Lenin and Red Teror: extermination of opposition

1. Consolidation of his power by elimination of both opposition and supporters who could have posed a future threat;
2. Elimination of religious leaders who could possibly foment resistance to his policies; and
3. Obviously he needed to have total control of the military, as well as its support.
Lenin is not alone in this regard in recent history-Adolph Hitler being uppermost on the list.1
The same processes are still being used today in Middle East and African civil wars.

Originally posted by Romesh It is interesting to imagine the moral foundation of the first Bolshevik leaders.  This was the foundation of a new system... they formed at the very beginning of the USSR... hoping for what?  To hold to the power for 10-20 years?  To rob churches and rich people and to sell these valuables to foreign investors including gold to western banks? To deposit money in their offshore accounts?

They, like people in many other European countries, were fed up with the divide between the rich and the poor. A system where the ruler, in this case Czar Nicholas, was the absolute power and the people had no representation. Unfortunately, Lenins model, communism, was not successful although it lasted for nearly a hundred years. As we all know, the Russian people suffered years of having to line up to buy food, and it often was not available, eventually communism in the USSR fell. An interesting note is that, under communism, the rich and well connected got richer, while the poor got poorer.