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Section sizes Section size for Vladimir Lenin (36 sections) Section name Byte count Section total (Top) 9,022 9,022 Early life 54 12,527 Childhood: 1870–1887 6,608 6,608 University and political radicalisation: 1887–1893 5,865 5,865 Revolutionary activity 78 41,150 Early activism and imprisonment: 1893–1900 6,725 6,725 Munich, London, and Geneva: 1900–1905 6,213 6,213 Revolution of 1905 and its aftermath: 1905–1914 11,197 11,197 First World War: 1914–1917 4,359 4,359 February Revolution and the July Days: 1917 7,443 7,443 October Revolution: 1917 5,135 5,135 Lenin's government 61 55,198 Organising the Soviet government: 1917–1918 6,357 6,357 Social, legal, and economic reform: 1917–1918 9,226 9,226 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: 1917–1918 6,454 6,454 Anti-Kulak campaigns, Cheka, and Red Terror: 1918–1922 8,742 8,742 Civil War and the Polish–Soviet War: 1918–1920 9,486 9,486 Comintern and world revolution: 1919–1920 5,665 5,665 Famine and the New Economic Policy: 1920–1922 9,207 9,207 Later life 15 15,935 Declining health and conflict with Stalin: 1920–1923 11,513 11,513 Death and funeral: 1923–1924 4,407 4,407 Political ideology 24 10,118 Marxism and Leninism 4,960 4,960 Democracy and the national question 5,134 5,134 Personal life and characteristics 9,016 9,016 Legacy 6,507 20,043 Within the Soviet Union 11,721 11,721 In the international communist movement 1,815 1,815 See also 594 594 Notes 24 24 References 16 12,954 Footnotes 34 34 Bibliography 12,904 12,904 Further reading 3,387 3,387 External links 7,769 7,769 Total 197,737 197,737

Proposed changes to lede

I propose the following changes to the lede section, which I added as of this revision (Special:Permalink/1224837838) and that were recently reverted by Midnightblueowl:

1. State in the first paragraph that Lenin was the "founder and leader of the Bolsheviks, which led the October Revolution that established the world's first socialist state". This is key information (as important as his leadership of the Soviet state), and should be included early.
2. Mention the Russian Civil War, the event which dominated his administration, in the first paragraph.
3. Add some detail on Leninism in the first paragraph, as it constitutes his political legacy beyond his leadership: "his developments of Marx's theories of party, imperialism, the state, and revolution are called Leninism." The use of wikilinks in this is up for debate.
4. Remove mentions of his wife Nadezhda Krupskaya and the location of his death (Gorki), as they are not comparatively important.
5. Add a mention of the April Theses, which was one of the most important political documents that Lenin wrote.
6. Add a mention of war communism (and its major expression in the requisitioning of grain from the peasantry), which is as important as the New Economic Policy, which is already mentioned. It needs to be mentioned to demonstrate what was "new" about the NEP.
7. Expand on "popular uprisings" by mentioning the two most significant by name: "revolts such as the Tambov and Kronstadt rebellions".
8. Rephrase this info: "His administration defeated right and left-wing anti-Bolshevik armies in the Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1922 and oversaw the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1921. Several non-Russian nations had secured independence from Russia after 1917, but five were forcibly re-united into the new Soviet Union in 1922, while others repelled Soviet invasions." as such: "Some non-Russian nations of the former empire were re-united in the Soviet Union in 1922, while others (notably Poland) gained independence." This should be kept simple. The Whites should not uniformly be described as "right-wing", and the "left-wing" armies such as the Greens and Makhnovites played a comparatively small part; the intervention of the Allies and Central Powers were more important, but shouldn't be mentioned for concision. Regarding the separatists, much more than five breakaway nations were re-united in the Soviet Union (see Pro-independence movements in the Russian Civil War).
9. Expand on "his health failing" by including that he "suffered three debilitating strokes in 1922 and 1923 and died the following year", which is important because it hints at the power vacuum and struggle which began in 1922, and contextualizes the leadership transition to Stalin.
10. Add that it was under Stalin's leadership that he became the figurehead of Marxism–Leninism, and specify that it was the state ideology.
11. Rephrase the summary of his legacy: "Lenin is viewed by his supporters as a champion of socialism, communism, anti-imperialism and the working class, while his critics accuse him of establishing a totalitarian dictatorship that oversaw mass killings and political repression of dissidents." as such: "Lenin is praised by his supporters for establishing soviet democracy and a "dictatorship of the proletariat" which took steps towards socialism, while critics accuse him of overseeing mass killings and political repression of dissidents and either leading or preparing the way for a totalitarian dictatorship." The current text says the same thing in several ways, while the proposed adds detail on what Lenin and his supporters believed that he was establishing from his Marxist perspective. Also, as elaborated within the article, not all scholars and critics characterize Lenin's government as a totalitarian dictatorship, though almost everyone acknowledges that he laid the groundwork for Stalin's.

