Time passes, and political systems, views, and values change. Leaders change. Many children born in the 21st century cannot answer with confidence who Lenin, Stalin, Brezhnev were... Although until recently, every self-respecting Soviet citizen knew not only the year of Lenin’s birth and where the leader of the world proletariat was born, but also the main theses each plenum Our contemporaries do not consider it necessary to remember such information. There is no point in discussing whether this is good or bad, but for the sake of erudition you can find out where Lenin was born. And this happened in the city of Simbirsk. In 1924 it was renamed Ulyanovsk.
A little history of the city where Lenin was born
This city is located on the banks of the Volga and Sviyaga rivers, almost 1000 km southeast of Moscow. Founded in 1648 as a fortress to protect against raids by nomadic tribes from the east. A decree on this was issued by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. This fortress was called Simber. More than 200 years later, Catherine the Second renamed the city Simbirsk and made it the center. Emperor Paul in 1796 confirmed this administrative status of the city.
Moving the Ulyanov family to Simbirsk
Vladimir Ulyanov's parents were educated and intelligent people. In particular, his father, Ilya Nikolaevich Ulyanov, graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Kazan University, and in 1854 received a candidate mathematical sciences. He was a successful teacher in gymnasiums in Penza and Nizhny Novgorod, but for ideological reasons he moved to Simbirsk. Why? The fact is that after 1861, Russia was swept by a wave of Europeanization and public education. All conscious teachers were eager to work in this field and make their contribution to the education of the common people, and not just the children of wealthy parents, as was the case before. Ilya Nikolaevich Ulyanov was captured by this idea. Therefore, when the position of inspector of public schools became vacant in Simbirsk, he moved his family there without hesitation and was appointed to the position in 1869.
Simbirsk during the time of the Ulyanovs
The population of the city at the time of the arrival of Vladimir Ulyanov’s (Lenin’s) parents was 26 thousand inhabitants, but it could not be called far from cultural life province. Back in the 18th century, the first theater in Russia existed here; in 1838, its own newspaper began to be printed, and public library, the telegraph was working. That is, all the benefits of civilization of that time were available. In addition, since Simbirsk was located on the large navigable Volga River, waterway connected him with others major cities. In this regard, trade was also developed. Thus, the city where Vladimir Lenin was born justified the title of “nest of nobility.”
Also, five years before the Ulyanovs moved, Simbirsk experienced a big fire. But this even served to the benefit of the city, because it was rebuilt according to a new plan, wide streets and beautiful gardens.
Nomadic life in rented apartments
As an inspector of public schools, the official Ulyanov was not entitled to government housing, so the growing family had to be content with rented housing. That is why during the 18 years that they lived in Simbirsk, they had to change seven houses.
The first housing was the outbuilding of a house on Streletskaya Street, which belonged to Pribylovskaya. Ilya Nikolaevich moved there in the fall of 1869 with his wife and two children, Anna and Alexander. The third child, Vladimir, the future builder of communism, was born right there in 1970.
Six months later, the family moved from the outbuilding to one of the apartments in the same building. Here the daughter Olga was born. But they did not live long in the house where Lenin was born. They had to move to the next one on the same street, which belonged to Zharkova. Then there were three more rented apartments, until Ilya Nikolaevich purchased his own house on Moskovskaya Street in 1878. But the family also lived there for a relatively short time. The breadwinner and head of the family passed away early, and the eldest son Alexander was executed on charges of conspiracy against the emperor. Therefore, in 1887 they decided to sell the house. Soon after this, the Ulyanovs left Simbirsk and
Lenin Memorial in Ulyanovsk
Lenin's hometown was renamed Ulyanovsk in 1924. And in 1970, on the centenary of his birth, a memorial memorial was opened in the city where Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was born. It includes the houses of Pribylovskaya and Zharkova, where the Ulyanovs lived, their own house on Moskovskaya, as well as the Large Universal Cinema and Concert Hall and the House of Political Education. In the apartments where the Ulyanov family lived, everything was kept almost unchanged. You can also see a diorama depicting Simbirsk in the 1880s.
Lenin's hometown today
Now Ulyanovsk is a large regional center with a population of over 600 thousand. It is divided into four districts: Leninsky, Zheleznodorozhny, Zasviyazhsky and Zavolzhsky. The last one is on opposite bank and is connected to two other bridges - Imperial and Presidential. But the Leninsky district has always been considered the most prestigious. Even before the Ulyanovs arrived, only merchants and nobles lived here. Many buildings from those times have been preserved in their original form. And the street where Lenin was born is considered historical monument and is pedestrian.
Many Russians and foreigners come to Ulyanovsk every year. They want to visit this street and the house where Lenin was born. The city is also of considerable interest. Every year it receives thousands of tourists who want to visit the homeland of the luminary. October revolution.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (real name Ulyanov) is a great Russian political and public figure, revolutionary, founder of the RSDLP party (Bolsheviks), creator of the first socialist state in history.
Years of Lenin’s life: 1870 – 1924.
Lenin is known primarily as one of the leaders of the great October Revolution of 1917, when the monarchy was overthrown and Russia turned into a socialist country. Lenin was the chairman of the Soviet People's Commissars(governments) new Russia- RSFSR, considered the creator of the USSR.
Vladimir Ilyich was not only one of the most prominent political leaders in the entire history of Russia, he was also known as the author of many theoretical works in politics and social sciences, founder of the theory of Marxism-Leninism and the creator and main ideologist of the Third International (union communist parties different countries).
