any one knowledgeable about lenin?

[historian]

Am trying to find articles which deals with lenins views and whether stalin was faithful in following them once he took power.
(never mind my name of historian - couldnt think of any other)
thanks

[pinto]

1. somewhat, what's your question?

[historian]

4. my question

Did Stalin follow Lenin's teaching after he died or simply take over and followed his own ideas? Thanks

[pinto]

8. my take

Stalin took over. Lenin as he was declining physically, apparently recommended to the Bolsheviks that Stalin be held at bay. Lenin had a certain acceptance of the war(s)to implement the revolution and seemed to understand that Stalin would use some of the most brutal aspects of that to accumulate a typically Russian personal power, which Stalin did, ruthlessly. Lenin was notoriously opposed to a personal glorification, a la the czars, and saw in Stalin a future czar, albeit a communist czar.

So, my take, long story short, is that Lenin tried to establish a communist system in a nation reared on an absolute state with a single, paternal figure (the czar was seen as a father). Stalin took that communism to create a "Stalinist" state.

[jpgray]

2. Paging MSchreader...

I believe both Trotsky's histories of the Russian Revolution and the Comintern articles from the Stalin period are publicly available online. As for recent independent analysis, I'm not sure what you can find and what the quality would be.

[ohiosmith]

3. Lenin was the smart one! Stalin the cute one, Trotsky the quiet one, and

Ringo the funny one.

[PVnRT]

5. Was Stalin the walrus?

:evilgrin:

[MuseRider]

6. Nope but I saw him!

Almost got shot there too. My husband, who has never listened to direction in his life, put his hands in his pockets while we were filing past the tomb. BIG no no, they warned us, he didn't hear, and out came the guns. He was sure surprised. But then, I am hijacking your thread. Sorry.

[LostInTheMaise]

7. Yep

He is a good example of how not to run a country.

[Eloriel]

9. I'm looking for a Lenin quote that

says basically you don't have to worry about your opponent(s) if you control them. The gist of it is about infiltration, I think. It's a one sentence jobbie.

[solinvictus]

10. Here's an archival source with Lenin's works...

http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/index.htm

Lenin, before the 1905 revolution, had turned on his former mentor, Georgi Plekhanov, in the Bolshevik/Menshevik split. The Bolsheviks adopted a more authoritarian attitude that, unfortunately, expressed itself after the 1917 revolution. Lenin's own use of the Cheka, terror, and repression wasn't as immediately brutal as Stalin, but it certainly set the tone for the Great Terror. Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, Zinoviev, et al were all complete totalitarians. Stalin's persecution of the old Bolsheviks was merely the revolution consuming its own.

[historian]

11. thank you!!!

Your effort is truly appreciated!

[buycitgo]

12. sure, what do you need to know?

[buycitgo]

13. it even gets Tierra del Fuego

[ajacobson]

14. "Lenin's Last Struggle" by Moshe Levin

In a nutshell, Levin puts forth that Lenin was actively attempting to forestall Stalin's ascendancy in the Party leadership in Lenin's final days. It's been 15 years since I've read it, I don't remember the details.

I think that Paul LeBlanc's Lenin and the Revolutionary Party might have some on this topic.