Leadership Traits of Lenin
Introduction
Since the dawn
of man, leaders have been important factors in the success of societies. That
is why for centuries philosophers, political scientists and many other scholars
have come up with thousands of different theories on leadership. The dictionary
definition of leadership is “the position or function of a leader, a person who
guides or directs a group”. This definition shows us the most basic principles
of a leader: guidance and directorship. However it does not show the background
of how leaders come into existence. That is why people have not been relieved
by a sole dictionary definition of leadership throughout time. An inclusive
definition of leadership is given by Arthur G. Jagos. He states that leaders
develop through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and
experience (Jago, 315). First of all this definition indicates that good
leaders are made rather than born. Therefore, with the help of willpower any
person has the chance of becoming a successful leader. And secondly, leaders
have to go through everlasting development stages. The leadership definition
Arthur G. Jago gives is really important for this papers’ subject, in the sense
that Lenin fits perfectly to the given qualities. He received high-education
and was a law graduate. During his 30 years long career, he wrote hundreds of
books and pamphlets, as well as thousands of articles and letters (Haney, 63).
He did not stop with the educational process and actively participated in
strikes and many other revolutionary activities, which helped him gain the
experience he needed for 1917 Revolution. The experience he gained helped him
develop rational courage and calculated risk-taking, which is I think rare
attributes to see in a leader. With the mentioned developments of his superior leadership
qualities he managed to come into prominence in front of his revolutionist colleagues
and became the leader of Soviet Russia. This paper will argue that Lenin
despite some controversies is one of the most influential and successful leaders
human history has ever seen.
His Early
Life
To understand
why Lenin was a successful leader we have to look closely in his early life. Lenin
was born in 10 April 1870 at Simbirsk. He had a relatively happy childhood
(Deutscher, 17). In 1874, his father was elevated to the status of Chinovnik, which means that his father
became a hereditary noble (Haney, 23). From here, it can be seen that Lenin could
have lived a peaceful and prosperous life if he was loyal to the Tsarist
government, but he chose the hard road and eventually succeeded. During his high
school years he observed the persecutions of Chuvash and Tatars and read the
banned books of Pisarev, Dobroliubov and Chernishevski (Lefebvre, 101). However,
until his brothers’ unexpected death, he was not a revolutionist. He was just
growing consciousness in social problems. In March 1887, his brother was caught
and executed by the police for plotting assassination against Tsar Alexander
III (Haney, 25).
No one in
Lenins’ family knew he was head of a terrorist organization (26). This tragedy
affected Lenin so deeply that in various sources he is quoted to say “I will make
them pay for this, I swear.” After this incident, he became more ambitious. He
finished high school with first place and entered the Kazan Law Faculty in
August 1887. In just few months he organized the students to protest against
the new “University Regulation” and was arrested. During arrest, he gave a brilliant
hint about his determination attribute that was yet to come more in his later
life. The police officer asked him “Young man, why are you rebelling? After
all, there is a wall in front of you.” He replied with despise “The wall is
tottering, if you push it will fall.” (Lefebvre, 102). Here it can be seen that
he was determined to overcome the odds and overthrow the Tsar in such a young
age. Later, he was sent to exile for a short time to Kokushino and was only allowed
to return back to Kazan in October 1888 (103). He was expelled from law faculty
and only was accepted to the faculty in 1890 as an external student (Haney,
30). He finished the four years course in 12 months and graduated as the best
(30). From this occurrence, it can be understood that he was a hardworking man
and was very ambitious. Even if the odds were against him, he managed to read
all 4 years readings in 1 year, graduated as the best from the faculty and
continued his studies on Marxism. In January 1892, he became a lawyer in Samara
and was known as the lawyer of weak, poor and peasants. Ironically, his first
case was about a man who was accused of cursing “God, Virgin Mary and Trinity”
(Lefebvre 104). However, after two years he decided that being a lawyer only prevented
him from pursuing his personal goals, which shows that he had clear goals in
life. He realized that he was a lawyer only because his mother wanted him to be
so (Haney, 31). Because the poor woman was afraid that his son, Lenin, would
take the same road his brother took and would be executed. But, Lenin insisted on
and went to St. Petersburg where he started his real “revolutionary” career
(31).
