I level. Even so, article, “Better Fewer, But Better,”
Will Socialism Work? many hard-line Bolsheviks were he argued again of a need to slow
In 1921, Lenin realized that the angry because they saw the New down change and to reduce the
socialist system he had put in place Economic Policy as a betrayal of state machine. He also tried, unsuc-
during the civil war had not worked. Communism and Marxism. cessfully, to prevent his successor,
At the 10th Party Congress in March But Lenin was not ready to Joseph Stalin, from taking power.
1921, he told the delegates that it was allow dissent. In the same year that After a power struggle, Stalin did
necessary to slow down the transition the NEP was introduced, the 10th take power in 1929. In the 1930s,
to socialism. “What is needed,” he Party Congress passed a resolution the economy failed and food was in
said, “is a much longer period of “On Party Unity.” It outlawed all short supply. Stalin ordered the gov-
preparation, a slower tempo . . . in factions within the party. Party ernment to take away all grain crops
order to determine our basic tasks in members who opposed policies from peasant farmers. When criti-
the coming year and in order to avoid adopted by the Central Committee cism of Stalin mounted, the secret
. . . mistakes in the future.” would be expelled from the party. police rounded up “enemies of the
With this in mind Lenin put into All political opposition within the people,” including Communist Party
place a New Economic Policy (NEP) Communist Party was ended. The members. Thousands were executed,
and began to restore some freedom one-party state did not even allow imprisoned, or set into exile without
of trade and a limited kind of democracy within its own party. a trial. High-profile party members
were given “show trials” in which
Wikimedia Commons

The New Regime they “confessed” their guilt. Stalin

In 1918, Russia was officially ruled by terror, and the Soviet state
renamed as the Russian Soviet was a totalitarian police state.
Federated Socialist Republic (soon
the USSR), and the capital was FOR DISCUSSION
moved to Moscow. The new one- AND WRITING
party state was run by a Council of 1. What do you think were the
People’s Commissars, with Lenin as main causes of the Russian
chair, or prime minister. But Lenin Revolution?
did not have long to live. In May 2. Describe the two revolutions
1922, he suffered the first of two that occurred in 1917. Can you
strokes and died in January 1924. think of other revolutions in his-
In his last years, while he was tory that began with moderate
LENIN (left) SITS NEXT to his successor, ill, Lenin expressed unhappiness governments and ended with
Joseph Stalin. with the state of existing Soviet radical governments?

ACTIVITY

Who Is to Blame for Soviet Totalitarianism?

Much has been written on the Russian Revolution and its aftermath. Historians agree that Stalin ruled over a
ruthless, totalitarian regime. Over the years, however, a question has been debated: Was Stalin primarily respon-
sible for the totalitarianism that ultimately gripped the Soviet Union or did Leninism lead to Stalinism? Some
historians believe that Lenin set the new state on a good course only to have Stalin lead it to totalitarianism.
Other historians argue that the foundation of totalitarianism can be found in Lenin’s rule.
In small groups, do the following:
1. Look for and discuss points that would support each side of the debate.
2. Decide which side of the debate you agree with.
3. Be prepared to report the points on both sides, your conclusion, and the reasons for your conclusion.