Brief biography of Lenin
Lenin was born on April 22 in the city of Simbirsk, where he lived until he graduated from the Simbirsk gymnasium in 1887. After graduating from high school, Lenin left for Kazan and entered the university there to study law. In the same year, Alexander, Lenin’s brother, was executed for participation in the assassination attempt on Emperor Alexander 3 - for the whole family this becomes a tragedy, since it is about Alexander’s revolutionary activities.
While studying at the university, Vladimir Ilyich is an active participant in the banned Narodnaya Volya circle, and also takes part in all student riots, for which three months later he is expelled from the university. A police investigation carried out after the student riot revealed Lenin's connections with banned societies, as well as his brother's participation in the assassination attempt on the Emperor - this entailed a ban on Vladimir Ilyich's reinstatement at the university and the establishment of close supervision over him. Lenin was included in the list of “unreliable” persons.
In 1888, Lenin again came to Kazan and joined one of the local Marxist circles, where he began to actively study the works of Marx, Engels and Plekhanov, which in the future would have a huge impact on his political identity. It starts around this time revolutionary activity Lenin.
In 1889, Lenin moved to Samara and there continued to look for supporters of the future coup d'etat. In 1891, he took exams for the course as an external student. Faculty of Law St. Petersburg University. At the same time, his views, under the influence of Plekhanov, evolved from populist to social democratic, and Lenin developed his first doctrine, which laid the foundation for Leninism.
In 1893, Lenin came to St. Petersburg and got a job as an assistant lawyer, while continuing to be active journalistic activities– he publishes many works in which he studies the process of capitalization of Russia.
In 1895, after a trip abroad, where Lenin met with Plekhanov and many others public figures, he organizes the “Union of Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class” in St. Petersburg and begins an active struggle against the autocracy. For his activities, Lenin was arrested, spent a year in prison, and then sent into exile in 1897, where, however, he continued his activities, despite the prohibitions. During his exile, Lenin was officially married to his common-law wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya.
In 1898, the first secret congress of the Social Democratic Party (RSDLP), led by Lenin, took place. Soon after the Congress, all its members (9 people) were arrested, but the beginning of the revolution was laid.
The next time Lenin returned to Russia only in February 1917 and immediately became the head of the next uprising. Despite the fact that quite soon he is ordered to be arrested, Lenin continues his activities illegally. In October 1917, after the coup d'etat and the overthrow of the autocracy, power in the country completely passed to Lenin and his party.
Lenin's reforms
From 1917 until his death, Lenin was engaged in reforming the country in accordance with social democratic ideals:
- Makes peace with Germany, creates the Red Army, which takes an active part in the civil war of 1917-1921;
- Creates NEP - new economic policy;
- Gives civil rights to peasants and workers (the working class becomes the main one in the new political system Russia);
- Reforms the church, seeking to replace Christianity with a new “religion” - communism.
He dies in 1924 after a sharp deterioration in his health. By order of Stalin, the leader's body was placed in a mausoleum on Red Square in Moscow.
The role of Lenin in the history of Russia
Lenin's role in the history of Russia is enormous. He was the main ideologist of the revolution and the overthrow of the autocracy in Russia, organized the Bolshevik Party, which was able to come to power in a fairly short time and completely change Russia politically and economically. Thanks to Lenin, Russia transformed from an Empire into a socialist state, which was based on the ideas of communism and the supremacy of the working class.
The state created by Lenin lasted almost throughout the entire 20th century and became one of the strongest in the world. Lenin's personality is still controversial among historians, but everyone agrees that he is one of the greatest world leaders who has ever existed in world history.
IN Lately There are heated debates about the education and upbringing of our children. Moreover, the alarming results of twenty years of capitalist education have already begun to appear. Recently there was the 3rd congress of the “Parental All-Russian Resistance”, where the most difficult aspects of modern education were considered - the inadmissibility of joint education of healthy children and children with disabilities disabilities, this destroys both learning processes - both children remain abandoned without receiving necessary knowledge. The impact of various gadgets and TV on the development of children was also discussed - there was a lot of interesting things.
Recently, Article No. 116 Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation was repealed, according to which parents could be given up to 2 years in prison for spanking a child, for example, for a bad grade, which could lead to the destruction of the traditions of education in Russia. Thank God, with the help of the enormous work of the RVS and other like-minded organizations, after an appeal to the President of the country, the article was changed.
I have always been interested in what our traditions in education are, how we raised children before, well, let’s say, how Vladimir Ilyich Lenin studied and grew up, how he forged such a character, excellent memory, will, curiosity, the ability to convince people of his idea and, most importantly How to raise a patriot of our Motherland?
Today there is a big gap in the education of patriotism in children, which began in the 90s. And in general, the new reforms have so distorted the beautiful Soviet education that now, looking at the results, everyone gasps.
A teacher I know at the Moscow Aviation Institute complains that during the first year many students have to improve their skills in physics and mathematics. A friend - a plant engineer - is forced to train young specialists; but young people are given more wages than the older generation, since the young and untrained do not accept lower wages.
Here, individual freedom-loving citizens were indignant at spankings during upbringing, but let’s see how traditionally, for example, at the end of the nineteenth century, children were raised in Russia? And we will draw conclusions for ourselves.
I think Vladimir Ilyich Lenin is a worthy role model; his abilities were formed and strengthened from childhood. How did it happen?
Ilya Nikolaevich Ulyanov - Lenin's father - was born in Astrakhan from “poor and ignorant” parents. He was a tradesman and was listed as public service, received ranks and orders, the Order of Vladimir gave him hereditary nobility. That is, Lenin is a nobleman, but due to the length of service of his father.
