Marx’s views on the negative effects of capitalistic rule:
For the masses of the working population the slogans of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity revealed themselves as an empty pretense, covering only the substitution of the rule of one class by that of another; the masses remained in conditions of grinding toil, poverty and servitude. The anarchy of production and distribution; the recurrent crises; the limitless extremes and ever-widening gulf of wealth and poverty; the wild scramble of commercialism and profit-seeking; all were revealing the inner contradictions of capitalism.
This analysis will illustrate Lenin’s views on imperialism which inspired him to leadership and totalitarianism. The enlightenment views of thinkers like Jean Jacques Rousseau will then be offered in contrast to Lenin’s counter-enlightened viewpoint. A conclusion will address how the groundwork laid down on imperialism by Lenin was the very ground Joseph Stalin would use to stand upon as Russia’s next ruler, leadership that would head Russia toward its eventual social and economic collapse in the 1980s and 1990s.
Lenin’s communism is basically a revision of Marxism. When it came to a rejection of European capitalism and his interest in imperialism, Lenin was mainly interested in the tactical aspect of imperialism. He was intrigued by the opportunities it provided a revolutionary leader. The discontent of the people played into his hand in this matter. Lenin was able to make Marxism succeed in a country that was undeveloped industrially and mainly consisted of a peasant base. Lenin used Marx as a bible. He held up quotes or concepts from Marx as ideals on one hand, while on the other hand he argued against countries he found contrary to Marx’s ideology. Chief among Lenin’s beliefs was that only a social revolution would create a communist society minus the evils of capitalism (i.e. imperialism) “Monopolies, oligarchy, the ...