Learning History from a Leader
LeninThis project aims to bring out the importance of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870-1924 ) in shaping the history of both Russia and modern world. Moreover, it hopes to arouse students’ interest and motivation in self-learning through the effective use of sources in this History project.
Wendy Chan F.6U (2004-05)First of all,
Let’s have some GAMES first!
Game 1
Who was Lenin?
Game
Time!
Game
Time!
The Child on the left
was Lenin
The baby girl was Lenin’s sister Olga
Game 2
Who
was
Lenin?
Answer:He was the first one from the right!
Game 3How old was Lenin?
Learning from the Past
The Man Who Changed History
Lenin
ContentIntroduction:
- Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto
- Lenin: The communist believer and revolutionary leader
Second Part:
- Background of Russia under the Romanov Dynasty
- The February Revolution 1917 and the Provisional Government
- The October Revolution 1917 and the rise of Bolsheviks
- Reasons for the success of the Bolsheviks
- How Lenin changed history and his legacy
Third Part:
- How can students today learn from Lenin
- Incorporation of ”Habits of Mind’’ into this project
Acknowledgement
Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx
I believe in “ The history of all society is a history of class struggle.”
Therefore, the poor and exploited working class (proletariat) should:
Karl Marx
Rise up against the capitalists
End all private ownerships of land and industry
Proletariat should rule by dictatorship
All these were acted out by Lenin after the
1917 October Revolution
Lenin: The Communist Believer and Revolutionary ---- who acted out
Lenin was born into a middle class family. He received a good education and took a bachelor of law. During his years of St. Petersburg University, he became a Marxist and decided to work out the doctrine. He was determined that a proletarian revolution was indeed essential to erase the class inequalities. Therefore he started to take part in revolutionary activities in the following years.
Lenin became the leader of the Bolsheviks in 1903, and the Bolsheviks joined in the 1905 Revolution. Although the revolution turned out to be a failure, he continued directing Bolshevik activities abroad and published his ideas in Pravda.
Finally, the Bolsheviks succeeded in seizing control of the country after the 1917 October Revolution. Thus Lenin adopted the main principles of communism in this first communist state --- the USSR: A state without private ownership while people were put under central guidance; force and terror were used to silence opposition.
Russia under the Czar (king of Russia) until 1917
Corrupt, inefficient, autocratic, reactionary
Czarist government.
Failures in reforms.
No freedom, Russians
were checked by the
Secret Police
Widespread poverty
Defeats or humiliation in wars or
international conference
Brutal repression of riots and unrest
“Land Hunger”
Exploitation of the working class
No real democracy
Witness the Russian hardship…..
Wars….Wars….
Poverty, hungerPoverty, hunger
Brutal repressionBrutal repression
All these hardships resulted in…….
1917 February Revolution
Because the Russian anger had risen to the peak……
Aim: To overthrow the Czar and the Romanov Dynasty
Image from East and West (Macmillan)
The Czarist government was overthrown successfully, and a new Provisional Government was established in March 1917.
Czar Nicholas II
The Provisional Government of Russia – A Non-Communist One
Since the Russians succeeded with the revolution, a newly established provisional government, ruled by the previous members of the Duma (The Legislature) was established. Nonetheless, this ‘temporary’ government represented mainly the views of the middle class and aristocracy (the nobility). Most importantly, the government made several fatal mistakes:
The government continued
Russian warfare in World War I.
They didn’t improve people’s livelihood;
poverty and starvation were serious.
The views and interests
of the workers and peasants were ignored.
The release of political prisoners (the Bolsheviks) by the Kerensky Government in
Sept. 1917.
These mistakes were favourable factors for the rise of Lenin and the Bolsheviks!
Gaining Popular Support for The October Revolution 1917
Since Lenin clearly saw the political mistakes made by the Provisional Government, he made promise to the Russian people “Peace, Land, Bread” in his famous April Theses in April 1917.
He had attracted more people to sup
port the Bolsheviks. However, because the July Days riots 1917, the Provisional Government arrested a lot of Bolshevik figures and Lenin had to flee to Finland for safety.