At that time, it was impossible to simply apply for admission to the gymnasium. It was necessary to pass exams, and one of them for Volodya Ulyanov at the age of 9 was on knowledge of the “Law of God,” that is, the events of the Old and New Testaments, the ability to read in Church Slavonic - such requirements were imposed on all high school students in Russia.
In the gymnasiums there was very strict discipline, no, so to speak, liberalism. These institutions were good at strengthening the character of children through drills and cramming. They resembled barracks and camps. Total control behind everything: from inattention in class to the unbuttoned collar of a school uniform. For any offense there was an inevitable PUNISHMENT. PUNISHMENT often meant a punishment cell with black bread and water during the day. And this is for children 9 years old!
The main tasks for educating gymnasium students: to develop a religious sense in students, to distance them from bad communities, to develop a sense of obedience to superiors, respect for elders, decency, modesty and respect for other people's property. Now it seems not surprising that children, having gone through such a school from the age of 9, grew up and were not at all afraid of prison.
At 8:45 everyone gathered in the church hall for 15 minutes of prayer. Then followed three lessons in a row for 50 minutes with short breaks, studying until 14-30. Then cramming textbooks at home. In the fourth grade they taught: Russian language, mathematics, history, geography, Latin, Greek, German, French. IN AND. Lenin was an excellent student; there weren't many like him. At the end of the 4th grade, he received a certificate of merit and a book by E.N. Vodovozova "Life" European peoples"for excellent performance, diligence, and exemplary behavior.
Gymnasium students especially suffered from Latin and Greek; it was the ancient languages that most often became the reason for placing a child in a punishment cell, leaving him for the second year, or expulsion from the gymnasium. Studying these ancient languages greatly developed memory and strengthened character. Lenin wrote dictations once a week, the teacher dictated the text so quickly that many children put dashes instead of words, but Vladimir always managed to write straight A's.
Subsequently, Lenin's classmate D.M. Andreev wrote: “He was distinguished by a phenomenal memory and was quicker than all of us in remembering Latin texts; standing in the middle of the class, he declared Cicero’s speech in Latin, his eyes amazed with hidden fire and power.” Subsequently, Lenin honed this technique to perfection; extreme concentration, strong confidence and incredible pressure were always felt in him. He learned to attack and persuade with an incredibly powerful gaze and completely subjugate those listening.
Instruction in Latin and Greek took up 42% of all teaching time, with only 24% per week allocated to Russian, Church Slavonic and literature. IN AND. Lenin freely translated Cicero, Herodotus, Julius Caesar, Horace, Plato, and Homer. But back then there were no interlinear readers or robot translators. It is not surprising that our leader possessed great skill in oratory.
The intensity of the Russian literature program in the fourth grade of the gymnasium evokes respect. It was necessary to memorize over 100 poems of Russian classics: 45 fables by Krylov, 31 poems by Pushkin, 10 by Lermontov, 12 by Zhukovsky, 4 by Koltsov.
Lenin passed his exams with flying colors. Maybe that’s why he amazed everyone with his phenomenal memory for names, faces, events, and meeting conditions. Stalin also had a memory no less amazing than Lenin. Almost all Bolsheviks went through serious school and acquired skills in childhood, developed them to perfection, and maybe that’s why they won.
In modern elite schools In England rods are still sometimes used. And we are being imposed such methods of education that put the rights of children above their responsibilities, and yet children do not yet have a formed consciousness to use them consciously. As a result, we see children with anti-corruption posters who don’t even know what the word is.
A good education is complex and difficult. In childhood, willpower and hard work are trained, the ability to overcome obstacles, development cognitive interest, and without a certain amount of violence against oneself, learning is impossible. Having successfully completed school, children become strong, educated, hardworking, purposeful, and then they can handle anything.
It is because of the destroyed process of upbringing and education that we get infantile people who are not capable of work.
Tatyana Barybina, RVS.
Real surname, name and patronymic - Ulyanov Vladimir Ilyich. Literary pseudonyms: Vladimir, Vl., V. Ilyin, N. Lenin, Petersburger, Petrov, William Frey, K. Tulin. Party nicknames: Karpov, Meyer, Nikolai Petrovich, Old Man, etc.
Social and political figure, revolutionary, one of the leaders of the RSDLP, RSDLP(b), RCP(b), publicist. The founder of one of the directions of Marxism, who carried out a synthesis of the ideas of the founders of Marxism (K. Marx, F. Engels, G. Plekhanov, K. Kautsky) and Russian Blanquism (P.N. Tkachev). Founder of the Soviet state.
Member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RSDLP(b) (10(23).10 - 4(17).11.1917). Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR (10/27/11/9/1917 - 01/21/1924). Member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) (03/25/1919 - 01/21/1924). Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (07/06/1923 - 01/21/1924). Chairman of the Council of Labor and Defense of the USSR (07/17/1923 - 01/21/1925).
Biography and career
From the family of an inspector, then director of public schools in the Simbirsk province, actual state councilor Ilya Nikolaevich Ulyanov, who received hereditary nobility. Mother - Maria Alexandrovna Ulyanova (née Blank). Paternal grandfather - Nikolai Vasilyevich Ulyanov, from the serf peasants of the Sergach district of the Nizhny Novgorod province, a tailor-artisan in Astrakhan. Maternal grandfather - Alexander Dmitrievich Blank, physiotherapist, retired state councilor, nobleman, landowner of the Nizhny Novgorod province. The Ulyanov family had eight children (Anna, Alexander, Olga, Vladimir, Olga, Nikolai, Dmitry, Maria), two of whom (Olga and Nikolai) died in infancy. Since July 20 (22), 1898, he has been married to Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya. Had no children.
