All language subtitles for The Life of Vladimir Lenin _ Human Voiced, No Ads

There are few individuals in modern
history that have radically altered the

trajectory of the world as much as
Lenin.

A middle -class boy from provincial
Russia transformed into the fiery

of a revolution.

The story of his life is one of
intellectual passion, uncompromising

relentless revolutionary activity.

A tale of exile and underground
intrigue.

But bold theories, and even bolder
actions, one that would change the

And today, we're here to talk about it,
from start to finish.

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and helps us out more than you'd know.

So with that being said, let's begin.

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, later known as
Lenin, was born on April 22,

1870, in the town of Simbirsk on the
Volga River, a town later renamed

Ulyanovsk in his honor.

He was the son of Ilya Ulyanov, a
dedicated educator and school inspector,

Maria Alexandrovna, a well -educated and
supportive mother.

Oh, and by the way, I'm going to do my
best with the Russian pronunciation.

I don't speak Russian, so I had to do a
little googling.

Anyway, bear with me.

Lenin grew up in a comfortable and
pretty cultured household.

He was one of six siblings.

His family background was relatively
privileged by the standard of Tsarist

Russia's repressive class system.

You see, the Ulyanov's were middle
class.

and even held minor nobility status due
to Ilya's service to the state.

Young Vladimir excelled at school,
showing a gift for languages and a

disciplined and serious mind.

It was by the age of sixteen that he
turned a gold medal upon graduation from

Simbirsk Classical Gymnasium,
demonstrating the academic talent and

diligence that would characterize much
of his life.

A defining trauma struck the Ulyanov
family in Lenin's teenage years that

shape his path.

In March of 1887, Vladimir's beloved
older brother, Alexander Sasha

Ulyanov, was arrested for taking part in
student revolutionary groups that

plotted to assassinate Tsar Alexander
III.

Despite coming from a family of loyal
civil servants, Sasha had become

with radical narodnik or populist
activities at university.

That spring he and his co -conspirators
were caught before they could carry out

their plan.

After a brief trial, Alexander Ulyanov
was executed by hanging, May 8,

1887.

He was twenty -one years old.

For this brutal loss of his brother, had
an immense impact on the seventeen

-year -old Vladimir.

Family accounts recall how Sasha's
martyrdom steeled Vladimir's resolve

the Tsarist autocracy.

Later in life, Lenin would rarely speak
of his brother's execution, but

contemporaries noted a deep hardness
that settled in him from that point on.

The personal tragedy convinced him that
reforming the unjust Tsarist system

through petitions or appeals was going
to be just a huge waste of time.

The only path was a revolutionary
overthrow.

That was the only way he could avenge
his brother and achieve justice for his

people.

Now, later in 1887, the same year his
brother was hanged, that is, Young

Vladimir enrolled at Kazan University to
study law.

He arrived on campus a quiet and serious
student, but he soon gravitated toward

political discussion circles.

In December of 1887, Lenin joined a
student protest against strict

regulations at universities.

For this act of defiance, he was
arrested and swiftly expelled from

after only a few months of study.

Probably no refunds on the school fees
either, one can imagine.

Anyway, the authorities exiled the
seventeen -year -old to his

grandfather's estate in a small village,
keeping him under surveillance at the

same time.

But rather than deterring him, this
early brush with repression only

his radicalism.

Over the next few years he devoted
himself to self -education.

voraciously reading revolutionary texts
during his enforced hiatus from formal

studies.

It was during this period of exile in
late 1888 that Lenin first delved into

works of Karl Marx.

Don't know if you heard that. Someone
smashed a dish outside.

Anyway, another one.

Anyway, he poured over Marx's Capital
and other writings.

sometimes reportedly reading aloud to
local peasants in an effort to clarify

own understanding.

By 1889, Lenin had joined an underground
Marxist discussion circle in Kazan,

once he was allowed to return from
internal exile.

Marx's ideas of class struggle and
proletarian revolution struck

with Lenin with the force of a
revelation.

Here was a scientific explanation.

for the ills of society, and a blueprint
for changing the world.

Not only was someone just complaining
about the problems, they were offering a

different system.

Now, of course, this wasn't the only
system at the time.

The 19th century was certainly a time of
thinking, especially in between the

period of Napoleon and, well, if you
want to go a little bit into the 20th

century, the First World War, when,
well...

Things got shaken up quite a bit.

There was definitely a lot of time for
people to think about what kind of world

they wanted to create.

Technology was moving so fast.

The Industrial Revolution had already
definitely been in full swing by that

time.

And, well, things were changing, and
people thought that it was probably

time that the system should change as
well.

In any case...

The execution of his brother had
emotionally primed him for revolution.

But it was Marxism that provided the
intellectual framework and the purpose.

In 1890, Lenin managed to resume his
formal education through special

to take external exams.

He moved to the city of Samara with his
family and studied on his own intensely.

By the end of 1891, he passed the law
examination at St. Petersburg

earning a law degree with high honors.

Though due to his political record, he
was only allowed to take the exams

externally and not attend any classes.

Can't have someone like that influencing
the other students, right?

