The Death of Lenin
From “Recollections on the Russian Civil War” by Eric Blair
Fanya Kaplan can be considered alongside Gavrilo Princip to be one of two people who unintentionally had the greatest effect on the history of the Twentieth Century, and for the same reason; they assassinated someone important, in Kaplan’s case, Vladimir Lenin. Contrary to the popular image of Kaplan presented in the propaganda of the Kolchak regime, Kaplan was no White sympathizer; she was a Jewish socialist who assassinated Lenin because she felt he betrayed the reveolution and made himself a new Tsar, not out of any sympathy for the Whites. Regardless, Kaplan’s assassination of Lenin may have won the Civil War for the Whites.
Following Lenin’s death, Trotsky, due to his influence as the leader of the Red Army, was declared to be his successor. However, Trotsky had a habit of making enemies, and a troika consisting of Nikolai Bukharin, Grigori Zinoviev, and Joseph Stalin[1] was formed to oppose Trotsky’s government. Trotsky based his government out of Moscow, while the troika based theirs out of Petrograd. While the Reds collapsed into infighting, the Whites found themselves in an ideal position.
The two Bolshevik governments, in true leftist fashion, focused almost all of their attention on each other instead of the Whites, which left them both vulnerable. As the Bolsheviks squabbled amongst themselves, they gradually but surely lost more and more territory to the Whites. The Bolsheviks also lost a lot of support without a unifying charismatic figure in the form of Lenin. By 1920, the Whites had reconquered the majority of Russia.
From the Memoirs of Alexander Kolchak
After the war was won and the Bolshevik traitors were defeated, their was still the question of how Russia would be governed. We had both monarchists and republicans within our ranks, and in the end a compromise was formed in which Russia would be theoretically a monarchy, but under a regency without any monarch present[2]. What would become the Regency Council of Russia was formed by Pyotr Wrangel, Anton Denikin, Nikolai Yudenich, Yevgeny Miller, and myself. I was elected to be the Chairman of the Regency Council in addition to Supreme Ruler of Russia.
Also to appease the republicans among our ranks, and former socialists who had sinceo abandoned their treasonous convictions but remained true to their ideals, we were forced to allow the creation of a constituent assembly in addition to the Regency Council. Thus we allowed for an elected Duma, divided into an aristocratic upper house and an elected lower house, but ultimately still beholden to the Regency Council. With the Red Menace defeated and Russia secured, it was time that we began to loom forwards to what the future would hold.
[1]Stalin at this point wasn’t that influential within Bolshevik politics, but still made a name for himself funding Lenin’s movement through his criminal activity
[2]Think Franco’s Spain or Horthy’s Hungary
Fanya Kaplan can be considered alongside Gavrilo Princip to be one of two people who unintentionally had the greatest effect on the history of the Twentieth Century, and for the same reason; they assassinated someone important, in Kaplan’s case, Vladimir Lenin. Contrary to the popular image of Kaplan presented in the propaganda of the Kolchak regime, Kaplan was no White sympathizer; she was a Jewish socialist who assassinated Lenin because she felt he betrayed the reveolution and made himself a new Tsar, not out of any sympathy for the Whites. Regardless, Kaplan’s assassination of Lenin may have won the Civil War for the Whites.
Following Lenin’s death, Trotsky, due to his influence as the leader of the Red Army, was declared to be his successor. However, Trotsky had a habit of making enemies, and a troika consisting of Nikolai Bukharin, Grigori Zinoviev, and Joseph Stalin[1] was formed to oppose Trotsky’s government. Trotsky based his government out of Moscow, while the troika based theirs out of Petrograd. While the Reds collapsed into infighting, the Whites found themselves in an ideal position.
The two Bolshevik governments, in true leftist fashion, focused almost all of their attention on each other instead of the Whites, which left them both vulnerable. As the Bolsheviks squabbled amongst themselves, they gradually but surely lost more and more territory to the Whites. The Bolsheviks also lost a lot of support without a unifying charismatic figure in the form of Lenin. By 1920, the Whites had reconquered the majority of Russia.
From the Memoirs of Alexander Kolchak
After the war was won and the Bolshevik traitors were defeated, their was still the question of how Russia would be governed. We had both monarchists and republicans within our ranks, and in the end a compromise was formed in which Russia would be theoretically a monarchy, but under a regency without any monarch present[2]. What would become the Regency Council of Russia was formed by Pyotr Wrangel, Anton Denikin, Nikolai Yudenich, Yevgeny Miller, and myself. I was elected to be the Chairman of the Regency Council in addition to Supreme Ruler of Russia.
Also to appease the republicans among our ranks, and former socialists who had sinceo abandoned their treasonous convictions but remained true to their ideals, we were forced to allow the creation of a constituent assembly in addition to the Regency Council. Thus we allowed for an elected Duma, divided into an aristocratic upper house and an elected lower house, but ultimately still beholden to the Regency Council. With the Red Menace defeated and Russia secured, it was time that we began to loom forwards to what the future would hold.
[1]Stalin at this point wasn’t that influential within Bolshevik politics, but still made a name for himself funding Lenin’s movement through his criminal activity
[2]Think Franco’s Spain or Horthy’s Hungary