In 1879-1887 he studied at the Simbirsk gymnasium. In 1887, V. Ulyanov graduated with a gold medal and entered the Faculty of Law of Kazan University. In December of the same year, he was expelled from the university for participating in a student gathering and sent under secret police supervision to the Kokushkino estate, which belonged to his mother, in the Kazan province. In September 1891 he passed the exams at St. Petersburg University for a law faculty course as an external student.
Young Vladimir Ulyanov was greatly impressed by the execution of his older brother Alexander, one of the organizers of the Terrorist Faction of the Party group. People's will"", hanged in 1887 for preparing an assassination attempt on Emperor Alexander III.
Living under police supervision in Kokushkino, Vladimir Ulyanov devoted time to self-education, became familiar with the works of N.G. Chernyshevsky. Subsequently, he repeatedly recalled the novel “What is to be done?”, which influenced the formation of his own worldview. In October 1888 he returned to Kazan, where he joined one of the Marxist circles. Here Ulyanov studied Volume I of “Capital” by K. Marx and the work of G.V. Plekhanov "Our differences". Since 1889, in Samara he has become close to the Narodnaya Volya and Marxists. In 1892-1893 he worked as an assistant to a sworn attorney in Samara. In 1893, Ulyanov submitted his first article for publication in the journal “Russian Thought” - “New economic movements in peasant life.” However, his first work was rejected by the editors.
In August 1893, Vladimir Ulyanov moved to St. Petersburg. Here he was able to quickly gain authority among local Marxists. He was especially famous for his essay “On the so-called question of markets” and the illegally published work “What are “friends of the people” and how do they fight against the Social Democrats?”, in which he sharply criticized populist ideas. In particular, Lenin tried to refute the populist thesis, according to which the ruin of the peasantry meant a narrowing of the market for the development of capitalism. Also, from the position of historical materialism, he criticized sociological concept N.K. Mikhailovsky. In his first works the only way Lenin saw towards socialism in Russia through the development of the labor movement, considering the proletariat as a vanguard force in revolutionary struggle with autocracy.
In the article “The Economic Content of Populism and Its Criticism in Mr. Struve’s Book” (1895), Lenin entered into polemics with the so-called “legal Marxists,” in other words, with those authors (P.B. Struve, M.N. Tugan- Baranovsky and others), who, based on the works of K. Marx and F. Engels, stated the fact of the progressiveness of capitalism in Russia. Accusing his opponents of “bourgeois objectivism,” Lenin contrasted them with the concept of “party spirit” social sciences. In 1894-1895 he conducted propaganda in workers' circles, while simultaneously studying the situation of the working class in Russia.
In May 1896, in Switzerland, V. Lenin met with members of the Liberation of Labor group. Returning from a trip abroad, he supported the idea of the transition of Marxists from propaganda to mass agitation. In November 1895, the group of “old men” led by him merged with the group of Yu.O. Martov to the citywide social democratic organization of St. Petersburg, called the “Union of Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class.” On the night of December 8-9 he was arrested. On March 1, 1897, after imprisonment, he was exiled to Siberia for three years. He served exile in the village of Shushenskoye, Minusinsk district, Yenisei province.
While in exile, he completed work on the book “The Development of Capitalism in Russia,” published in 1899. In this work, relying on a large amount of factual material, V.I. Lenin argued that Russia had already become a capitalist country. At the same time, he noted the preservation in Russia of many remnants of pre-capitalist relations. Lenin concluded that the political strength of the Russian proletariat is greater than its share in the mass of the population. In 1899, he organized a protest by a group of exiles against the spread of the ideas of “economism” in the Social Democratic movement. At this time, as a result of correspondence, Lenin, Martov and Potresov agreed to publish an all-Russian Social Democratic newspaper. At the end of their exile, in February 1900, they held a meeting in Pskov. In July they went abroad, where, together with members of the Liberation of Labor group, they formed the editorial board of the newspaper Iskra and the magazine Zarya. At this time, Lenin lived in Munich, London, Geneva, continuing his discussion with the “economists”. In 1902, his book “What to do” was published, which outlined the concept of a centralized proletarian party, the purpose of which is to implement political coup in Russia with the help of an armed uprising of the masses. For the first time in this work the principles of “democratic centralism” were set out. Lenin took an active part in the discussion of what G.V. wrote. Plekhanov of the draft program of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party.
At the Second Congress of the RSDLP in July 1903, V. Lenin headed the faction of “hard” Iskrists (Bolsheviks). In an effort to secure a leading role in the Social Democratic movement in Russia, he proposed reducing the number of members of the Iskra editorial board to three and establishing a Party Council. After Plekhanov went over to the Menshevik side, Lenin retained his position in the Central Committee, where he was co-opted in November 1903. In the book “One Step Forward, Two Steps Back” (1904), in which he criticized his opponents at the Second Party Congress and questioned the value of democratic norms in the party. Soon he put forward the idea of convening a new congress of the RSDLP, which, however, did not receive the support of the Central Committee. In response to the discrepancy with the decision of the majority, he formed from his supporters the Bureau of Majority Committees (BCB), which prepared the convening of the Third Congress, consisting exclusively of Bolshevik delegates.
This congress, which approved Lenin's proposals on tactics, was held in London in April 1905. In the book “Two Tactics of Social Democracy in democratic revolution“He commented on the results of this congress, proving the need to establish the hegemony of the proletariat in the struggle to overthrow the autocracy and an armed uprising, which would result in the establishment of a “dictatorship of the proletariat and peasantry” in Russia. Having solved this problem, the Social Democratic Party will be able to move directly to the implementation socialist revolution. At the Third Congress of the RSDLP he emphasized that the main task of the unfolding revolution was the elimination of autocracy and the remnants of the serfdom system in Russia. In his letters to Russia, he demanded that the Bolsheviks organize combat detachments preparing for an armed uprising, carrying out military actions in the form of attacks on police and military personnel. At the beginning of November 1905, Lenin returned to St. Petersburg, where he headed the editorial office of the newspaper “New Life”.
