Changes

Lenin, a workaholic who avoided vacations and downtime, died in 1924 following a series of progressively more serious strokes.  [[Joseph Stalin]] was his even more brutal successor.

Lenin, a workaholic who avoided vacations and downtime, died in 1924 following a series of progressively more serious strokes.  [[Joseph Stalin]] was his even more brutal successor.

==Interpretations==

==Interpretations==

===Lenin on revolution===

===Lenin on revolution===

Before 1917, Lenin thought that revolution was more likely to break out in Russia than in any other country on the continent, and he expected the outbreak of other revolutions in Europe, or at least in Central Europe, after the Russian Revolution. During the Civil War, he considered a short period of War Communism as an extension of the revolutionary situation from which a direct path might open toward socialism. However, after the failure of War Communism he returned to his earlier viewpoint, that is, to the necessity of a transition period. This was reflected in the New Economic Policy (NEP) - which meant a transition including both private enterprise and a market economy. Stalin deemed the transition favored by Lenin to be too dangerous, because it carried with it the threat of a defeat and an eventual restoration of capitalism. In addition, Lenin advocated perpetual civil war to eliminate all "class enemies", with this being in effect with brief pauses until 1953. He also wrote that "Revolutions are the locomotive of history…Revolutions are the holiday of the oppressed and exploited."<ref name="Russia's Original Cold-Blooded Communist Revolutionary" />

Before 1917, Lenin thought that revolution was more likely to break out in Russia than in any other country on the continent, and he expected the outbreak of other revolutions in Europe, or at least in Central Europe, after the Russian Revolution. During the Civil War, he considered a short period of War Communism as an extension of the revolutionary situation from which a direct path might open toward socialism. However, after the failure of War Communism he returned to his earlier viewpoint, that is, to the necessity of a transition period. This was reflected in the New Economic Policy (NEP) - which meant a transition including both private enterprise and a market economy. Stalin deemed the transition favored by Lenin to be too dangerous, because it carried with it the threat of a defeat and an eventual restoration of capitalism. In addition, Lenin advocated perpetual civil war to eliminate all "class enemies", with this being in effect with brief pauses until 1953. He also wrote that "Revolutions are the locomotive of history…Revolutions are the holiday of the oppressed and exploited."<ref name="Russia's Original Cold-Blooded Communist Revolutionary" />

===Dictatorship of the proletariat===

===Dictatorship of the proletariat===

see also [[Dictatorship of the proletariat]]

see also [[Dictatorship of the proletariat]]

Lenin saw the Marxist concept of the "Dictatorship of the proletariat" in terms of a dictatorship exercised not by a democratically chosen majority but by a [[Revolutionary Vanguard|vanguard minority revolutionary party]], ruthlessly controlled by a few leaders like himself. He eventually accepted the need for a state bureaucracy, and his more extreme opposition to the bourgeoisie led him to favor their exclusion and disenfranchisement to the benefit of the urban working class.  

Lenin saw the Marxist concept of the "Dictatorship of the proletariat" in terms of a dictatorship exercised not by a democratically chosen majority but by a [[Revolutionary Vanguard|vanguard minority revolutionary party]], ruthlessly controlled by a few leaders like himself. He eventually accepted the need for a state bureaucracy, and his more extreme opposition to the bourgeoisie led him to favor their exclusion and disenfranchisement to the benefit of the urban working class.

==Leninism as a religion==

==Leninism as a religion==