I support all of these changes to the text, but they can be discussed point by point. Thoughts? — Goszei (talk) 22:18, 8 June 2024 (UTC)

This article is FA-rated, so it has already been scrutinised extensively by a wide number of editors. For this reason, we should be very cautious about alterations, because these could easily result in a decline in quality, at which its FA status would have to be removed. My concerns about the proposed changes are principally to do with length. This article is already very long; indeed, it is actually too long according to WP:Article size. Expanding it further in order to add further detail is not a good idea in that scenario. The lead needs to be kept as clean and concise as possible, and in its present, largely stable form it does that. Midnightblueowl (talk) 13:05, 3 July 2024 (UTC)

Not all of these points add length (though most do). It's been FA since 2017 (was it) & a touch-up may be in order. It would be nice to lose "His health failing, Lenin died in Gorki,..."! On the overall length, there are tons of sub-articles, and trimming the detail lower down should be tedious but straightforward. Maybe Goszei could start there? Johnbod (talk) 13:29, 3 July 2024 (UTC)

I have just implemented what I hope is a lasting compromise for the lead along the general lines of what I pointed out above. My edit reduced the size of the text, which should assuage any concerns about length and concision. — Goszei (talk) 21:43, 21 October 2024 (UTC)

Jewish

Does Lenin's Jewish heritage mean he deserves to be added to Jewish-related categories?MagicatthemovieS (talk) 03:04, 2 July 2024 (UTC)MagicatthemovieS

No. Lenin had distant Jewish ancestry, but no "Jewish heritage" unless you consider this to be an undefinable quality acquired by birth. He had absolutely no Jewish upbringing, and didn't even know that one of his ancestors was a convert. This "Jew-tagging" of unrelated articles serves no encyclopaedic purpose; we should reserve these categories for those individuals where their Jewish background is/was relevant to their life and work. This does not apply in Lenin's case. RolandR (talk) 09:40, 7 July 2024 (UTC)

The issue of Lenin's supposed 'Jewishness' also feeds into bigoted ideas of Judeo-Bolshevism, fuelling antisemitism and tainting rational assessments of Lenin, as well as his role in the revolution and the state it producted. 2A0A:EF40:35B:101:2D23:12FF:BC27:6B65 (talk) 13:27, 13 October 2024 (UTC)

Yeah, do not include.--Jack Upland (talk) 00:08, 14 October 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 1 August 2024

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Should we place an WP:NBSP for Soviet Union on infobox? 49.150.12.163 (talk) 10:36, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

 Not done: I don't think it's necessary. PianoDan (talk) 17:06, 8 August 2024 (UTC)

• Note that I've rangeblocked the OP for block evasion.-- Ponyo 16:20, 11 August 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 23 September 2024

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Should we remove "Russian SFSR", as per Talk:Joseph Stalin#Linking subdivisions? 175.100.92.40 (talk) 09:20, 23 September 2024 (UTC)

 Not done for now: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the {{Edit semi-protected}} template. Cowboygilbert - (talk) ♥ 01:44, 27 September 2024 (UTC)

Add information

I will add some information:

• The NEP succeeded in creating an economic recovery after the devastation of the war

• In modern Russia, polls measuring the perception of Lenin's legacy show that almost Russian believed Lenin played a positive role in the country's history.

If nobody oppose this information, i will add to articleMichael Razid (talk) 04:13, 9 December 2024 (UTC)

negative-- re ec onomic history please use the major scholarly studies of Lenin and USSR, not offbeat accounts of minor artists. (See the Further Reading section) As for public opinion in the Putin era--Russians know what trouble they will be in if they speak out against the official line. Rjensen (talk) 04:20, 9 December 2024 (UTC)

Part 1: I changed this source (A History of Twentieth-Century Russia - Harvard University). Part 2: Your opinion is unreasonable, Putin is not Russia communist party's member. In fact, Russia communist party is a opposition party of PutinMichael Razid (talk) 04:28, 9 December 2024 (UTC)

@Michael Razid, polls and Time magazine mentions are unnecessary in the lead since the lead already emphasizes his significance and influence. Perhaps you should consider suggesting content for the body before making changes to the lead. StephenMacky1 (talk) 10:24, 9 December 2024 (UTC)

1. Service, Robert (1997). A History of Twentieth-Century Russia. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 124–125. ISBN 0674403487.
2. ""Ideas about the personality of Vladimir Lenin and his role in the history of the country"". Levada. April 16, 2024. Archived from the original on May 2, 2024.

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