Regret?

     Hello everyone! So sorry this is a bit late. I was going to put something together but it's taking longer than I realized so this will have to do instead. It's a narrative paper that I wrote during writing class last year.

     Although it was probably one of my harder assignments - especially finding the examples I used - once I had those examples it was so fun to put together. I basically just divided my super long paragraphs into smaller ones to make reading it easier. If you're interested, here's the works cited page. Just to show I really did my work. XD

    With all that said, here's the paper! I titled it "Regret?" Super thought provoking, I know. :)

     In December 1922, Lenin suffered his second stroke in seven months. He knew his days on earth were numbered, so he began to dictate a document that offered some shocking sentiments to the Congress of Russia. The document was titled Letter to the Congress - but came to be known as Lenin's Testament (“Lenin’s Testament”).

       He finished it in early January 1923, and that March he suffered a third stroke that took his ability to speak and ending his political career (“Vladimir Lenin”). On January 21, 1924 he passed away, leaving behind a legacy greater than many other figures in history. Because of Lenin’s desire for power, methods of gaining that power, and decisions he made to solidify his power, the government in Russia had become a dictatorship, centralized and requiring complete obedience from its citizens.

     His desire for power and revolutionary ideas took root when he was only seventeen years old, with the execution of his brother. His brother – Alexander Ulyanov – was involved in an assassination attempt of the tsar of Russia (Simkin), but Ulyanov was caught and put on trial. Before his death, he showed no regrets in his path, even though he regretted causing his family harm.

       At his trial he said, “My purpose was to aid in the liberation of the unhappy Russian people” (Simkin). In the early hours of May 8, 1887 Ulyanov and several of his co-conspirators were roused from sleep and escorted to the gallows. All were offered the consolation of a priest – and all rejected the offer. The five men were hung. Later that month the news reached Lenin and his family. The death of his brother for the revolutionary cause put Lenin on that path.

       Lenin idolized his older brother (Simkin), and his death caused Lenin to become very invested in the revolutionary movement. Lenin was expelled from university for participating in certain student protests, and it was around that time he became interested in Marxism. He was part of a Marxist group just four years after his brother’s death (“Vladimir Lenin”). Ulyanov’s death started Lenin on the path to revolution and awoke in him a keen desire for power.

     After leaving university, Lenin went to Europe and eventually become the leader of a revolutionary movement in Russia called the Bolsheviks after World War I. After overthrowing the tsars in 1917, the next step to gain a place of power for himself and his government was entitled the “Red Terror” (“Red Terror”).

       On August 30, 1918, Lenin emerged from the Hammer and Sickle Factory in Moscow (Campbell-Dollaghan). He was probably still thinking about the contents of the meeting he had just attended when three loud sounds pierced the air (Broderick). Lenin fell to the ground. Doctors discovered two bullets in his body - one in his left shoulder, and another in his neck. The latter wasn't taken out of Lenin's neck for almost four years (Broderick). Although Lenin recovered, his health was never the same.

       The alleged shooter, Fanny Kaplan, was a part of an opposing government party. She was executed four days after the incident (Broderick). Some historians debate whether or not Kaplan was the person who shot Lenin, but the Bolsheviks used the assassination attempt to launch the "Red Terror" (Broderick).

       In this campaign, between 10,000 and 15,000 people were executed in the span of two months (“Red Terror”). Any individual or group who were thought to be a threat to the Bolsheviks were corralled and killed. By eliminating almost all opposition, Lenin solidified his power in the newly formed Russian government.

     In the late 1910s, Lenin finalized the setting up of the Russian government with only the Bolsheviks–his party–having any say in governing. On an early March day in 1921, Lenin entered the room where the 10th Congress of the Russian Communist Party was meeting. In the room were many from the Bolsheviks, but also several members of other parties that were trying to take advantage of the precarious post-revolution state of Russia.

       The resolution Lenin was about to announce would crush any hopes those other parties had of gaining power. The introduced resolution was titled “On Party Unity” (“Political Reforms of 1919”). As Lenin read the document, the people in the room realized what this resolution was calling for - the dissolution of any factions that existed in the current government, and a ban on any factions that refused to dissolve.

       The reasoning for this – as stated in the resolution – was to ensure that the new “democratic” government would survive its early days in power, and implied that those factions might be able to enter into government again in a few years.

       Of course, this never happened and from all the evidence, it doesn’t seem that this measure was meant to be temporary. It was instead was an attempt to solidify his and his party’s power (“Thermidor in Russian Revolution”). By the time of his stroke in December 1923, Lenin was the dictator of Russia in every sense of the word, heading up a very totalitarian government.

     So what did Lenin choose to say in his final months of life, while he was still able to speak? He talked about the newly formed USSR and how it would be governed. Lenin had spent his entire life dedicated to the revolutionary movement, it only makes sense he would spend the last few months of his life thinking about the country he had built.

       But perhaps what is the most shocking is what Lenin said in his Testament. In this document, Lenin expressed remorse over the dictatorial power that dominated Soviet government (“Vladimir Lenin”). Even though this man had made many decisions that led Russia to its totalitarian government, he looked back on his life and regretted many of them.

       Maybe Lenin wasn’t as bad as some tend to think. Maybe he just didn’t realize what a totalitarian, Marxist government would cause in his homeland. Maybe his final days were not ones of joy at what he accomplished, but ones of regret.

     And that's that! I hope you enjoyed it. Like I said, it was really fun to write. Probably because I naturally like to write stories, and this was a very story-like structure. Plus, that last line?!? Like, how thought provoking is that? It was interesting also to learn more about Lenin as I was writing this.

     Anyway, adios! I will talk to y'all next week (hopefully on time!).

~ Anna

Have you guys ever been really proud of something you did/wrote - for school or otherwise? Have you ever tried writing a narrative essay?