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22ND APRIL 2020 was the 150th anniversary of the birth of Lenin – a man who often gets a bad press. However, he did stand up for the people: this to the extent that he led the masses to oust the oppressive regime that ruled them and take power into their own hands. As men of the left who have achieved high office have found since, there’s nothing like standing up for the people for inciting the rulers to work hard to bring you down. Maybe one day these champions of the people will work out how to stay in office and lead us to a better world.
Lenin reminds us that we cannot build a better life for all if it is on the backs of other people who live elsewhere. We are all one people and we all deserve to be free and to live in peace. In April, we remember the anti-nuclear weapons Aldermaston march: our “Thoughts” this month will concentrate on aspects of peace.
“Can a nation be free if it oppresses other nations? It cannot.”
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (“Lenin”), 22.04.1870-21.01.1924
•Read more about it:
Thought for today
The Thames Today
Name: Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
Born: 22 April 1870
Died: 21 January 1924
Country: Russia
Region: Europe
Kill tally: 5,000,000 to 10,000,000
Kill tally details: Between 50,000 and 200,000 suspected “enemies of the state” executed by the Vecheka (All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-revolution and Sabotage) following the Bolshevik Revolution. Tens of thousands more allowed to die in prison. Five million starved to death in famine caused by War Communism policies
In brief: Vladimir Ilyich Lenin is a lifelong political activist and leader of the Bolshevik movement when the Russian Empire begins to collapse under the weight of long-term political and economic mismanagement and growing social agitation. Belated attempts at reform are ineffective. Russia’s entry into the First World War seals the empire’s fate. Lenin seizes the moment and organises the Bolshevik Revolution. By the end of 1917 Lenin and the Bolsheviks are in control. Measures taken to secure the Bolshevik’s position and combat a counter-revolution result in the establishment of a repressive communist regime and set the ground for the rise of Joseph Stalin
Hi Marc,
Thanks for sending us some extracts from More Or Less Australia. Like lifeboats from Wigan, we haven’t had any from there before.