During our discussion in class today I was quite intrigued by many of the actions that some of the Bolshevik leaders took during the initial years of Bolshevik rule. Growing up in the United States, even after the end of the cold war, I have been conditioned to think of the Soviets as mindless robots devoid of thought or intuition. However, during the lecture I realized that that idea was an enormous misconception as Lenin and the other party leaders were incredibly intelligent and new how to accomplish their goals.

One such example of this is in Lenin’s NEP (New Economic Policy). Although it was not as popular idea among many members of the party, Lenin realized that he needed to ease into socialism, rather than force it immediately. Because of this, he allowed non-essential businesses to function on their own and only took over industries essential to government function. This was a brilliant move by Lenin, as rushing straight into pure socialism would have led to the complete collapse of the Soviet system, due to the lack of money in the government.

Joseph Stalin was also another power player in this intellectual community, despite being looked down upon. Stalin used his lack of education to his benefit, and filled many important governmental positions with his supporters. Due to his almost lack of respect among Bolshevik leaders, he was able to do this without arousing suspicion and when the time came, he had the power to depose Trotsky and take power.

I think that it is always important to remember your educational base, especially when learning about other cultures. Throughout this class, I have routinely noticed things that I originally thought to be true about the Soviets are actually entirely false. I accredit this to being brought up in the US, where the fear of communism is still present. I know that it is impossible to be completely unbiased, but I feel that it is important to do everything we can to come at all topics with as open-minded as possible.