As a newly minted lawyer in his early
twenties, he briefly worked at a law

office in Samara.

However, he showed very little interest
in the conventional legal path.

His real passion was activism.

In Samara he continued meeting with a
small circle of Marxist enthusiasts,

honing his understanding of Russian
economic conditions and the plight of

workers and peasants under the Tsar.

By this time, the early 1890s that is,
the Russian Empire was truly beginning

industrialize.

An ancient industrial working class was
emerging in cities like Moscow and St.

Petersburg.

Lenin became convinced that these urban
workers could be the engine of a

revolution, guided by a Marxist
organization.

And so, he translated and distributed
illegal pamphlets.

And in 1893, he moved to the imperial
capital, St. Petersburg, to immerse

himself fully.

in the underground revolutionary
movement.

Lenin's move to St. Petersburg in 1893
marked the true beginning of his career

as a revolutionary.

At the age of 23, he joined forces with
like -minded Marxists in the capital,

and soon proved himself an able
organizer and theorist.

He helped form the League of Struggle
for the Emancipation of the Working

a clandestine group agitating among
factory workers in St. Petersburg.

Lenin believed in spreading socialist
ideas beyond intellectual circles and

the masses of the urban worker.

He was described as energetic and single
-minded, spending long nights in heated

discussions and writing leaflets by
candlelight.

During these years he earned the
nickname Starik, the Old Man.

because of his serious demeanour and
receding hairline even in youth,

unfortunately.

Now, to avoid the watchful eyes of the
Tsar's secret police, Lenin wrote under

various pseudonyms.

One only alias was K.

Tulin, and later he began to use the pen
name Lenin, which he would eventually

adopt as his primary nom de guerre.

Lenin's first taste of prison and
Siberian exile came as a consequence of

underground activities.

In December of 1895, after returning
from a trip abroad to meet other Russian

Marxists and smuggle in some socialist
literature, he was arrested by the

Tsarist police, along with other members
of the St. Petersburg League of

Struggle.

He had been under surveillance for
coordinating the printing of illegal

newspapers and leaflets.

Lenin spent over a year in detention
waiting trial, using the time to further

educate himself and draft party
documents from his cell.

In early 1897, without a proper trial,
Lenin was sentenced to administrative

exile in Siberia for a term of three
years.

He was dispatched to a remote village in
the frigid wilds of eastern Siberia.

Here, in a small wooden house near the
banks of the Yenisei River, Lenin

exile, but he did so in relatively
tolerable conditions, and with

undiminished revolutionary zeal.

The village he was in was called
Shushanskoye, and life there was

in terms of intellectual pursuits, I
suppose it was pretty productive.

Lenin was joined in exile by his
lifelong companion and future wife,

Krupskaya, a fellow Marxist whom he
married in July 1898 during their

banishment.

The couple were allowed certain
freedoms.

They could receive books and
periodicals, and Lenin spent his days

hiking, and above all, writing.

Gee, it doesn't sound too bad, doesn't
it?

Send me away for exile.

In any case, in this quiet Siberian
interlude,

Lenin undertook a major scholarly work
analyzing Russia's economic development.

He wrote, The Development of Capitalism
in Russia, published in 1899, which

painstakingly documented how capitalism
was taking root in the Russian

countryside and undermining the old
feudal order.

This was more than an economic study.

It was a political argument against the
populist notion that peasants could

liberate themselves through traditional
communes.

Lenin's conclusion was that capitalism's
growth was creating a proletariat

class, whose revolutionary role Marx had
foretold, and that only a proletarian

-led movement, allied with poor
peasants, could overthrow czarism.

The book established Lenin's reputation
as a serious Marxist thinker.

But it also showcased his method, a
fusion of empirical data and Marxist

all bundled up together to serve the
goals of the revolution.

By the time his exile had ended in early
1900, he transformed from a promising

young radical into a hardened
revolutionary strategist.

Eager to reconnect with the broader anti
-Tsarist movement, he wasted no time

once back in European Russia.

Tsarist authorities forbade him from
living in St. Petersburg or any other

cities, so Lenin initially operated from
the provinces, while plotting his next

step.

He saw that Russian Marxists needed a
nationwide underground organization and

cohesive voice to rally the far -flung
revolutionaries.

Along with older Marxist elites like
Georgy Plekhanov and Julius Mardov,

Lenin decided to launch a revolutionary
newspaper abroad that could be smuggled

into Russia to unify the movement.

In late 1900, using a passport obtained
through subterfuge, Lenin left Russia

for Western Europe, effectively
beginning a second exile.

But this time it was one he chose for
himself.

so he could build his revolution from
abroad.

Lenin spent the next few years between
1900 and 1905 criss -crossing European

cities, Munich, London, Geneva, as he
organized the publication of

Iskra, or The Spark, an underground
Marxist newspaper.

Iskra's motto was, From a spark, a fire
will flare up.

reflecting Lenin's belief that a small
disciplined corps of revolutionaries

could ignite a mass revolt.

As one of Iskra's chief editors and
writers, he poured his formidable energy

into the paper's production and
distribution.