It was published in many languages of the world big number works of art literature about V.I. Lenin. Among the most early works refers, for example, to the poem by V.V. Mayakovsky "Vladimir Ilyich Lenin". Many were also filmed feature films about him. One of the first images of Lenin was captured in S. Eisenstein’s film “October” (1927). For example, most of the works fiction and films about him were made in the USSR and the countries of the “socialist” bloc. Also integral part Soviet monumental art included monuments to Lenin. He was also depicted in numerous paintings. One of the first artists to reflect the image of Lenin in their works was I.I. Brodsky (1919 - “Lenin and Manifestation”). The set of works of fiction dedicated to him was called “Leninana”. His portraits and busts were required to decorate Soviet institutions. National folklore works include numerous anecdotes about Lenin, many of which are passed on from mouth to mouth in our time. Also in the USSR they named after Lenin settlements(for example: Leningrad), as well as enterprises, military and civilian ships.
Lenin Vladimir Ilyich- Russian revolutionary, organizer and leader of the October Revolution of 1917, the largest theorist of Marxism, the first chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, the creator of the world's first socialist state.
Childhood, family, education
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin) was born on April 22, 1870 in the city of Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk).
Father - Ulyanov Ilya Nikolaevich- educator, devoted great attention education of non-Russian peoples of the Volga region, organized for children public schools. He rose to the rank of actual state councilor, which allowed him to receive rank of nobility.
Mother - Maria Alexandrovna Ulyanova(née Blank) - passed the exams for the title of teacher as an external student primary school. She devoted herself entirely to raising children, of whom there were four in the family.
Vladimir Lenin's paternal grandfather - Nikolay Vasilievich Ulyanov- was the son of a serf. He died when Ilya Nikolaevich was still a child. In an orphaned family younger brother Ilya was raised and trained by his older brother Vasily, a clerk at the Astrakhan company Sapozhnikov Brothers.
Maternal grandfather - Alexander Dmitrievich Blank- a doctor by training. He married Anna Grigorievna Grosskopf(the Grosskopf family had Swedish and German roots). Doctor Blank, after resigning, was assigned to the Kazan nobility. Soon he acquired the Kukushkino estate and became a landowner. Maria Alexandrovna lost her mother early and she and her sisters were raised by her mother’s sister. The aunt taught the children music and foreign languages.
Having married Ilya Nikolaevich, Maria Alexandrovna completely devoted herself to her family. And although she was an emancipated woman, she was an impeccable housewife. Being highly educated, Maria Alexandrovna studied music with children and foreign languages. Vladimir spoke German perfectly, French languages, spoke English worse. Living surrounded by Russian nature, Vladimir Ulyanov loved his native culture, but also paid tribute to Western thought.
His father died when Vladimir Ulyanov was 16 years old. Family budget Maria Alexandrovna was in charge until her death in 1916.
Vladimir was the third child in the family. At the gymnasium, Volodya was the first student. By the way, the director of the gymnasium was Fyodor Mikhailovich Kerensky, father Alexander Kerensky, the future head of the Provisional Government.
The gymnasium gave young Vladimir Lenin a solid foundation of knowledge. Vladimir Ilyich treated his studies with truly German pedantry. Notebooks, books - everything is in the neatest condition. Of the subjects, high school student Vladimir Ulyanov was most interested in philosophy and political economy, although exact sciences he had excellent grades.
In 1887, Vladimir Ulyanov graduated from high school with a gold medal. But for the family these last years were an ordeal. His father recently died (1886), and then a new misfortune befell him - he was arrested Alexandra Ulyanova, the elder brother of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin in connection with the attempt on the life of the Tsar. In 1887, Alexander was executed as a participant in the Narodnaya Volya conspiracy; this became a deep tragedy for the entire Ulyanov family.
Formation of views
After graduating from high school, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin entered the law faculty of Kazan University. After tragic death brother, as stated in the biography of the future leader of the proletariat, Vladimir Ulyanov began to think about his views, and also began to get involved in politics. Of course, young Vladimir Lenin was already under the control of the authorities because of his brother, so he was expelled from the university for participating in liberal meetings.
Lenin Vladimir Ilyich was exiled to his mother’s estate Kukushkino. It was here that the revolutionary consciousness of the young man began to take shape. He read a lot - Pisareva, Nechaeva, Chernyshevsky. Years later, Lenin said: “The novel What Is To Be Done deeply plowed me.”
In 1889, the Ulyanov family moved to Samara. The so-called index fell into the hands of Vladimir Ilyich Fedoseeva- one of the first propagandists of Marxism in Russia. This was a list of Marxist literature recommended for self-education.
In September 1891, Vladimir Ulyanov took an external course at the Faculty of Law at St. Petersburg University, and in 1892 he took a job as an assistant sworn attorney in Samara. However, Lenin was bored with this work, Vladimir Ilyich did not prove himself as a lawyer, and, without working even a year, he left for St. Petersburg in 1893. There Vladimir began to attend the Marxist student association Institute of Technology.
Vladimir Lenin had a remarkable quality in his character: he knew how to listen and easily learned new things. Except Marx, Ulyanov-Lenin admired the ideas for some time Plekhanov, however, even then he felt a certain political strength in himself and began to criticize the former populist-Black Peredelist. When Vladimir Ilyich Lenin met abroad with members of the “Emancipation of Labor” group in 1895, Plekhanov, having listened to the passionate speeches of the young revolutionary, called him “rather a Blanquist than a Marxist.”
