Vladimir Lenin vs.

Macbeth
Revolutionary movement

Vladimir Lenin: the young

revolutionary
Founder of Russian communist party, First head of soviet state
His original name is Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov, born on April 10 1870.
As a kid, Lenin was a well-behaved but arrogant boy who revealed a brilliant mind for studies but
showed no interest in politics.
His brothers crime of terror, which helped lead to his later expulsion from university, seems to
have been the causing event for the devolution of his character.
His whole family was deviant
His father threatened into early retirement
Brother (Aleksandr) arrested and executed for association in a group planning to murder
Emperor Alexander iii
sister (Anna) policed ordered her to live at her grandfathers estate in Kokushkino because of
her suspicious activities
Lenin enrolled at Kazan University to study law but was expelled for student demonstration and
exiled to the village of Kokushkino

Marxist Lawyer
Inspired by the writings of Nikolai Chernyshevsky about revolutionary politics
Karl Marxs writing- Das Kapital about communist philosophy, economics and politics
January 1889 Lenin declared himself a Marxist
After release from exile Lenin became a lawyer in 1892, his clients mainly russian
peasants. He interpreted all their situations as class biased, which gave him motive
to reinforce his marxist beliefs. Later, he moved to St. Petersburg where he hid
behind his attorney credentials while secretly involved in revolutionary politics.
There, Lenin connected with other like-minded Marxists and began to take an
increasingly active role in their activities. In 1896 Lenin and other Marxists were
arrested and he was exiled to Siberia. Three years later when released, Lenin
moved to Germany to instigate revolution. Lenin and others co-founded a
newspaper, Iskra, to unify Russian and European Marxists. At the Second Congress
of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party in 1903, Lenin argued for a
streamlined party leadership community, that would lead lower party organizations
and their workers. He said, Give us an organization of revolutionaries, and we will
overturn Russia!

Russian Leader
Lenins call was supported by events on the ground. In 1904 Russia went to war with
Japan. The conflict had a great impact on Russian society. After a number of defeats put a
strain on the countrys domestic budget, citizens from all walks of life began to vocalize
their discontent over the countrys political structure and called for reform. In 1917,
Russia deposed the tsars. Lenin called for a Soviet government, one that would be ruled
directly by soldiers, peasants and workers. He called it the October Revolution, which was
essentially a coup dtat. Lenins Bolshevik (majority) group was small, but extremely
well-organized. He launched what was called the Red Terror, a campaign Lenin used to
eliminate the opposition within the civilian population. The civil war lasted from 1917 till
1922, and ten million were killed.

DEATH
On May 26th, 1922 Lenin suffered a stroke, which paralyzed his right side and deprived
him of powers of speech. Feeling better by October 2, he began working again but
suffered another near-fatal stroke on December 13th. Again, on March 9, 1923, he
suffered yet another stroke that turned him into a living corpse. Almost a year later
Lenin died, aged 54.

Human rights violations

Article 3/ Article 28.
-Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
-Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set
forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.
Lenin established the model for how communist states must have a reign of terror to survive.
He once said, One man with a gun can control 100 without one.
Article 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes
freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and
ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
There was no free speech in the new state. Lenin said, The press should be not only a
collective propagandist and a collective agitator, but also a collective organizer of the
masses.
Article 17.(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
-In the beginning of Lenins reign, he mouthed slogans encouraging the peasants to
appropriate land, and for workers to overtake factories and generally divide the spoils of

Lenin Vs. Macbeth

Lenin believed Russia should be run only by Marxist amateurs
Macbeth believed he could replace Duncan as leader
Lenin Was easily influenced by Karl Marxs books
Macbeth believed everything the witches prophesied
Quote: Two truths are told/ As happy prologues to the swelling act of the imperial theme.
i.iii.128-130
Lenin during his exile wrote a book called, What is to be Done, explaining that
international capitalism is the ultimate cause of war
Macbeth was convinced his war was because people wanted to steal his power
Quote: We scorchd the snake, not killed it. iii.ii.13
Lenin didnt actually care about the peasants he was stepping on, he only thought about
creating a revolution
Macbeth forgot about all the people he was supposed to look after and thought only
about maintaining his power

Discussion
Do you believe that capitalism is a result
of war?

Works Cited