He wrote fiery articles under various
pseudonyms, attacking the autocracy, but

also criticizing more moderate
socialists, who, in his view, wavered in

commitment. They just... weren't
socialist enough.

Through Iskra, Lenin argued for a party
of professional revolutionaries who

would lead the workers, an idea that
would soon split the Russian Marxist

movement.

And then the decisive moment came at the
Second Congress of the Russian Social

Democratic Labour Party, held in 1903
mainly in London.

At this Congress of exiled
revolutionaries, Lenin forcefully argued

tightly organized party with a clear
revolutionary program.

A dispute arose between Lenin and his
longtime comrade Julius Martov over the

definition of a party membership.

Lenin wanted a smaller party of active
revolutionaries, while Martov argued for

a broader and more inclusive approach.

The argument might have seemed
procedural.

but it reflected a deeper divide in
revolutionary strategy.

The delegates narrowly sided with Lenin
on some key votes, and Lenin's faction

dubbed themselves the Bolsheviks, from
the Russian Bolshintsov,

Russian for a majority, while Matov's
faction became known as the Mensheviks,

the minority.

Now this Bolshevik -Menshevik split

would only widen in the subsequent
years.

Though both factions were socialist, and
vehemently anti -Tsarist, the

Bolsheviks under Lenin stressed
disciplined organization and readiness

power, whereas the Mensheviks leaned
toward a more democratic, mass -movement

approach, and initially believed Russia
might need a liberal -capitalist phase

before socialism.

Lenin's intransigence and uncompromising
vision at the Congress, earned him both

ardent supporters.

He also embittered critics.

But it cemented his role as the leader
of the Bolshevik wing, a role he would

retain for the rest of his life.

During these pre -1917 years, Lenin also
developed his distinctive theories that

adapted Marxism to Russia's
circumstance.

Perhaps his most famous.

influential pamphlet.

Then the time was, What is to be done?

written in 1902.

Basically, he spelled out his view that
a revolutionary vanguard party was

essential. The masses alone, he argued,
would not achieve political

consciousness without good leadership.

Lenin wrote, Give us an organization of
revolutionaries and we will overturn the

whole of Russia.

In this work he controversially insisted
that socialist consciousness had to be

brought up to workers from without, by
educated revolutionaries rather than

sprung up spontaneously from trade union
struggles.

These ideas were contentious, even among
Marxists.

But Lenin, at least in his own eyes, was
vindicated when events in Russia seemed

to call for bold action.

The revolution of 1905 was the first
major test of Lenin's theories against

reality.

In 1905, the month of January, a
massacre of peaceful protesters in St.

Petersburg, i .e. Bloody Sunday, look it
up, ignited strikes and uprisings

across the empire.

Lenin, who was then living in
Switzerland, lucky boy, followed the

excitement.

By the autumn of 1905,

With the Tsar's regime destabilized,
Lenin hastened back to Russia, his first

return home in five years.

He arrived in St. Petersburg in November
of 1905, just after Tsar Nicholas II

had been forced to issue the October
Manifesto, which granted a constitution

parliament, the Duma, in an effort to
appease the protesters.

Sensing an opening to push the
revolution further, Lenin threw himself

organizing workers' Soviets, i .e.
councils, and encouraging armed

He urged the Bolsheviks to take an
uncompromising stance against any merely

liberal reforms.

Nothing watered down.

They had to go the whole way.

However, by late 1905 and early 1906,
the Tsarist government regained the

hand, crushing armed uprisings.

mostly dramatically in Moscow in
December of 1905, and rolling back many

confessions, the brief revolutionary
upsurge ebbed, and reaction set

in.

As for Lenin, well, he was bitterly
disappointed.

Didn't quite go the way he wanted it,
that's for sure.

The masses had shown heroic energy, but
in his view, poor coordination and

hesitant leadership, especially by the
moderate, factions of the socialists,

squandered the opportunity to truly
overthrow czarism.

The crackdowns intensified, and Lenin
fled Russia again in early 1906 to avoid

arrest, back to Western Europe.

The experience of 1905 nonetheless
taught Lenin valuable lessons.

He saw how workers' councils, or
Soviets,

could serve as organs of revolutionary
power.

And he understood the need for the
revolutionaries to win the allegiance of

peasantry and the military.

Lenin later called 1905 the dress
rehearsal for the real revolution to

It stilled his convictions that a well
-timed resolute insurrection could

succeed if the revolutionary party did
not waver.

It also heartened him.

During the reactionary years of 19—after
1905, rather, Lenin kept the Bolshevik

faction alive in exile, always preparing
for the next revolutionary moment.

Though many comrades grew discouraged in
the dark years of Tsarist repression

that followed, Lenin never lost faith
that another and even greater revolution

was right around the corner.

The decade following the 1905
revolution,

was probably the most challenging for
Lenin and his Bolsheviks.

Bazaarist repression was fierce,
revolutionary parties were banned, and a

those old activists were sent to prison,
or Siberia.

And hopes for immediate change were not
looking good.

Lenin spent these years once again as a
bit of a vagabond in Europe, moving

through Geneva, Paris.

