Vladimir Lenin 1870-1924

Lenin was the leader of the Bolsheviks in the Russian social Democratic workers party.Lenin started working against the government that had taken over after the czars he led the October Revolution. After three years of civil war the Bolsheviks won and assumed control of the country millions died and many suffered. Lenin let some private enterprise happened. He tried to transform the Russian economy to a socialist model. He was pragmatic. His legacy as an individual he was the first head of the USSR and will be remembered for not caring about the suffering of his fellow countrymen. People thought enough of him to put his dead body on Moscow Red Square he will be best remembered as the mastermind of the Bolshevik takeover in Russia in 1917 and as the first head of the USSR.

Leon Trotsky 1879-1940

He was best known for his theory of permanent revolution in the minority Menshevik party. Like so many leaders he was exiled to Siberia for being a radical. He joined the Socialist Democratic Party. He eventually got over his disagreements with Lenin and joined the Bolshevik party and helped the Communist takeover of power in 1917. He was made were Commissioner and built up the red Army which one against the white Russian forces in the Civil War. He saw himself as linens second-in-command but he had no friends and his Jewish heritage worked against him. When Lenin died they gave the job to Stalin. 1927 he was thrown out of the party and went into exile but he continued to criticize Stalin. He moved to Mexico in 1936 and was assassinated on Stalin's orders with an ice pick. Trotsky will be remembered as the key figure in the Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia.

 

Joseph Stalin 1879-1953

Stalin was sent to Siberia after being a radical teenager which apparently is a prerequisite for being a leader in Russia. He read a lot of Marxist literature. He was involved with the Bolshevik seizure of power in 1917 and roasted the ranks of the Bolshevik party. In 1922 he was made general secretary of the Communist Party he built up a base of support. After Lenin's death in 1924 he promoted himself and outmaneuvered his rival. He was effectively the dictator of the Soviet Union by the late 1920s. He believed in collectivization of agriculture that cost millions of lives. He believed in rapid industrialization that made huge increases in Soviet productivity and economic growth. The population suffered greatly during the great terror of the 1930s. He executed thousands any exiled millions to slave labor camps. The purges depleted the red Army Stalin was not prepared for Hitler's attack on the Soviet Union in 1941 the silent led his country to victory he did not care about the thousands and millions of lives lost after World War II the Soviet Union entered the nuclear age and rolled over the empire which included most of Eastern Europe. He will be remembered as one of the most powerful and murderous dictators in history he ruled for 25 years tens of millions died but many will remember him as defeating Nazi-ism.