From his early
life we can make some inferences about his personality such as having
conservative personal principles which charted out his later leadership career.
He had a serene childhood where he was cared and loved. His father was conscious
of the social problems and tried to help the poor. All of his siblings were
deeply affected by their father and became revolutionaries in their later lives.
Lenin’s peaceful family life also helped him develop his ideas on family and
its’ moral values. Before and after the revolution he strictly opposed
revolutionists who advocated “free love” (Lefebvre, 484). The advocates metaphorically
regarded sexual acts as “drinking water when thirsty” (485). He accused these
revolutionists as being bourgeois. He also opposed complete abstain from sexual
life. His own idea on family and sexual life was that “sexual acts happened
between two people and from there a third is born. Therefore, both of them have
a duty towards society (486).” It can be seen that his views on morality and family
life formed when he was young. From his ideas on family, it can be understood
that he was relatively conservative and was against revolutionists who fell
prey to bourgeois impudence and was also against whom supported a life of a
priest.
Another
important inference from his early life that would shape his later revolutionary
life is that his family belonged to the nobility. Therefore, they were
economically and socially comfortable and Lenin found time to observe the
Tsarist government and its’ political implications over society. He saw the
persecutions and crimes of the secret police. He observed how intellectual life
was censored. He became conscious of the working classes conditions in Russia. All
of these with the mixture of Marx and Engels work he read during university and
exile resulted in him having revolutionary tendencies. This part of Lenin’s
life has been used by his opposition throughout 20th century as a
mean to “degrade” his worth in the eyes of his supporters, as they claimed that
Lenin’s relatively easy life contradicted with his communist ideas. It is true
that Lenin did not come from a working class family and lived an easier life
than the ones he stood up for. However, this does not prohibit him from being a
Marxist as the most important Marxist theoreticians came from well-endowed
families. Friedrich Engels was son of an entrepreneur and Marx came from a
wealthy family as well. They never became part of the proletariat, but they
were the leaders of the proletariat in organizing and revolutionizing them. Their
well-endowment helped them have time to theorize the revolution and create
concrete paths and goals for the proletariat to follow, because workers, at
that time, survived by the skin of their teeth and did not have time to organize
a revolution.
A
Revolutionist is Born
Lenin had courage,
persuasion, determination, ambition and great observing skills that made him a
great leader. Starting with 1890 Lenin’s whole life started to revolve around
revolution. After his departure to St. Petersburg, Lenin immediately searched
ways to be involved in revolutionary activities. As he had done throughout all
his life, he started his work there by observing the situation. Lenin never
rushed for action. His famous quote “Without revolutionary theory there can be
no revolutionary movement.” demonstrates this aspect of his perfectly. Before
taking a stance he always searched for every bit of information and then when
he came to a conclusion, he never backed down. Therefore he started his work in
St. Petersburg by visiting the poorest districts of the city in disguise and
talking with them about their conditions (Haney, 33). He realized that there
were some Marxist groups that worked for the cause, but they did not collaborate
with each other and were unaware of the needs of the working class (Lefebvre,
105). One night he went to an illegal meeting of the
populists. The populists, unlike Marxism, believed that the only revolutionary group
was farmers and peasantry. They tried to raise awareness of these classes, but the
peasants and farmers were extremely conservative and idolized the Tsar and did
not respond to the populists’ provocations (Haney, 26). Lenin, because he knew
of this failure, disagreed with them and believed that only conscious group
that could revolutionize is the proletariat. Even though, the proletariat would
find their allies in the ranks of the farmers, the farmers would never succeed by
their selves and need the loadstar of the proletariat (Lefebvre, 106). Therefore,
Lenin believed that socialism had to be implemented from above by a
revolutionary group who took its’ power from proletariat and this group would
use its’ power to carry out socialist reforms throughout whole country.