Krakow and other cities, working to keep
his party intact and ideologically

sharp. While Bolsheviks within Russia
operated in clandestine conditions,

hunted by the police,

Lenin and a handful of leaders abroad
debated strategy and doctrine.

Quarrels and splits were frequent, even
within the Bolshevik camp. Some members

disagreed with the strict methods that
Lenin was pushing.

Yet Lenin had a certain way of using his
intellect and force of will that always

kept him in the top job.

He wrote incessantly, producing party
newsletters, theoretical essays, and

polemical tracts that kept the far
-flung Bolshevik network directed and

informed.

In these years he also crossed paths
with other notable revolutionaries who

would later join him.

For example, Leon Trotsky.

who, after a period of independence,
aligned with Lenin's camp by 1917.

And, of course, Joseph Stalin.

Sure you all know him, a tough Bolshevik
organiser from the Caucasus, who met

Lenin at a party conference in 1906 and
increasingly rose in the ranks.

Lenin mentored many of these younger
revolutionaries, appreciating political

practical talents and...

loyalty to the cause.

And despite his political exile, Lenin
remained acutely attuned to events

Russia. In 1912, he and the Bolsheviks
scored a significant victory.

They gained effective control of a legal
Bolshevik newspaper in St. Petersburg

called Pravda, which means truth in
Russian.

Through Pravda, Bolshevik influence
among the workers in Russia grew on the

of World War I.

This period also saw Lenin refining his
revolutionary theory.

One significant work from this era was
Imperialism, the Highest Stage of

Capitalism, wrote in 1916.

In this pamphlet, Lenin analyzed how
global capitalism had evolved into a

of competing great powers carving up
colonies, a situation that, in his view,

led directly to the outbreak of World
War I.

He argued that imperialist war was an
inevitable product of capitalist

for resources and markets, and that
socialists should oppose the war not by

supporting their own governments, as
many European socialist parties sadly

but by turning the war into class war
against the ruling classes.

This dance set Lenin apart.

as one of the fiercest anti -war
socialists when the Great War did

erupt. Now, speaking of which, World War
I was a crucible that tested Lenin's

convictions to the limit.

When the war began in 1914, most
socialist leaders across Europe rallied

their national governments in a wave of
patriotism, betraying the anti -war

resolutions they had passed pre -war.

Lenin was outraged.

and almost isolated in his refusal to
support the bourgeois governments in the

war.

From this exile, first in Galicia, then
Switzerland after 1914, he adopted the

slogan, Turn the imperialist war into a
civil war.

Well, what did he mean by that?

Basically, he meant that workers and
peasants should use the opportunity of

with its misery and discontent, to rise
up and overthrow their ruling classes.

He famously wrote that the main enemy
was at home, not in some foreign land.

In 1915, Lenin attended the Zimmerwald
Conference, a small gathering of anti

-war socialists in Switzerland.

There he found himself a leader of the
radical minority, who wanted a rather

unambiguous call for revolutionary
struggle against the war.

Not only a handful of delegates—the
Zimmerwald Left, as they were

with his extreme position at the time.

Lenin's consistency on the war would
become a huge asset when the Russian

began collapsing a few years later.

By early 1917, Lenin was in his late
forties, living in Zurich, Switzerland,

cut off from his homeland, and, as he
himself feared, possibly destined to

see a revolution in Russia with his own
eyes.

He spent his days in the Zurich library,
scribbling notes for future uprisings

that seemed to be a distant dream.

He even famously remarked to the young
comrades that they might not live to see

the decisive revolution, not actually
realizing how close it was.

Of course, we knew there was a surprise
in store.

War weariness and economic breakdown in
Russia had set the stage for an upheaval

that caught even Lenin off guard.

In March 1917, February by the old
Russian candor, the Tsarist regime

suddenly collapsed under the weight of
popular protests, strikes, and a

munity based in Petrograd.

The February Revolution erupted
spontaneously with women, workers, and

pouring into the streets, demanding
bread and peace.

Tsar Nicholas II abdicated, ending over
300 years of the Romanov monarchy in a

matter of days.

A liberal provisional government took
charge, vowing to continue the war but

implement democratic reforms.

while at the same time grassroots
councils of workers and soldiers, the

began to spring up in cities and army
units, clamoring for more radical

When news of the February Revolution
reached Lenin in Switzerland, he was

ecstatic, yet frustrated by his physical
absence.

He immediately set plans in motion to
return to Russia and guide the next

of the revolution.

This would require an extraordinary
journey.

With World War I raging, normal travel
to Russia was blocked.

So, in a controversial move, he secured
passage through Germany, Russia's enemy,

with the help of German authorities who
were keen to ferment unrest in Russia.

In early April 1917,

Lenin... and about thirty other exiled
revolutionaries boarded a sealed train

provided by the German government, which
carried them across Germany to the

Baltic coast.

This arrangement of this sealed train
was politically explosive, related to

accusations that Lenin was a German
agent.