Political activity and party work
In the same 1895, Lenin, together with Martov organized the St. Petersburg “Union of Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class.” Naturally, after some time, many members of the “Union” were arrested. Vladimir Ilyich also came under arrest. At first, Ulyanov was kept in prison for more than a year, and in March 1897 he was exiled to the village of Shushenskoye for three years. Here in July 1898 Lenin Vladimir Ilyich married Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya, also exiled in the case of the St. Petersburg “Union of Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class.”
In exile, Ulyanov-Lenin could use the rich Krasnoyarsk library of the Russian bibliophile and merchant of the Second Guild Gennady Yudin. Lenin Vladimir Ilyich wrote more than 30 articles, as well as a solid work “The Development of Capitalism in Russia.”
After the end of his exile in 1900, Lenin went abroad. Vladimir Ilyich lived in Germany, visited London and Geneva. The future leader of the world proletariat came up with a plan to create a Social Democratic Party as an organization of professional revolutionaries. Ulyanov perfectly understood the role of funds mass media, therefore he made the all-Russian newspaper Iskra the core of the party. It was then that articles appeared in the newspaper signed with the pseudonym Lenin.
In July-August 1903, the second congress of the Russian Social Democratic Party (RSDLP), prepared by Lenin, Plekhanov and Martov, took place. Meetings of the congress began to be held in Brussels, but then, after a ban by the Belgian police, they were moved to London. It was at this congress that the party split into two factions - the Bolsheviks (those who were attracted by Lenin’s idea of seizing power by armed means) and the Mensheviks (Plekhanov, Martov and their supporters were inclined towards classical European social democracy). But Lenin Vladimir Ilyich did not want to follow the parliamentary path. He was confident that tsarism would not give up power voluntarily, and therefore it could only be taken away through an armed uprising. According to N.A. Berdyaeva Vladimir Lenin was a theorist of revolution, unlike Georgy Plekhanov, a theorist of Marxism.
Like-minded people of Vladimir Ilyich considered him an unbalanced person by nature. Maksim Gorky characterized him as “the creator of constant squabbles in the party.” Yes, and his comrade Leon Trotsky spoke about some of Lenin’s actions “... the squabble that master Lenin systematically incites in these cases.” And in fact, for example, in 1907, Lenin’s resolution of the fifth congress of the RSDLP led to confrontation with almost all Russian parties. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin resolutely fought against the Mensheviks, Bolshevik liquidators, Bolshevik otzovists, God-seekers, God-builders, and Trotskyists. The factional struggle of the pre-October period reached its climax at the Prague Conference (1912), at which, in the words of Vladimir Lenin, “they put an end to the liquidationist and otzovist scum.” From that moment on, the word “Bolsheviks” was added to the name of the party - RSDLP (b). Also, Lenin Vladimir Ilyich managed to reorient the non-factional newspaper Pravda (published by L.D. Trotsky since 1908), becoming the de facto editor. On May 5, 1912, a legal Bolshevik newspaper was published under the same name.
Revolutionary situation, " April Theses»
When did it happen February Revolution, Lenin was not in Russia. Having learned about the revolution, Vladimir Ilyich immediately telegraphed a member of the Petrograd committee of the RSDLP (b) A.G. Shlyapnikov: “No contacts with other parties!” During this period, he wrote “Letters from Afar,” in which he analyzed the situation in Russia. Vladimir Ilyich spoke with conviction about the inevitable outgrowth bourgeois revolution into the socialist revolution. Many people disagreed with him. Members of the Central Committee Kamenev, And Joseph Stalin headed for an alliance with the Mensheviks, because they believed that Lenin’s “Letters from Afar” spoke of Vladimir Ilyich’s isolation from Russian realities. Only four of the five letters were published in the Pravda newspaper, and even those with banknotes. By the way, despite his long absence, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was well versed in revolutionary situation in Russia and in letters he shrewdly predicted the result.
On April 3, 1917, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin arrived in Russia. The Petrograd Soviet, the majority of which were Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries, organized a ceremonial meeting for him, notes Lenin’s biography on Wikipedia. Seeing the lined up guard of honor, Vladimir Ilyich said to his wife: “Nadyusha, now they’ll arrest me.” But, seeing that people were greeting him, Lenin climbed onto an armored car and gave a fiery speech, ending with the glory: “Long live the world socialist revolution!”
Then Vladimir Ilyich proposed a program for the transition from the bourgeois-democratic revolution to the socialist revolution under the slogan “All power to the Soviets” (“April Theses”). The “April Theses” published in Pravda seemed too radical even to close associates. In his report, Lenin sharply opposed the expansion of the bourgeois-democratic revolution, announced the slogans: “No support for the Provisional Government” and “all power to the Soviets.” Vladimir Ilyich Lenin proclaimed a course for the development of the bourgeois revolution into a proletarian revolution with the subsequent liquidation of the army, police and bureaucracy.
Without Lenin there would have been no October 1917
On July 7, the Provisional Government ordered the arrest of Lenin and a number of prominent Bolsheviks on charges of treason and organizing an armed uprising. Lenin changed 17 safe houses, then together with Zinoviev was hiding not far from Petrograd - in a hut on Lake Razliv. In August, he disappeared into the territory of the Grand Duchy of Finland, where he lived until the beginning of October in Yalkala, Helsingfors and Vyborg.
