# Lenin — My Disillusionment in Russia character guide > Lenin in My Disillusionment in Russia by Emma Goldman. **Role:** supporting **First appearance:** 0004-ii-petrograd ## Snapshot The Bolshevik leader whose centralized political State is his deity, a shrewd politician willing to sacrifice the Revolution itself to realize his scheme. ## Who they are From her first interview the narrator reads him as a man who knows exactly what he is about and will stop at nothing to achieve his ends. He swims with the tide when the cry for Soviet power sweeps Russia, then issues slogans like 'Rob the robbers' that confuse the people and injure revolutionary idealism. His compromises form a chain toward an all-powerful centralized Government, and his contempt for his own followers is never hidden. ## Relationships ### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/characters/unknown_narrator) _rivalry_ Lenin is the revolutionary leader whose pragmatic and ruthless policies clash with the narrator's idealistic anarchist principles. ### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/characters/unknown_narrator) _rivalry_ Lenin is the revolutionary leader whose pragmatic and ruthless policies clash with the narrator's idealistic anarchist principles. ## In the story ### [Preface to First Volume of American Edition](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/chapters/preface-to-first-volume-of-american-edition) Referenced as a Marxist leader who adopted anarchist revolutionary tactics, part of the Bolshevik leadership. ### [Preface to Second Volume of American Edition](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/chapters/preface-to-second-volume-of-american-edition) Mentioned as deceased; his New Economic Policy (NEP) raised hopes that were later dashed by renewed terror. ### [V: Meeting People](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/chapters/v-meeting-people) Lenin dismisses free speech as a bourgeois notion, insists on working under the Third International, and views people in utilitarian terms for his revolutionary scheme. ### [XII: Beneath the Surface](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/chapters/xii-beneath-the-surface) Lenin is implicated in the same deceptive methods, having assured the narrator that no anarchists of ideas were in prison while many were incarcerated. ### [XVI: Maria Spiridonova](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/chapters/xvi-maria-spiridonova) Mentioned as claiming credit for victories attributed to peasant and worker povstantsi rather than the Red Army. ### [XX: Poltava](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/chapters/xx-poltava) Korolenko writes appeals to Lenin to intervene against executions. ### [XXII: Odessa](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/chapters/xxii-odessa) Mentioned by Doctor N as the source of the motto 'Rob the robbers,' which led to corruption and ruin in Ukraine. ### [XXV: Archangel and Return](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/chapters/xxv-archangel-and-return) Leads a faction in the trade union debate, denounces the Labour Opposition as 'anarcho-syndicalist' and advocates its suppression. ### [Death and Funeral of Peter Kropotkin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/chapters/xxvi-death-and-funeral-of-peter-kropotkin) The Funeral Commission wires Lenin requesting the release of imprisoned Anarchists for the funeral; the Central Committee responds by proposing release at the Cheka's discretion. ### [XXVII: Kronstadt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/chapters/xxvii-kronstadt) Quoted at the Tenth Congress: 'The sailors did not want the counterrevolutionists, but they did not want us, either.' ### [XXVIII: Persecution of Anarchists](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/chapters/xxviii-persecution-of-anarchists) Mentioned for his speech at the Tenth Congress declaring 'merciless war' against 'petty bourgeois Anarchist elements,' which coincided with mass arrests. ### [XXIX: Travelling Salesmen of the Revolution](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/chapters/xxix-travelling-salesmen-of-the-revolution) Received delegates and 'talked to' them; referred to as 'pope' of the Communist Church during the Congress. ### [Education and Culture](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/chapters/xxx-education-and-culture) His sister Ulyanova, chief of the Central Educational Department, signed a secret order to eliminate non-Communist literature. ### [Afterword](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/chapters/xxxiii-afterword) Critiqued as a pliable politician who sacrificed revolutionary ideals for state power, issuing the slogan 'Rob the robbers' and implementing policies that led to bureaucracy and inequality. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/chapters/i) Mentioned as a nimble acrobat who introduced the New Economic Policy to avert disaster. ### [The Betrayal of the Revolution](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/chapters/ii) Portrayed as a shrewd, pliable politician who prioritized the centralized state over revolution or communism, willing to sacrifice both for his political scheme. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/chapters/iv) Referenced as an example of the Bolshevik conception of revolution, where Lenin takes the seat of the Romanovs, symbolizing a mere change of dictatorship. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/characters/lenin - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/characters