But in reality, Lenin saw it as more of
a desperate necessity, and

the German general Eric Lundendorff
later admitted, Our government, in

Lenin to Russia, took upon itself a
tremendous responsibility.

But he added bluntly, From a military
point of view, his journey was

for it was imperative that Russia should
fall.

So, as the train departed, Lenin's
comrades recalled him being in high

The socialist activist, Willy
Munzenberg, who saw him off, remembered

leaning out of the carriage window and
quipping with grim resolve, Either we'll

be hanged by the gallows in three
months, or we'll be in power.

This remark captured his awareness of
the immense risks and stakes involved.

It was time to go all in on the
revolution.

So Lenin arrived in Petrograd, formerly
St. Petersburg,

on April 16, 1917, stepping onto the
platform at Finland Station to a hero's

welcome by the Bolshevik supporters.

Eyewitness accounts describe him with
mounting an armored car to address the

jubilant crowd, beginning with the
words, Long live the worldwide socialist

revolution!

Instead of congratulating the nation on
its new freedom from czarism, Lenin

characteristically pushed further.

In the following days, he unveiled his
April Theses, a bold blueprint that

shocked even many Bolsheviks. In his
program, Lenin called for a complete

transfer of power to the Soviets, an
immediate end to Russia's participation

the imperialist war, and sweeping land
reform to give estates to the peasantry.

He denounced the provisional government.

a coalition of liberals and moralist
socialists, as bourgeois and

demanding no support for it whatsoever.

And this was a radical stance, because
most political figures, including

socialists, were at that time working
with or tolerating the provisional

government in hopes of a more stable
transition.

Lenin was having none of it.

He saw the dual -power situation,

with the Provisional Government on one
hand and the Soviets on the other, as

inherently unstable, and an opportunity
for the Bolsheviks to lead a second

revolution.

Many Bolshevik leaders, who had only
recently been freed from prison or

by the February overturn, were initially
hesitant about Lenin's extremist line.

But Lenin's fervor and clear vision won
them over in time.

He possessed a singular focus, to turn
the popular discontent into a socialist

uprising, before that opportunity
slipped away.

Throughout the turbulent summer of 1917,

Lenin worked tirelessly to expand
Bolshevik influence.

He crisscrossed Petrograd -making
speeches, wrote relentless polemics in

and appealed to soldiers and sailors,
promising to end the war and improve

lot.

Under his leadership, the Bolshevik
party's slogan, Peace, Land and Bread,

to resonate with the war -weary, hungry
population.

The party's membership swelled, and they
won majorities in key Soviets,

including in Petrograd and Moscow by
September.

But the road was not smooth.

In July 1917,

An uncontrolled uprising of soldiers and
workers in Petrograd attempted to push

power to the Soviets prematurely.

The rebellion lacked coordination and
was suppressed by forces loyal to the

provisional government.

The Bolsheviks were blamed for this
unrest, and Lenin, identified by

as an instigator, was forced into hiding
to avoid arrest.

He fled to the Finnish countryside.

donning a wig for disguise, and living
under clandestine conditions.

It was during this period in hiding that
Lenin wrote one of his most seminal

works, The State and Revolution,
elaborating how capitalist states would

to be smashed and replaced by a
dictatorship of the proletariat as a

transitional stage towards socialism.

The irony was, that even as he theorized
about the withering away of the state,

he was preparing to seize state power of
his own.

By the fall of 1917, the provisional
government led by Alexander Kerensky was

teetering.

The war effort was in chaos.

The economy was deteriorating and the
conservative forces were plotting a

counter -revolution, as seen in General
Kornilov's failed coup attempt in

August.

Sensing the decisive moment had come,

Lenin secretly returned to Petrograd in
early October.

At clandestine meetings of Bolshevik
central committees, he passionately

that they should organize an armed
insurrection to overthrow the Kerensky

government.

Some colleagues were anxious.

Prominent Bolsheviks like Zinoviev and
Kamenev feared a premature uprising

be disastrous.

But Lenin's resolve won out in the end.

He insisted, History will not forgive us
if we do not assume power now.

So the plan was to coordinate the
uprising with the upcoming Second All

Congress of Soviets, so that once the
Bolsheviks seized key points in the

capital, they could legitimize power
transfer through the Soviet Congress.

In the early hours of October 25th,
1917,

the

Bolshevik -led

October Revolution commenced.

Red Guard militias composed of workers
and mutinous soldiers guided by

organizers, and brilliantly marshaled in
Petrograd by Leon Trotsky.

took control of strategic locations,
telegraph stations, train stations,

bridges, and eventually the seat of
government.

By the end of that day, Bolshevik forces
had surrounded the Winter Palace, the

last holdout of the provisional
government.

That night, as a blank from the cruiser
Aurora boomed on the Neva River,

Bolshevik fighters stormed the palace.

The ministers of the provisional
government were arrested.

Except for Kerensky, he'd already fled.

Effectively, the old authority was now
decapitated.

The coup in Petrograd was almost
bloodless, and met with little

Most ordinary people were apathetic or
quietly supportive of the Bolsheviks.