At the beginning of autumn, Lenin was in Finland. From there, in letters, he hurried his comrades to prepare an armed uprising. Famous words: “Delay is like death!” frightened with their radicalism. However, in October, Vladimir Ilyich returned to Petrograd to lead the uprising, organized by the chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, Leon Trotsky.
On the morning of October 25 (November 7, New Year's Day), Lenin wrote an appeal “To the Citizens of Russia”: “The Provisional Government has been overthrown!”, although at that moment the Provisional Government was still sitting in Winter Palace. But Lenin was not interested in such trifles. Vladimir Ilyich wrote decrees about peace, about land. On the night of October 25-26, the Provisional Government was arrested.
Lenin described his condition with these words: “Es Schwindelt” (dizziness). Leon Trotsky noted: “If there had not been Lenin, there would have been no October.”
After the revolution
It was during this period that the most hard times. Political maneuvers began among Lenin's associates. Vladimir Ilyich was elected chairman of the Council of People's Commissars. One of the first steps of the Leninist government was the abolition of freedom of speech (opposition newspapers were closed). And the promises related to bread and peace were impossible to fulfill at that moment.
Under these conditions, Germany entered into negotiations with Russia, but put forward territorial demands. These requirements were discussed new government. The signing of the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty with Germany (March 1918) was not accepted by many. However, despite the fact that Lenin found himself in the minority, the so-called “shameful” Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed.
Vladimir Ilyich found himself alone. But he didn't give up. He firmly stated that he would leave if his proposals were not accepted. And he won because he was a generally recognized leader.
Professor Harvard University Richard Pipes wrote*: “By shrewdly accepting a humiliating peace, which allowed him to gain the necessary time and then collapsed under the influence of its own gravity, Lenin earned the widespread trust of the Bolsheviks. When on November 13, 1918 they tore up the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, after which Germany capitulated to Western allies, Lenin’s authority was elevated to unprecedented heights in the Bolshevik movement.”
Civil War, War Communism
So, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin became the head of the Russian state. After the victory in the revolution, Lenin enjoyed enormous authority among his comrades. He was elected chairman of the Council of People's Commissars and chairman of the Labor and Defense Council. He achieved the seizure of power - the former government structure was completely destroyed. To build a new system, peace is needed, but there was none.
Economic devastation, deep social, national, political and ideological split in Russian society became the reason for the outbreak of a civil war throughout Russia between armed forces Soviet power, White movement and separatists with the intervention of the Central Powers and the Entente. The Bolsheviks were merciless towards their enemies. However, their enemies showed no mercy to them.
August 30 at the Mikhelson plant in Moscow Fanny Kaplan committed terrorist attack- she shot at Lenin. True, there were rumors that it was not she who shot the leader of the world revolution, but she was punished for the crime. Who actually shot Vladimir Ilyich is still unknown for certain. In response to this and to the murder of the chairman of the Petrograd Cheka Uritsky The "Red Terror" began.
It was declared by the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR dated September 5, 1918 “On Red Terror” and terminated on November 6, 1918. In an atmosphere of growing terror, construction began on the first concentration camps, forced mobilization into the army. In such a difficult situation, Vladimir Ilyich tried to solve his main task- go towards the construction of communism in Russia.
On November 21, 1918, Lenin signed the decree of the Council of People's Commissars “On organizing the supply of the population with all products and items for personal use and household" Trade was prohibited, commodity-money relations were replaced by natural exchange (for example, a sewing machine was exchanged for a bag of flour). The state introduced food appropriation.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin introduced labor conscription: free public Works. Everyone except members of the RSDLP (b), in parallel with their main work, had to take part in restoring roads, collecting firewood, etc. The poet also participated in such work Alexander Blok, and academician Sergey Oldenburg. People worked 14-16 hours.
Vladimir Ilyich did not trust the intelligentsia, although he himself belonged to this class. There are documents that confirm that it was on Lenin’s orders that many scientific and cultural figures were sent abroad.
Concerning national policy, then Vladimir Ilyich insisted on the democratic “right of nations to self-determination.” In December 1922, the Union of Soviets was created Socialist Republics.
Creation of the Red Army
With the outbreak of the Civil War and intervention, Lenin personally took part in the creation of a regular Red Army. He understood that the seized power had to be saved. Vladimir Ilyich monitored the progress of mobilization, weapons and equipment, and managed to organize work in the rear (food supply). He managed to persuade some tsarist specialists to go over to the side of the Bolsheviks. The commander-in-chief of the naval forces, Leon Trotsky, who was appointed by him, competently conducted military operations.
Despite the difficult situation, the sailors' mutiny in Kronstadt, peasant uprisings against the policy of War Communism in 1921, the Bolsheviks were able to stay in power.
New Economic Policy
English writer H.G. Wells called Vladimir Ilyich Lenin a “Kremlin dreamer,” but in fact the proletarian leader was not like that. He saw that the country's economy was in a catastrophic situation. At the 10th Party Congress in March 1921, at the insistence of Lenin, “war communism” was abolished and food allocation was replaced by a food tax.
Lenin put forward a program for a “new economic policy", was created to develop a project for the electrification of Russia special commission GOELRO. Vladimir Ilyich believed that in anticipation of the world proletarian revolution the state must keep all large industry in its hands and build socialism, says Lenin's biography on Wikipedia.
Vladimir Ilyich wanted to stabilize the situation in Russia at all costs. NEP immediately gave positive results. The process has begun quick recovery National economy.
Disease. "Lenin's Testament"
On May 25, 1922, Lenin suffered his first stroke. The right side of his body was paralyzed and he could not speak. However, in October 1922, he gradually returned to business. Last thing public speaking Lenin took place on November 20, 1922 at the plenum of the Moscow Soviet.
