Democracy and Dissent

By George Volkov

Events rely upon each other. Two ideas that oppose each other, sometimes so much as to be the complete enemy of the other.
Throughout history, events of this nature reoccur, so much as to have integrated themselves into our daily life. Take our two leading parties in the UK: Conservatives and Labour. Conservatives and Labour, are widely thought to be the only two parties worth voting for. What if the labour party dissolved? People decide to vote for the party they think represents their views, not wanting another 5 years of cuts and MP pay rises.
So we get, say the Green Party in power, they do a good job, get voted in again, and nobody wants the conservatives back in, because they realise they need no longer vote for the Tories as an alternative party, they vote for who they think is best, not for the lesser evil.
Now the conservatives, previously having labour as their rivals and opposition, wanting no more than their capitulation, are feeling nostalgic. They knew before that if they were voted out, it would be 10 years maximum before the British people got tired of labour, and turned to the only party worth voting for other than labour. Thus, the conservative party relies on labour, as much as it disagrees with it, it needs it to gain power, as seen in 2010, when the British public appeared to forget about thatcher and the 80s, due to their disdain of Brown. Now, Miliband, who would never see power in his lifetime has a 40% approval rate, compared to Cameron’s 28%, because who else would take over from Cameron, if not Labour’s Miliband?
Same with Trotsky and Stalin. Each would have not got to their positions of power without each other. If Stalin had not got funds for the Bolshevik party, they would have collapsed because of the lack of funds. Also Stalin’s defence of Tsaritsyn, an important town, during the civil war, was a massive victory.

But without Trotsky’s organisational skills, the red army would have not been created, or if it had been created, not organised as well. Thus, the whites win the civil war against the Bolsheviks, leading to the Bolshevik party members fleeing or being executed.

Without Marxism-Leninism, what some call Stalinism, there would be no Trotskyism, no revolution betrayed, and some of Trotsky’s best books never wrote.

Lenin entered Russia via the ‘sealed train’, provided by imperial Germany, who were massively opposed to socialism; Germany was a highly nationalistic and militaristic county.
So without imperial Germany, there would be no soviet union, which Germany later despised, Hitler being a big fan of Bolshevism, considering most leading Marxists were Jewish.
These were just a few examples, if you have any more please post them in the comments section, I would appreciate it greatly.

The 24th of January will mark the anniversary of the death of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin

By George Volkov

The 24th of January will mark the anniversary of the death of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin.
Nearly a century has passed since Lenin passed away, at the early age of 53, due to a four strokes, and 2 gunshot wounds, that were left inside his body because it would be more risk to him than to take them out. Now, no matter what you think of Lenin, you can agree with me that it took a lot to bring him down.
After leading the Bolshevik party and Soviets (workers councils) to seize power from the corrupt, rich Kerensky, Lenin was elected as the chairman of the people’s council of commissars, a name thought of by Trotsky, to distance itself from the “bourgeois” terms ‘minister’ and ‘cabinet’.
Due to the dire state Russia was in, after world war one, Lenin had to sign the treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany in march. Russia could not carry on the war, it was physically impossible and would destroy the country. If you think Versailles was harsh, look at these figures:
A quarter of the Russian Empire’s population
A quarter of its industry
Nine-tenths of its coal mines
Had to pay 6 billion marks

And yet the Germans were enraged at the ‘harsh’ terms of Versailles.
Lenin stayed true to his slogan the slogan that started the revolution:
Peace, land and bread, and you can’t say that for most politicians.

Some may say Lenin was brutal, some a tyrant, I myself see Lenin as a man who was stubborn in his politics, and relentless in his attacks on his opponents. Some may claim Lenin was like Stalin, but Lenin argues with those who disagreed with him, what did Stalin do? Some socialists frown upon the breaking up of the constituent assembly. But we’re the candidates accountable and recallable like the soviets?

Due to the civil war in Russian, and the 14 invading foreign powers, Lenin had to enact harsh policies- War Communism. This lead to much opposition from the left, and on the 30th August.
The Red army did gain widespread support among the population. The charisma of its leader, Leon Trotsky, was a big reason, as Trotsky was an outstanding orator and tactician. The Bolsheviks had given the peasants the land they had worked on all their lives, whilst being oppressed by the landlords. The white army, or armies, as they were just loosely organised anti-Bolsheviks, killed Bolsheviks in the towns they conquered, took from peasants and were generally hostile to the population.

Lenin was, and will remain, a man of great controversy. Some men see him as a brilliant theoretician, leader and politician, others as a brute, a tyrant and a dictator. I do not subscribe to the cult of personality around Lenin, as that was fostered by the Stalinists. On the contrary, I will constantly criticise and try to improve the ideas and actions of Lenin. As Lenin updated the ideas of Marx for the 20th century, we must update Lenin’s ideas for the 21st century.
For the meanwhile, Lenin’s ideas and actions are debated on by the left and right alike, and will continue to be, as men do, and always will have different opinions.
I shall leave you with this quote:

“Through the ages of world history thousands of leaders and scholars appeared who spoke eloquent words, but these remained but words. You, Lenin, were an exception. You not only spoke and taught us, but translated your words into deeds.”
Sun Yat-Sen