When the Congress of Soviets convened
later that evening, Lenin emerged to

announce that the exploit had succeeded,
the provisional government was no more,

and the Soviets would now assume power.

In a moment bathed in both tension and
triumph, Lenin addressed the Soviet

delegates. The room erupted in a
standing ovation that lasted minutes.

Only after the cheering subsided did
Lenin characteristically concise

make his first proclamation to the
Congress and the nation.

His words, We shall now proceed to
construct the socialist order,

described by an American eyewitness,
journalist John Reed, as spoken in a

and matter -of -a -fact voice to an
electrified crowd.

And with that, Lenin heralded the
beginning of a new era.

Thus, in October of 1917,

Lenin and the Bolsheviks fulfilled what
he saw as life's mission, to overthrow

the old regime and establish a
government of workers and peasants.

It was an achievement of immense
historical magnitude.

But the hardest challenges, as Lenin
knew, were still to come,

consolidating and defending this newborn
revolution in a very

war -torn country.

So here's Lenin, standing at the head of
a revolutionary government, and that

was a role that brought about an array
of daunting problems that required both

ideological commitment and pragmatic
adjustment.

He became chairman of the Council of
People's Commissars, effectively the

minister of the new Soviet Russia.

Immediately, Lenin set about turning
Bolshevik slogans into decrees.

In the first days after seizing power,
his government issued the Decree of

Peace. Now that was calling for an
immediate ceasefire, negotiations to end

World War I, and the Decree on Land,
which legitimized the peasants' seizures

noble estates, and in essence abolished
landed proprietorship.

Bad luck if you bought just before that,
right?

These measures were immensely popular
among the war -weary soldiers and the

-hungry peasants, fulfilling key
promises of the revolution.

Lenin's regime also introduced laws to
improve workers' rights, establishing an

eight -hour workday in social insurance.

In those heady early weeks, a utopian
spirit gripped the Bolsheviks.

Even Lenin, a stern realist in every
sense, spoke of building a socialist

society on the ashes of the old.

But then there's the reality, and
reality entered swiftly to slap everyone

the face.

Ending Russia's involvement with the war
proved to be urgent and costly.

Lenin was absolutely determined to make
peace with the central powers at any

price, but even the survival of the
revolution depended on it.

This led to the controversial Treaty of
Brest -Litovsk

in March 1918, the treaty which Lenin
pushed through

against the ejections of many in his own
party. He did vast swaths of territory

in today's Poland, Ukraine, the Baltics,
etc., and resources to Germany in

exchange for Russia's exit from the war.

Now, this did not make him very popular.

In no uncertain terms, it was a
humiliating sacrifice of land and

Critics, including left socialist
revolutionaries and even some

denounced Lenin's stance as
capitulation.

And it's really hard to see it as
anything else.

Unless you ask Lenin, of course.

He insisted that saving the revolution
was paramount.

You see, Russia could afford to lose the
territory, he argued.

I mean, look on the map, they've got
plenty of territory, if it could buy

to consolidate the new socialist
government.

But it was more about the quality of
that territory, and, like we said, the

resources and everything else.

In the end, his view prevailed within
the party, and peace was made.

Only for Germany to lose war on the
Western Front months later, rendering

treaty terms completely moot, but it's a
story for another time.

Still, it achieved Lenin's aim, i .e. it
freed the Bolsheviks to focus on

internal enemies.

And according to the Bolsheviks, they
were absolutely everywhere.

Almost as soon as foreign war ended,
civil war erupted in Russia.

By mid -1918,

Former Tsarist officers, disaffected
Cossacks, Nationalists, Separatists, and

various anti -Bolshevik forces,
collectively known as the Whites, rose

the vast country, backed in many regions
by foreign powers, Britain, France,

United States, Japan even.

And, well, they also intervened to
strangle the Bolshevik experiment before

even left the cradle, pardon the
phrasing.

The Russian Civil War of 1918 -1921 was
a fight for survival for Lenin's

government.

Lenin demonstrated a single -minded
ruthlessness in this struggle.

He helped create a centralized war
effort.

Trotsky was put in charge of the Red
Army, which was built from scratch and

enforced with iron discipline.

To supply the cities and armies, Lenin's
regime introduced the War Communism.

An emergency economic policy that
involved the forceful requisition of

from peasants.

Well, of course, the peasants were not
happy about this.

But also there was the nationalization
of industries, rationing, and even a ban

on private trade.

Hold on a minute.

This is all coming up pretty much like a
shock to these people now.

because it was extremely harsh and very
coercive.

It was essentially putting the economy
on a war footing.

And they just got out of a war to get
rid of these problems.

And now Lenin's showing up to farms and
saying, well, we're requisitioning this

because we're at war.

The policy certainly kept the Red Army
fed and armed, but it generated

resentment.

especially in the countryside where
requisite and squads sometimes left

villagers starving.

And starve they did.

Within the cities, Lenin's government
tolerated no dissent in this period.

Opposition newspapers were shut down.

Opposing political parties, even other
socialist factions like the Mensheviks

and the socialist revolutionaries, were
gradually outlawed or suppressed.