In 1917, this would be the political structure of the Bolshevik Party. In an
illegal meeting he gave a speech on his ideas to the populists and literally
converted most of them to Marxism. Going to a meeting that is held by people
who are contrary to his believes and then converting them to his own cause with
a brilliant speech shows that Lenin was very persuasive and courageous.
The
Dark Sides of a Revolutionist
Despite all the
positive attributes, Lenin had some deficiencies in his character as well, such
as lust for power and intolerance to criticism, which resulted in him having
despotic tendencies. A good example occurred in 1903, when there was a major conflict
about the political structure of the RSDWP (Russian Social Democrat Workers
Party). Lenin believed that to overthrow the Tsarist government a highly
centralized party that is only open to professional revolutionists was needed.
The opposition wanted the party to be open to anyone who supported its’ program
(Haney, 41). In the voting stage, Lenin was behind by five votes, but he set a
trap for Martov, the leader of the opposition. He proposed that “The Workers
Cause” newspaper, which Lenin participated actively be repealed and “Iskra”,
which is the newspaper of the RSDWP, be the sole representative of social democrats
(41). Martov thinking his position in the party would be reinforced quickly
fell for this trap and voted in favor of Lenin. Members that were supporting
Martovs’ cause regarding the political structure of the party felt betrayed and
abandoned the congress. Lenin quickly formed his own bloc, the Bolshevik
(majority) and named the rest as Menshevik (minority). He radicalized the party
and created a highly disciplined skeleton cadre which was objectively essential
to overthrow the Tsar. The lust for power and intolerance to criticism haunted
Lenin throughout his life. Most of his life, Lenin believed that he was the
only one who knew how the revolution can be achieved. Therefore, he was not
open to any kind of criticism. The highly centralized party hierarchy he formed
represented this perfectly. As a result, Lenin faced heavy criticism from Marxists
that lived in the same era as he did, such as Plekhanov and Rosa Luxemburg as
well as from future generations (Pipes, 95). It is expected from leaders to be
open to different ideas, but Lenin just like most other “ideological” leaders
of the past was of dogmatic nature. Even though the party he created had inner
democratic tools; the final word was always his. Also, this despotic attitude he
posed might have been because of his higher intelligence than his counterparts.
His high intelligence might have deluded him to think that others were not
suitable for leadership and he was superior to them in terms of leading. These
causes mentioned might be the answer to his despotic tendencies, but nonetheless,
he managed to create a party that became one of the worlds’ biggest political
organization after the 1917 Revolution. Therefore, the end justified the means.
Dark
Times of a Revolutionist
The year 1905
was very important in Lenin’s life and it showed that he was determined for his
goals. All around Russia people rebelled against the Tsar for various reasons
and Lenin fought hard to conduct them into the revolution idea, but the
rebellions were gradually suppressed by the government. Even though a
constitutional monarchy was formed the revolutionists failed to create a
socialist state and most of them became depressed and abandoned their
revolutionary ideas. They sought refuge in religion and many other subjects
that were totally opposite of their prior thoughts (Lefebvre, 119). However,
Lenin was not one of them and he worked even harder for his goal. He heavily criticized
his colleagues that abandoned their revolutionary thoughts and insisted that
they had learnt valuable lessons for future revolutions. Eventually, the
history proved Lenin right and after 1917 Revolution when asked about his
thoughts on 1905 Revolution he said “Without 1905 Revolution, we could not have
succeeded the 1917 Revolution.”(120). Because of fear of persecution he left
Russia in 1907 and until 1917 did not come back to his mother country. He continued
directing the revolutionary activities in Russia even though he was in Europe. He
spent most of his time reading books, directing the Bolshevik Party and
discussing politics with other European revolutionists. Even though he was in
exile he never stopped fighting for his cause which also shows he had the determination
attribute.