4 WORLD HISTORY

(c) Teach Democracy

Standards Addressed Sources
Russian Revolution Russian Revolution
National High School World History Standard 38: Under- Anweiler, Oskar, and Richard Pipes, eds. Revolutionary Russia.
stands reform, revolution, and social change in the world Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1968. • Figes, Orlando. A Peo-
economy of the early 20th century. (4) Understands the di- ple’s Tragedy: the Russian Revolution, 1891–1924. NY: Viking,
verse events that led to and resulted from the Russian Revolution 1997. • Fitzpatrick, Sheila. The Russian Revolution. Oxford,
of 1905 . . . . UK: Oxford U. P., 2001. • Lieven, Dominic C. B. The Cambridge
History of Russia: Volume II. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge U. P.,
National High School World History Standard 39: Under- 2006. • Malone, Richard. Analysing The Russian Revolution.
stands the causes and global consequences of World War Cambridge, UK: Cambridge U. P., 2004. • Palmer, R. R., and
I. (3) Understands Lenin’s ideology and policies and their im- Joel G. Colton. A History of the Modern World. NY: Knopf,
pact on Russia after the Revolution of 1917 . . . (4) Under- 1971. • Perrie, Maureen. The Cambridge History of Russia. Vol.
stands the impact of the Russian Revolution on other countries III. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge U.P., 2006. • Service, Robert. A
.... History of Modern Russia from Nicholas II to Vladimir Putin.
California History-Social Science Standard10.5: Students Cambridge, MA: Harvard U.P., 2003. • Shukman, Harold. Lenin
analyze the causes and course of the First World War. (3) and the Russian Revolution. NY: Putnam, 1967. • Theen, Rolf
Explain how the Russian Revolution and the entry of the H.W. Lenin: Genesis and Development of a Revolutionary.
United States affected the course and outcome of the war. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1973.
California History-Social Science Standard10.7: Students
analyze the rise of totalitarian governments after World Cuban Missile Crisis
War I. (1) Understand the causes and consequences of the Brune, Lester H. The Missile Crisis of October 1962: A Review of
Russian Revolution, including Lenin’s use of totalitarian means Issues and References. Claremont, CA: Regina, 1985. • Dobbs,
to seize and maintain control (e.g., the Gulag). Michael. One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and
Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War. NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008. •
Cuban Missile Crisis Frankel, Max. High Noon in the Cold War: Kennedy, Khrushchev,
and the Cuban Missile Crisis. NY: Ballantine, 2004. • Garthoff,
National High School U.S. History Standard 27: Under-
Raymond L. Reflections on the Cuban Missile Crisis. DC: Brook-
stands how the Cold War and conflicts in Korea and Viet-
ings Institution, 2007. • George, Alice L. Awaiting Armageddon:
nam influenced domestic and international politics. 1.
How Americans Faced the Cuban Missile Crisis. Chapel Hill: U. of
Understands U.S. foreign policy from the Truman administra-
North Carolina P., 2003. • Stern, Sheldon M. The Week the World
tion to the Johnson administration (e.g., . . . Kennedy’s re-
Stood Still inside the Secret Cuban Missile Crisis. Stanford, CA:
sponse to the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile crises . . .).
Stanford U.P., 2005.
California History-Social Science Standard11.9: Students
analyze U.S. foreign policy since World War II. (3) Trace the
origins and geopolitical consequences (foreign and domestic)
North Korea
“Background Note: North Korea.” U.S. Department of State. 29
of the Cold War and containment policy, including the follow-
Sept. 2010. URL: [Link]/r/pa/ei/bgn/[Link] •
ing: . . . the Cuban Missile Crisis . . . .
Bechtol, Bruce E. Defiant Failed State, The North Korean Threat
to International Security. DC: Potomac Books, 2010. • Becker,
North Korea Jasper. Rogue Regime, Kim Jong Il and the Looming Threat of
National High School Civics Standard 22: Understands North Korea. Oxford, UK: Oxford U.P., 2005. • Berry, William
how the world is organized politically into nation-states, how E. Global Security Watch Korea: A Reference Handbook. West-
nation-states interact with one another, and issues sur- port, CN: Praeger Security International, 2008. • Bluth,
rounding U.S. foreign policy. (1) Understands the significance of Christoph. “North Korea: How Will It End?” Current History.
principal foreign policies and events in the United States’ relations Sept. 2010. • Bolton, John R. “Nuclear Blinders.” LA Times. 23
with the world . . . . Nov. 2010. • Crail, Peter. “N. Korea Reveals Uranium-
National High School Civics Standard 23: Understands Enrichment Plant.” Arms Control Today. Dec. 2010. • Demick,
the impact of significant political and nonpolitical devel- Barbara. “Nothing Left.” New Yorker. 12 July 2010. • Demick,
opments on the United States and other nations. (2) Un- Barbara and Glionna, John M. “N. Korean Leader’s Son Pro-
derstands the effects that significant world political moted.” LA Times. 28 Sept. 2010. • Encyclopaedia Britannica
developments have on the United States . . . . Online articles: “Kim Jong Il,” “Korea,” and “North Korea.”
URL: [Link] • Fackler, Martin. “From the North,
California History-Social Science Standard12.9: Students a Pattern of Aggression.” NY Times. 23 Nov. 2010. • French,
analyze the origins, characteristics, and development of Paul. North Korea: The Paranoid Peninsula. London: Zed
different political systems across time, with emphasis on Books, 2005. • Glionna, John M. “North Korea’s Foreign Trade
the quest for political democracy, its advances, and its Falls Sharply.” LA Times. 11 Jan. 2011. • ___. “North Korea’s
obstacles. (4) Describe for at least two countries the conse- Mind Games.” LA Times. 27 Nov. 2010. • Glionna, John and
quences of conditions that gave rise to tyrannies during certain Demick, Barbara. “Kim Jong Il’s Son Named to More Senior
periods . . . . (5) Identify the forms of illegitimate power that Positions.” LA Times. 29 Sept. 2010. • McDonald, Mark. “Son
twentieth-century African, Asian, and Latin American dictators of North Korean Leader is Said to Be Given No. 2 Post.” NY
used to gain and hold office and the conditions and interests Times. 10 Feb. 2011. • “Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.”
that supported them. Wikipedia. 23 Feb. 2011. • Sanger, David E. “U.S. Implicates
Standards reprinted with permission: National Standards copyright 2000 North Korean Leader in Attack.” NY Times. 22 May 2010. •
McREL, Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning, 2550 S. Sang-Hun, Choe. “In Report, Grim View of North Korean
Parker Road, Suite 500, Aurora, CO 80014, (303) 337.0990. California Health Care.” NY Times. 15 July 2010.
Standards copyrighted by the California Department of Education, P.O.
Box 271, Sacramento, CA 95812.

13

(c) Teach Democracy