In January of 1918, when a
democratically elected Constituent

which Lenin had reluctantly allowed
elections, met in Petrograd and refused

rubber -stamp Bolshevik power, Lenin
simply ordered the Assembly to be

by force.

To the Bolsheviks, this act was
justified by their belief that Soviet

direct councils of workers and peasants,
was a higher form of democracy than any

bourgeois parliament.

But to many outside observers, it
signalled the onset of nothing more than

-party dictatorship.

But perhaps the most chilling aspect of
Lenin's rule during the Civil War was

the initiation of the systematic Red
Terror, which sounds as bad as it is.

After surviving a near -fatal
assassination attempt in August of 1918,

When Fanny Kaplan, a socialist
revolutionary, shot and wounded him,

decided to unleash the security
apparatus on both real and perceived

the revolution.

The Bolshevik secret police, the Cheka,
the forerunner of the KGB, had been

established in late 1917 under Lenin's
encouragement to root out counter

-revolutionaries.

Now, in the fall of 1918, it was given
carte blanche to imprison or execute

those deemed class enemies, conspirators
or saboteurs.

Lenin didn't shy away from the use of
terror.

Indeed, he explicitly endorsed it as a
necessary weapon.

In one telegram, sent to Bolshevik
authorities in a rebellious rural region

August 1918,

Lenin demanded exemplary punishment of
well -to -do peasants.

Quote, You need to hang, hang without
fail, so that the people see no fewer

than one hundred known kulaks, rich men,
bloodsuckers, he wrote.

The goal, he said, was to make people
tremble at the new order.

But this directive, now famous as
Lenin's Hanging Order, chose the

uncompromising and violent methods he
was willing to employ to secure

rule.

During the Red Terror, thousands of
class enemies, former nobles, priests,

merchants, anti -Bolshevik politicians,
even ordinary citizens caught on the

wrong side, were summarily executed or
imprisoned by the Cheka.

Lenin argued that such merciless tactics
were imposed by extreme pressures of

civil war and foreign intervention.

He maintained that the revolution was
literally fighting for its life, against

forces that would restore the old
oppression, as opposed to uphold the new

oppression, and thus extraordinary
measures were justified.

But here's the thing critical historians
have since debated Lenin's legacy on

this front.

Was the Red Terror?

A pragmatic response to a wartime
emergency, or did it set the template

mass repression of the Stalinist era?

Maybe you can make your own mind up on
that.

Regardless, in any case it demonstrated
Lenin's belief that revolutionary ends

could sanction brutal means.

By 1920, the tide of the Civil War
turned decisively in favor of the

The Red Army...

despite initial chaos, had defeated most
white armies and pushed back foreign

interventions, which were half -hearted
and soon withdrawn.

In 1920, Soviet Russia even invaded the
newly independent Poland in hopes of

sparking a revolution there, though that
ended in failure.

As the Civil War came to a close, in
late 1920 and 21, Lenin was victorious.

But it was at a staggering cost.

Russia was in ruins, famine was sweeping
the land, industrial production had

plummeted to a fraction of pre -war
levels, and discontent was brewing, even

among former supporters of the
revolution due to the hardships of war

The peasantry in particular was rested.

Having supported the Reds against the
landlords, many peasants now felt

by the Bolshevik grain requisitions and
dictatorial controls.

Sensing the need for a recalibration,
Lenin showed a pragmatic flexibility.

In March 1921, as peasant uprisings
flickered and a serious revolt by

Kronstadt, previously staunch Bolshevik
allies, demanded Soviets without

Bolsheviks. Lenin took a dramatic step.

He introduced the New Economic Policy,
or the NEP.

Now, the NEP was essentially a strategic
retreat from pure socialist doctrine, a

partial restoration of private
enterprise and market incentives to

shattered economy.

Under NEP, peasants were allowed to sell
their surplus produce on the open

market after paying a tax.

rather than just surrendering it all up
to the state.

Small businesses and light industries
could operate privately, and a degree of

normal commerce returned.

Lenin explained to the communist cadres,
we are taking one step backward, to

later take two steps forward.

Framing the NEP as a tactical retreat.

He likened it to breathing space.

A chance for the Soviet state to
recuperate and solidify itself

before advancing again towards
socialism.

Many hardline Bolsheviks were shocked or
dismayed by the NEP, seeing it as a

betrayal of communist principles, but
Lenin's political intuition was pretty

much on target. The NEP succeeded, and
the economy was rejuvenated to an

Famine was alleviated.

and widespread unrest was somewhat
calmed.

It showed Lenin's willingness to be
pragmatic when ideology alone threatened

revolution's survival.

He famously said, The NEP is only a
temporary deviation,

reasserting his comrades that it was
just a means to an end, not the end

Now, politically, Lenin also tightened
control during this period.

In 1921, alongside the NEP, he pushed
through a ban on factionalism within the

Communist Party at the Tenth Party
Congress.

Different opinions could be discussed
internally, but once a decision was

no dissenting factions were allowed to
publicly campaign against it.

Now, this ban on factions was aimed at
preserving unity in a tumultuous time,

but it had the long -term effect of
stifling healthy debate.

and consolidating authority at the top,
the president that would enable

authoritarian rule under his successors.

