dbinia
Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (22 April 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known by his alias Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1922 and of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1924. Under his administration, Russia and then the wider Soviet Union became a one-party communist state governed by the Russian Communist Party. A Marxist, he developed a variant of this communist ideology known as Leninism.

Born to a moderately prosperous middle-class family in Simbirsk, Lenin embraced revolutionary socialist politics following his brother's 1887 execution. Expelled from Kazan Imperial University for participating in protests against the Russian Empire's Tsarist government, he devoted the following years to a law degree. He moved to Saint Petersburg in 1893 and became a senior Marxist activist. In 1897, he was arrested for sedition and exiled to Shushenskoye for three years, where he married Nadezhda Krupskaya. After his exile, he moved to Western Europe, where he became a prominent theorist in the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). In 1903, he took a key role in the RSDLP ideological split, leading the Bolshevik faction against Julius Martov's Mensheviks. Following Russia's failed Revolution of 1905, he campaigned for the First World War to be transformed into a Europe-wide proletarian revolution, which as a Marxist he believed would cause the overthrow of capitalism and its replacement with socialism. After the 1917 February Revolution ousted the Tsar and established a Provisional Government, he returned to Russia to play a leading role in the October Revolution in which the Bolsheviks overthrew the new regime.

Lenin's Bolshevik government initially shared power with the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, elected soviets, and a multi-party Constituent Assembly, although by 1918 it had centralised power in the new Communist Party. Lenin's administration redistributed land among the peasantry and nationalised banks and large-scale industry. It withdrew from the First World War by signing a treaty conceding territory to the Central Powers, and promoted world revolution through the Communist International. Opponents were suppressed in the Red Terror, a violent campaign administered by the state security services; tens of thousands were killed or interned in concentration camps. His administration defeated right and left-wing anti-Bolshevik armies in the Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1922 and oversaw the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1921. Responding to wartime devastation, famine, and popular uprisings, in 1921 Lenin encouraged economic growth through the market-oriented New Economic Policy. Several non-Russian nations had secured independence from the Russian Empire after 1917, but three were re-united into the new Soviet Union in 1922. His health failing, Lenin died in Gorki, with Joseph Stalin succeeding him as the pre-eminent figure in the Soviet government.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Vladimir Lenin, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

See more:
USSR (1917-1991)

USSR (1917-1991)

2024

as Self (archive footage)

The Return of Vertov

The Return of Vertov

2024

as Self (archive footage)

A Nation Denied: Ukraine's Battle for History

A Nation Denied: Ukraine's Battle for History

2024

as Self (archive footage)

Aurora's Sunrise

Aurora's Sunrise

2023

as Self - Politician (archive footage)

Russlands Kriege

Russlands Kriege

2023

as Self

Le Siècle des icônes

Le Siècle des icônes

2022

as Self (archive footage)

The Anarchists

The Anarchists

2022

as Self

A History of Antisemitism

A History of Antisemitism

2022

as Self - Politician (archive footage)

The Secret Masonic Victory of World War II

The Secret Masonic Victory of World War II

2022

as Self (archive footage)

The Village Detective: A Song Cycle

The Village Detective: A Song Cycle

2021

as Self - Politician (archive footage)

The UnXplained

The UnXplained

2019

as Self (archive footage)

Lenin and the Other Story of the Russian Revolution

Lenin and the Other Story of the Russian Revolution

2018

as Self - Politician (archive footage)

Karl Marx und seine Erben

Karl Marx und seine Erben

2018

as Self (archive footage)

Life and Fate by Vassili Grossman

Life and Fate by Vassili Grossman

2018

as Self - Politician (archive footage)

Russia 1917: Countdown to Revolution

Russia 1917: Countdown to Revolution

2017

as Self - Politician (archive footage)

The Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution

2017

as Self (archive footage)

Rasputin: Murder in the Tsar's Court

Rasputin: Murder in the Tsar's Court

2016

as Himself (archive footage)

The Chosen

The Chosen

2016

as Himself - Politician (archive footage)

Laissez-faire

Laissez-faire

2015

as Self (archive footage)

JFK to 9/11: Everything is a Rich Man's Trick

JFK to 9/11: Everything is a Rich Man's Trick

2014

as Self (archive footage)

The Romanovs: Glory and Fall of the Czars

The Romanovs: Glory and Fall of the Czars

2013

as Himself (archive footage)

Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States

Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States

2012

as Self (archive footage)

Lenin: Sosyalizmin Kızıl Şafağı

Lenin: Sosyalizmin Kızıl Şafağı

2012

as Himself

Doomsday: World War I

Doomsday: World War I

2012

as Self (archive footage)

Reagan

Reagan

2011

as Self (archive footage)

Hitler & Stalin: Portrait of Hostility

Hitler & Stalin: Portrait of Hostility

2009

as Self (archive footage)

The Soviet Story

The Soviet Story

2008

as Self (archive footage)

Beyond the Movie: The Return of the King

Beyond the Movie: The Return of the King

2003

as Self (archive footage)

The Corporation

The Corporation

2003

as Self (archive footage)

Stalin: Man of Steel

Stalin: Man of Steel

2003

as Self (archive footage)

Naqoyqatsi

Naqoyqatsi

2002

as Self (archive footage)

Faith of the Century: A History of Communism

Faith of the Century: A History of Communism

1999

as Self (archive footage)

Human Remains

Human Remains

1998

as Self (archive footage)

Soviet Union: The Rise and Fall - Part 1

Soviet Union: The Rise and Fall - Part 1

1996

as Self (archive footage)

Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey

Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey

1995

as Self (archive footage)

American Experience

American Experience

1988

as Self (archive footage)

V.I.Lenin. Pages of Life

V.I.Lenin. Pages of Life

1983

as Self (archiveFootage)

The Man Mayakovsky

The Man Mayakovsky

1980

as (archive footage)

Cinema in Russia

Cinema in Russia

1979

as Archive footage

When the Century Took Shape (War and Revolution)

When the Century Took Shape (War and Revolution)

1978

as Himself

The Soviet Union: A New Look

The Soviet Union: A New Look

1978

as Self (archive footage)

A Grin Without a Cat

A Grin Without a Cat

1977

as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

Caudillo

Caudillo

1977

as Himself (archive footage)

The Society of the Spectacle

The Society of the Spectacle

1974

as himself (archive footage)

1917 - Jahr der Entscheidung

1917 - Jahr der Entscheidung

1973

as Self (archive footage)

Beginning

Beginning

1967

The Guns of August

The Guns of August

1964

as Self (archive footage)

La Rabbia

La Rabbia

1963

as Self (archive footage)

To Arms, We Are Fascists!

To Arms, We Are Fascists!

1962

as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

Our Cinema

Our Cinema

1940

as (archive footage)

The Fight For Peace

The Fight For Peace

1939

as Self (archive footage)

Tsar to Lenin

Tsar to Lenin

1937

as Self (archive footage)

Gentlemen in Storm and Gentlemen in Crown

Gentlemen in Storm and Gentlemen in Crown

1934

Three Songs About Lenin

Three Songs About Lenin

1934

as Himself

The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty

The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty

1927

as Self (archive footage)

Kino-Pravda No. 21: Lenin Kino-Pravda. A Film Poem About Lenin

Kino-Pravda No. 21: Lenin Kino-Pravda. A Film Poem About Lenin

1925

as Himself (archive footage)

The Brain of Soviet Russia

The Brain of Soviet Russia

1919

as Self

Anniversary of the Revolution

Anniversary of the Revolution

1918

as Self - Politician