Nevertheless, an opportunity came fo
r Lenin after the amnesty of political prisoners (the Bolsheviks were imprisoned after July 1917) proclaimed by the Provisional Government headed by Kerensky in Sept 1917. The Bolsheviks gradually gained mass support. Finally, Lenin started the October Revolution with the well-trained and disciplined red army headed by Trotsky.
Lenin speaking of April Theses
Lenin speaking to the red troops, with Trotsky’s presence.
And Lenin SucceededThe October Revolution
Reasons for the Success of October Revolution 1917
Capable Leadership of Lenin
Weaknesses of the Provisional Government
It failed to deal with the social and economic problems.
It released political prisoners.
It did not have a strong army.
It lost support from peasants and workers.
His “Peace, Land, Bread” program attracted the Russian mass.
The revolution was well-planned and carefully organized by him and Trotsky.
Lenin understood the mass psychology of the discontented Russians
and was able to take advantage.
How Lenin Changed History, and his Legacy
He established the firstCommunist state, and
renamed Russia as “Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR)
He set up the Comintern (Communist International)
in 1919 to spread communismthroughout the world
Example: The founding of the Chinese Communist
Party in 1921
The communist regime establishedby Lenin, erased all past
politics, history, different ideologies and oppositions.
He even set up the first exampleof a concentration camp for political prisoners, and even,
a totalitarian state: all Russians could survive only by obeying
the communist orders.
His successors, Stalin and Khrushchev, hadturned many East European countries intocommunist states after World War II which
brought about the Cold War: The Communist Bloc v.s. The Capitalist Bloc
1.China became a communist state after the establishment of PRC on 1st Oct 1949.A group of Chinese youths looked optimistically toward the future under communist leadership.2. Soviet Union and communist China maintained the alliance until 1960. Mao Zedong (representing PRC) and Khrushchev (representing USSR) at a meeting in 1958.
1 2
The first communist state
– USSR was established
CapitalistBloc
( Dominating Power:USA )
Communist Bloc
( Dominating Power :USSR )
The Cold War started after World War II
North Atlantic Treaty Organization 1949
The Warsaw Pact 1955The communist Red Armywon the Civil War 1918-21.
How can students today learn from Lenin
The success of Lenin in building u
p the first communist state in the world were partly due to the favourable circumstances and his personal qualities. His comrades described him:
“He remained a peculiarly modest figure who wore a shabby waistcoat,
worked 16-hour days and read extensively ”
“The theories of Lenin are only for the preparation of his proletarian revolution.”
Trotsky, the commander of the Red Army.
“He never imposed his views on his co-workers.
He tried to convince; he patiently explained his opinions to others”
Khrushchev, Stalin’s successor.
Be humble to learn
Be optimistic and strong ( Lenin had been arrested and exiled many times!)
Don’t stick to the texts. Work out the theories!
Incorporation of “Habits of Mind’’ in this project
Creating --- creative animation
can add fun to this
learning activity!
Thinking flexibly --- what to have and what ought not to have in the presentation
Persisting ---
don’t give up
in doing a big
project!
Striving for accuracy ---
the course of events,
the biography of Lenin, the historical
information were all checked and proved.
Evaluation In doing this project, I think the most difficult part was the
selection of materials and how to bring out Lenin’s importance in influencing history. Nonetheless, it was interesting to read through different sources which would never appear in textbooks. Moreover, it can refresh my mind of all the lost history knowledge after the Cert Exam!
Wendy Chan F.6U (2004-2005)
Reference Book List
• Russia and the USSR Nelson
• The Russian Revolution Thomson Learning
• Russia and the USSR Heinemann
• East and West Macmillan
• Lenin for Beginners Writers and Readers
AcknowledgementAll material used here is intended for educational purposes. There is no intention to reproduce material by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without permission of the publishers.
The images used in this presentation are taken from either the internet or reference books. For internet sources, the pictures are mainly extracted from:www.cqzg.cnwww.mina.ruhttp://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/photo/index.htm
Information about Lenin and images are drawn from reference books:Russia and the USSR NelsonThe Russian Revolution Thomson LearningRussia and the USSR HeinemannEast and West Macmillan
Some information about Lenin is drawn from the following websites:http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/lenin.html
Top Related