By 1922, the Communist Party, as the
Bolsheviks renamed themselves, had

become the unchallenged ruling
organization, and the foundations of a

state were firmly laid.

Lenin also oversaw the creation of the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the

USSR in December 1922, which unified
Russia with Ukraine, Belarus, and the

Transcaucasian Republics under a federal
system.

In theory, it was a voluntary union of
equal socialist republics, but

in practice, power was centralized in
Moscow, though it acknowledged the multi

-ethnic makeup of the old empire.

While Lenin successfully navigated the
revolution through its most perilous

years, the immense stress took a toll on
his health.

In August of 1918, he had been shot
twice by an assassin.

Though he recovered then, the injury
likely weakened him.

Years of ceaseless work, privation, and
the strain of leading a country at war,

it all took its toll.

In May of 1922, At only 52 years old, he
suffered a stroke that partially

paralyzed his right side and affected
his speech.

Though he made some recovery and
returned to work, he endured at least

strokes over the next months.

By late 1922, Lenin was largely
incapacitated and withdrew from active

leadership, moving to a quieter state at
Gorky, near Moscow, to recuperate.

During these final months, Lenin grew
alarmed by certain trends in the state

that he had founded, especially the
growing power in the bureaucracy and the

dictatorial tendencies of some of his
lieutenants.

In December of 1922 and January of the
following year, he dictated a series of

notes and letters to his secretaries
that became famous as Lenin's Testament.

In his documents, Lenin candidly
assessed his top associates and issued

warnings.

Now, most notably, he criticized Joseph
Stalin, who by then held a key post of

General Secretary of the Communist Party
for being, quote, too rude and

accumulating enormous power.

Lenin suggested that Stalin should be
removed from that position, and he urged

the other leaders to find a way to
reduce the bureaucratic degeneration of

party.

He also spoke favorably of Leon
Trotsky's talents, though cautioning

arrogance, and he pressed for unity
among the remaining leadership after his

death.

Tragically, for Lenin's intentions, his
worsening illness prevented him from

taking further action.

Stalin and the inner circle managed to
keep Lenin isolated, especially after

Lenin angrily broke off personal
relations with Stalin in March 1923,

Stalin insulted Lenin's wife over the
telephone.

Lenin never recovered enough to
intervene in party affairs again.

On January 21st, 1924, Vladimir Lenin
died at the age of 53,

after lapsing into a coma from yet
another stroke.

His death was announced to the nation
and the world.

eliciting an outpouring of grief among
the Soviet populace.

Despite the hardships of the preceding
years, many ordinary people genuinely

mourn the man who had given a voice to
their hopes for a more just society.

How many of them believe they got the
more just society?

Well, I suppose you never really know.

In any case, massive crowds did throng
the streets of Moscow during his

braving the freezing winter.

to pay their respects.

In a scene almost reminiscent of a
religious reverence, Maul has wept and

fainted as Lenin's body lay in a state.

The Bolshevik leadership, now headed de
facto by Stalin, decided to embalm

Lenin's body and place it on permanent
display in a mausoleum in Red Square, a

decision somewhat contrary to Lenin's
own modest wishes.

He had actually expressed the desire to
be buried next to his mother in St.

Petersburg.

Nevertheless, the Lenin Mausoleum became
a shrine of the new state, and Lenin

himself was soon elevated to a mythic
status as the founding father of the

Soviet communism.

Petrograd was renamed to Leningrad in
1924 in his honor, and across the

statues and portraits of Lenin began to
multiply, and Leninism was enshrined as

the guiding ideology alongside Marxism.

Even in death, Lenin's influence was
carefully maintained by his successors

legitimize their rule, though as
subsequent events showed, some of his

warnings in the Testament would go
unheeded in the years to come.

But that is a story for...

Another time.

The thing about Lenin is that it's a bit
complex.

I mean, he lived through a very
tumultuous era.

And when you look back on a few things,
there's a lot of retrospection, I

suppose.

I mean, at the simplest level, you know,
his life work resulted in the Bolshevik

Revolution.

He took Marxist theory, transplanted it
into Russian soil, and through force of

intellect and will, he forged a
revolutionary movement.

And that's pretty impressive, right?

But then there's all the other stuff.

And that's what makes it a bit
complicated.

There's all the bad stuff, anyway.

Well, it was good of you to join me
today, and perhaps you can pass your own

judgments upon Lenin.

We've all got our own sort of opinions
about it.

And he's one of those figures. This is
the problem when we get into modern

history.

The people are going to have very strong
opinions.

No one has these really strong opinions
about, I don't know, Genghis Khan or

Julius Caesar or maybe even Elizabeth
Bathory or something like that.

But when it's modern history, people
tend to think, well, if you say this

certain thing, then...

You have to be aligned with a certain
political movement or something like

For me, I'm pretty detached from it.

I just don't really care too much to
make a judgment.

Anyway, thank you for joining me, and I
will see you when you feel inclined to

return to the channel.

I've been your host.

Good night, and farewell.