Lenin Historians

Orlando Figes

(Tsar Nicholas II’s response to the feb demonstrations)

‘There could be no better illustration of the extent to which the tsar and lost touch with reality. Nor could there be any better guarantee of a revolution‘

Vladimir Lenin

(The dissolution of the Constituent Assembly)

‘Everything had turned out for the best. The dissolution of the Constituent Assembly means that the complete and open repudiation of democracy in favour of dictatorship. This will be a valuable lesson.‘

In accordance with his theories on the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat‘, Lenin belived that he had acted in the workers’ interests.

Maxim Gorky

(The dissolution of the Constituent Assembly)

Commented that Lenin had a ‘ruthless contempt, worthy of an aristocrat, for the lives of ordinary individuals’ 

A Russian and Soviet writer

Rosa Luxemburg

(The dissolution of the Constituent Assembly)

 Feared that Lenin’s policy brought about ‘not the dictatorship of the working classes over the middle classes’, which she approved of, but ‘the dictatorship of the communist party over the working classes’.

Fellow Soviet revolutionary, leading theorist of the SPD and co-founder of the anti-war Spartacus League which went on to become the KPD.

Western vs Soviet historians on Trotsky.

Western historians have always praised Trotsky’s achievements, however the Soviets tried to write him out of history after Stalin came into power. Therefore any assessment has to be treated w/ caution, as Evan Mawdsley wrote:

“The historian looking at Trotsky’s Civil War career must beware of two myths. The first is the Soviet view dominant ever since his disgrace in the late 1920s that he played no beneficial role in the Civil War. The second might be called the “Trotskyist myth” that exaggerates his importance“

R.Service wrote of ‘Trotsky’s brilliance‘ and M.Sixsmith said that ‘the Red Army was led by a military genius‘. However, Trotsky often took an independent line + clashed w/ subordinates (esp Stalin) + not all Bolshevik followers loved him.

Victor Serge

(On Trotsky)

“He outshone Lenin through his great oratorical talent, through his organising ability, first with the army, then on the railways, and then by his brilliant gifts as a theoretician“

“His attitude was less homely than Lenin’s, with something authoritarian about it.“

“…we had much admiration for him, but no real love. His sternness, his insistence on punctuality in work and battle, the inflexible correctness of his demeanour struck me as proceeding from a character that was basically dictatorial“

A Russian revolutionary who was a close associate of Trotsky.

Soviet historians on Lenin

Lenin’s role in the Red victory was exaggerated by later Soviet writers. He took little part in decision-making, never visited the front line, + rarely even spoke to anyone in high command.

He told a group of young communists (including Stalin) that whilst they should study military affairs, it was ‘too late’ for him to do so.

Lenin’s political judgement can also be questioned - particularly the economic polices he used to win the war, although he was flexible enough to change these when proven wrong.

Although Lenin was an important leader in the Oct Revolution + deserves credit for his part in negotiating the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, his personal contribution to the civil war victory must be judged as quite minimal.

Martin Sixsmith

(Treatment of Workers under War Communism)

“A siege mentality informed the government’s every act. Workers were no longer seen as agents of the revolution but as raw material, an expendable force to be exploited in the great experiment of building socialism.“

British author/radio presenter, studied in Leningrad + worked w/ the BBC in 1980 as a foreign correspondent, reporting from Moscow, later left in 1997 to work for the Labour party.

David Christian

(War Communism)

“The party emerged from the years of civil war, militarised, brutalised and aware that direct methods of mobilisation might be a workable alternative to the methods of capitalism“

American historian specialising in Russian history.

Richard Pipes

(Famine)

Lenin repeatedly said that he would sooner the whole nation die of hunger than allow free trade in grain.

American historian who specialized in Russian and Soviet history, also worked w/ the US government in the 1970s-8-s, in a variety of different jobs, most notably as the post of Director of East European and Soviet Affairs and on the Council of Foreign Relations. He was also head of the CIA’s commissioned ‘Team B’.