1B) Lenin's legacy
Comments on Lenin
'Lenin did more than any other political leader to change the face of the 20th century world. The creation of Soviet Russia and its survival were due to him. He was very great man and even, dispite his faults, a very good man.' Historian A.J.P. Taylor
'In no circumstances would 20th century Russian history have been pleasant or bloodless. But Lenin made it far worse than it needed to be. In 1917 he combined fanaticism, ruthlessness and absolute self-confidence with a terrifying naivety about government, economics and Russian society. To impose such immense sacrifices in the name of so naive and flawed a vision makes Lenin one of the greatest criminals of the 20th century.' Historian Dominic Lieven
'In no circumstances would 20th century Russian history have been pleasant or bloodless. But Lenin made it far worse than it needed to be. In 1917 he combined fanaticism, ruthlessness and absolute self-confidence with a terrifying naivety about government, economics and Russian society. To impose such immense sacrifices in the name of so naive and flawed a vision makes Lenin one of the greatest criminals of the 20th century.' Historian Dominic Lieven
What Lenin left behind?
> The secret police
> Ban on criticism and free speech
> Purges and show trials introduced
> Concentration camps
> Destruction of the trade unions (Bolsheviks had negative attitudes towards improving workers condition without Marxist revolution)
> Restriction on religious freedom (over 300 bishops executed + ca. 10 000 priests imprisoned/ exiled; religion was driven underground)
> The one-party, bureaucratic state (> the Kronstadt uprising, 1921)
> the NEP period (after War Communism)
> USSR's international role left unsolved
> Uncertain succession to the leadership of Soviet Russia
> Ban on criticism and free speech
> Purges and show trials introduced
> Concentration camps
> Destruction of the trade unions (Bolsheviks had negative attitudes towards improving workers condition without Marxist revolution)
> Restriction on religious freedom (over 300 bishops executed + ca. 10 000 priests imprisoned/ exiled; religion was driven underground)
> The one-party, bureaucratic state (> the Kronstadt uprising, 1921)
> the NEP period (after War Communism)
> USSR's international role left unsolved
> Uncertain succession to the leadership of Soviet Russia
How should Lenin be interpreted?
Lenin (BBC Radio programme)
An interview with Professor Robert Service, a biographer of Lenin, and Vitali Vitaliev, an Ukrainian-born former Soviet journalist (BBC Radio 4, March 2000). [27:43]