The next stroke occurred in December 1922. And the third stroke, which occurred in March 1923, turned out to be the most severe. On May 15, 1923, due to illness, Vladimir Ilyich moved to the Gorki estate near Moscow.
What happened among his comrades? There was a fierce struggle for leadership among party members. The main rivals were Trotsky and Stalin.
By the way, even at the beginning of 1923, Lenin was seriously concerned about a possible split in the Central Committee. In his “Letter to the Congress” (the so-called “Lenin’s Testament”) he gave characteristics to the leading figures of the Central Committee. Vladimir Ilyich proposed to remove from office Secretary General Joseph Stalin. The letter was announced in 1924 before the XIII Congress of the RCP (b) N.K. Krupskaya.
Another concern of the leader was the exorbitantly enlarged and useless apparatus - unprofessional and illiterate.
In his last works, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin soberly raised the question of the need to “recognize a radical change in our entire point of view on socialism” (“we have failed”). But Lenin’s condition also worsened due to the political isolation into which he fell through the efforts of Stalin and other party comrades. Perhaps, having rethought a lot, Vladimir Ilyich wanted to have time to correct his mistakes.
Researchers from the University of California at Sacramento concluded that Vladimir Lenin suffered from a rare genetic disease, which resulted in “petrification” of the blood vessels in the brain. The unusual disease could have been transmitted to Vladimir Ilyich from his father, whose death also occurred at the age of 53.
"More than alive"
A personality like Vladimir Ilyich Lenin cannot be described in short essay. Huge volumes, both documentary and fiction, have been written about his life and work. Being a politician, of course, on a global scale, Vladimir Ilyich determined the vector of development world history XX century. In 1917 Lenin achieved brilliant victory, but as the future showed, his cause was ultimately lost.
Vladimir Lenin was respected even by his ideological opponents.
“Among a number of historians there are two opposing views to Lenin. Some present him as a soft, purely civilian man, completely devoid of military-organizational abilities, others show him as a tough, ruthless leader, a fan of violence. “Perhaps, it is difficult to fully agree with both views, although Trotsky, in his decisive actions as a narco-military commander, received the full support of Lenin in organizing iron military discipline in the army,” wrote Ian Schwartz.
Many scientists looked for the reason for Lenin's genius in the special properties of his brain. World-renowned neurophysiologist, academician Natalya Bekhtereva wrote:
— Scientists have repeatedly tried to explain the phenomenon of genius. They even wanted to create a research institute in Moscow to study the brains of gifted people during their lifetime. But neither then nor now are there any differences between a genius and ordinary person not found. I personally think it's a special brain biochemistry. As for Pushkin, for example, it was natural to “think” in rhyme. This is an “anomaly”, most likely not heritable. They say that genius and madness are similar. Madness is also the result of special brain biochemistry. A breakthrough in the study of this phenomenon will most likely occur in the field of genetics.
The issue of the reburial of Vladimir Lenin
Almost a hundred years after Lenin's death, the topic of his burial remains relevant. From time to time, there are active statements in the media regarding the reburial of Vladimir Lenin, and the demolition of the Mausoleum in general.
Leader of the LDPR Vladimir Zhirinovsky called for the burial of the body of the leader of the socialist revolution. In the spring of 2017, deputies from the LDPR and “ United Russia“We submitted to the State Duma a draft law that provides for a legal mechanism for burying the body of Vladimir Lenin. According to parliamentarians, the document should fill the legal gap that prevents the reburial of the remains of historical figures, and thereby “put an end to Lenin’s case.”
This became more active on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution in Russia. In particular, the Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko noted that the burial of the body of the founder Soviet state will be possible when society comes to a consensus on this issue. The head of Chechnya also proposed burying the body of the leader of the world proletariat. Ramzan Kadyrov.
— Despite the fact that in different strata of society the attitude towards Lenin is very contradictory, even purely negative, one cannot help but admit that in general a positive attitude towards him still dominates in society. And this is historical memory and historical consciousness people.
In addition, it is impossible to deny that Vladimir Lenin is one of the largest political figures of the 20th century. He undoubtedly influenced the course of world history, and the evidence that he did so in a purely negative way is rather inconclusive.
Finally, it is generally accepted that the Lenin Mausoleum is an architectural masterpiece created by one of the best architects first half of the twentieth century - Alexey Shchusev. And this masterpiece is very tactfully and harmoniously integrated into the historical ensembles of Red Square and the side of the Moscow Kremlin facing it,” says V. Tretyakov.
The President of Russia has spoken out several times about the activities of Vladimir Lenin in recent years. Vladimir Putin. In 2016, at a meeting of the Presidential Council on Science and Education, Putin said that the actions of the leader of the revolution ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
During the event, the head of the Kurchatov Institute Mikhail Kovalchuk, remembering Lenin, stated that “he controlled the flow of thought and only because of that, the country.” To this, the president noted that it is correct to control the flow of thought, but in the case of Vladimir Ilyich, this thought “led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.” “There were a lot of thoughts there: autonomy and so on. They planted an atomic bomb under the building called Russia, and then it exploded. AND world revolution we didn't need it. That’s the thought there,” the president was quoted as saying in the news.
In January 2018, the head of the Russian state compared the body of Vladimir Lenin, lying in the mausoleum on Red Square, with the relics of saints that are kept on Mount Athos, and noted that there were many borrowings from Christianity in communist ideology. In particular, according to Putin, the Code of the Builders of Communism was a primitive excerpt from the Bible.
*) Pipes Richard. Russian Revolution: In 3 books. Book 2. Bolsheviks in the struggle for power. 1917−1918.