Question by Peter T: Why did Lenin attempt to spread revolution into Europe and the West?
From what I understand Lenin did this to turn the imperialist War (WWI) into a class war (to overthrow capitalism)
What other reasons did Lenin have for spreading Communism?
If anyone can give any quotes or sources worth checking out then that would be great!
Thank you!
Answers and Views:
Answer by WhachooSay
More money, more power. Even if it was unweildly. Over and over they did this, Alexander, The Romans, Constantine, The British Empire… The thrill was so addicting, they just had to keep going and conquering and spreading what they thought was the only way, until they were spread so thin they couldn’t possibly manage, and it all fell in on them. That’s where Lenin was attempting to go with it. I’d bet 6 to 8 million lives on it.
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Georgescu Rodin says
Because the Socialist Revolution was successful in all the former Russian Empire.
Lenin was helped by many people that weren't communists.
pheemz says
As said above, communism is an inherently internationalist movement. It was a fundamental part of the ideology to spread the revolution to other nations.
Spellbound says
The primary reason for Lenin wishing to spread the revolution to other countries was Marxist ideology. Marx claimed that Russia was especially unsuited to communism due to the agrarian, not proletarian, nature of the country's economy, that is it was a country of peasants, and had not sufficient numbers of working class people. Marx also claimed that the communist revolution would "naturally" begin in advanced, industrialised countries – he specifically mentioned Germany as a the most likely place for it to begin. Lenin thought that the revolution would not survive unless the advanced countries soon became communist.
At the start of WWI Lenin was dismayed when the workers and peasants in uniform did not disobey orders, unite with their fellow soldiers on the opposing side and revolt against their capitalist exploiters. He hoped that the Russian (October) revolution would be seen as the spark that ignited Europe-wide revolutions. To this end he authorised the invasion of Poland, assuming that the Red Army would be greeted as liberators from tyranny – they weren't and the Red Army was defeated.
See:
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union – Leonard Shapiro <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0CIXLdxhQMAC&pg=PA4&lpg=PA4&dq=lenin+spreading+the+revolution&source=bl&ots=oAg-08LoEb&sig=vFtrSiggRwgmMoc__AkOmp1gKUY&hl=en&ei=ohvrSZ-MGY3MjAfv1sCeCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5" rel="nofollow"> <a href="http://;http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0CIXLdxhQMAC&p…” target=”_blank”>;http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0CIXLdxhQMAC&p… <a href="http://www.marxists.org/index.htm" rel="nofollow"> <a href="http://;http://www.marxists.org/index.htm” target=”_blank”>;http://www.marxists.org/index.htm <a href="http://www.marxists.org/index.htm" rel="nofollow"> <a href="http://;http://www.marxists.org/index.htm” target=”_blank”>;http://www.marxists.org/index.htm <a href="http://www.marxists.org/index.htm" rel="nofollow"> <a href="http://;http://www.marxists.org/index.htm” target=”_blank”>;http://www.marxists.org/index.htm