The Achievement
of His Life Time Goal: Establishment of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat
After the
successful 1917 Revolution Lenin got the opportunity to put his ideas into work
and show the world how he would lead his country. He was mainly successful in
dealing with realism and he tried to render the revolutions sustainable. In
February 1917, the Tsar was overthrown and a Provisional Assembly was formed. Most
Bolsheviks were in exile during the rebels and Lenin with his cadre returned to
the country. However, the Provisional Assembly was not socialist in nature and Lenin
declared his April Thesis (134). He claimed that the Assembly is bourgeois and
the real government must be formed by Soviets.
The Bolsheviks armed the workers and created the Red Army. They overthrew the
weak Provisional Assembly and declared the proletariat dictatorship.
But, the struggle had just started for Lenin and Bolsheviks. They had to struggle
with political opposition which composed of nearly all political fractions ranging
from die-hard tsarists to moderate socialists (Haney, 87). Also, the war with
Germany was underway and they had to determine the question of withdrawal from
war. Moreover, the requirements of a socialist state were to be applied. Very
important decisions such as abolishment of land property and nationalization of
banking institutes had to be made in weeks’ time (87).
The uprisings
against the Bolsheviks gathered speed in 1918 summer and reached climax point in
30 August 1918 with an unsuccessful assassination against Lenin. Shortly after
the assassination attempt a massive campaign of repression towards political
opposition took place, called Red Terror.
This part of Russian history and Lenins’ life has been debated by scholars for
nearly a century. In the end of the terror nearly 280,000 people were killed
(95). Some scholars have argued that the Red Terror was a forced measurement from
working class against the enemies.
They back up their claim with the fact that only in Finland nearly 100,000
people were killed because of White Terror in July 1917 (95). The opposite
party argues that because Bolsheviks lacked popular support, they had to resort
to violence to secure their spot. Also, they point out that Marxism regards
people as objects or consumables for the establishment of a communist state.
Both of these sides possess valid points; it is true that when it comes down to
revolution, Marxism treats people as consumables. On the other hand, Bolsheviks
did not directly resort to violence. They were practically forced to defend the
revolution. If they did not resort to violence, the Bolsheviks would have been
the ones getting killed and the debate would have been about whether White
Terror was justifiable or not. Therefore, the pro-Red Terror or anti-Red Terror
scholars’ take their arguments from ideological basis rather than humanitarian
causes. As a result, it would not be accurate to come to a final conclusion in
this essay about a topic that has been debated for nearly a century.
Conclusion
The world
has seen many great leaders that transformed their countries for good. But,
Lenin was the first one to revolutionize a country with a scientific ideological
basis (good or bad), leaders before him either reformed their country or revolutionized
without a concrete ideology. He established the first socialist regime in
worlds’ history.
Even though his successors were not as successful as him in carrying his
legacy, the Soviets became one of the worlds’ biggest and strongest country. His
revolution influenced the world immensely. The poor, weak and exploited understood
that they were not bond to be under the yoke of their masters. So, in the 20th
century, throughout the world people rebelled against their masters and the
masters came under the yoke of the people. Because of his huge influence over
the world he has been heavily criticized and praised as well. These both point
of views have valid points. However, I believe that despite some deficiencies
in his character, he was a leader that a nation can raise only once a century.
Works Cited
Deutscher, Isaac. Lenin’s Childhood.
Michigan. Oxford University Press, 1970.
Hands, Gill (Trans. Melis İnan). Marx-Kilit
Fikirler. İstanbul: Optimist Yayınları, 2011.
Haney, John. VLADIMIR ILICH LENIN.
New York-Philadelphia: Chealsea House Publishers,
1988.
Jago, A. G. (1982). Leadership:
Perspectives in theory and research. Management Science, 28(3), 315-336.
Pipes, Richard. The Unknown Lenin: From
Secret Archive. London and New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1998.
Tumarkin, Nina. LENIN LIVES! The Lenin Cult
in Soviet Russia. Cambridge, Massachusetts and
London: Harvard University Press, 1983.
You really want to do something and are all psyched up. You tell
yourself nothing will stop me. But after couple of weeks you might start
saying "Meh, This is quite boring." So, have you ever wondered
why that intense sensation that made you start something new quickly faded away
in couple of weeks?
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