What were the benefits for joining the Lenin’s communist party?

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1. coolrockboy380 says

   During Lenin's life, people joined the Communist Party to fight against oppression and exploitation at the hands of the tsar, large landowners and capitalists.
   During much of Lenin's life, the Communist Party was illegal in Russia, and the benefit of joining was sometimes a free trip to Siberian prison camps.
   After the October revolution, the CP was very influential in politics, and membership in the party meant one could take part in setting party policy and engage in spreading the party's message.
   As the revolution became deformed, party membership often came with material advantages. But during Lenin's time, one would join the CP for the same reason someone would join any political party in the United States, Britain, or anywhere else.

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2. gentleroger says

   Under Lenin, not much. Lenin died early in the history of Soviet Russia. At the time, being a member of the Party meant that you were active in overthrowing Czarist society. Members were typically idealists willing to lay down their lives for the Cause. They became leaders in the Civil War, and then afterwards in the creation of the Soviet Union. It was as much a symbol of status as anything else. Gaining Party membership was hard. You had to prove you were a 'True Believer'.

   When Stalin enlarged the Party, the tangible benefits began. To get a good job, housing, ration cards, etc. you needed to join the Party. It became very easy to join the Party, but most joined because they believed in Socialism and the Party. When the mass purges 'to cleanse the Party' occurred during the 1930's, membership began to lose its meaning.

   From Stalin's death to the fall of the USSR the Party remained remarkably stable. Having a Party Membership meant access to better housing, education, and shopping. It was required to be a Party member for certain jobs (military officers, civil service, etc), and Party members earned more money than non-members. The higher in the Party you were, the more benefits you had – access to imported goods, cars, housing outside the city, etc. In many ways the Communists ended up emulating the aristocratic society they overthrew.

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3. janniel says

   If you were accepted as a member of the Party [ and not all people were] you would have privileges and responsibilities. If you read Nikita Kruschev's autobiography you will get a better sense of this than can be given in this forum. Briefly, you would receive better opportunities for post-secondary and technical education, better job prospects and more responsibility in whatever employment you were in -fast tracked , so to speak, and possibly work in the Party apparatus itself which was a large bureaucracy responsible for overseeing all aspects of life in the Soviet Union. In terms of responsibilities you were expected to be a political activist at all times and ensure that, in addition to the regular demands of your work regarding efficiency and output, the letter and spirit of the Party line and instructions were implemented without question.

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