N.K. Krupskaya
VLADIMIR ILYICH LENIN
There is a portrait hanging on the wall in the room. Vasya told his father: "Dad, tell me about him." "Do you know who it is?" " I know. This is Lenin." " Yes, this is Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Our beloved, dear leader."
Well, listen. I was young. Life was bad then for us workers. The work was hard. We worked from morning until late at night, and lived hand to mouth. Many of us worked at the factory. The owner of the plant was Danilov. He did not work. He did not toil as hard as we had too, but he lived wealthy, and very much so!
Where did he get everything from? We worked for him. He paid us little for our work - to put it bluntly, he robbed us. He profited from our work. He had a factory, money, machines, but we had nothing but our working hands.
So, we had to work for him. This was not only at the Danilov plant. It was the same everywhere, in all plants and factories.
In the countryside, the peasants also lived poorly. They had little land, and the landowners had a lot. The peasants worked for the landowners. The landowners lived richly, and the peasants lived poorly. Landowners and capitalists were on one side. And the most important, richest landowner — the tsar — was on their side, top. He was master of all. He started such orders, which were good only for landlords and capitalists. And it was very difficult for the workers and peasants to live from these orders.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a friend and comrade of the workers. He wanted to change everything. He wanted everyone who works to live well. Lenin fought for the workers' cause.
Lenin began to gather those who stood for the workers. There were more and more of them, the workers' party — the party of communists — became stronger and stronger.
The party saw that nothing could be achieved without a struggle. The workers of all countries began to understand this as well.
The workers loved Lenin, but the landowners and capitalists hated him. The tsarist police arrested him, imprisoned him, exiled him to distant Siberia, they wanted to put him in prison forever. Lenin went abroad and from afar wrote to the workers what they should do. And then he came again and led the whole struggle.
In February 1917, the workers, together with the soldiers (there was a war then) drove out the tsar, and then, on November 7, 1917, they drove out both the landlords and the capitalists.
They took away their land, and then plants, factories and began to establish their own rules.
Not the tsar, not the landowners and capitalists, but the workers and peasants themselves began to discuss and decide their affairs in their councils called Soviets.
It was new for them. Lenin and his party led the workers along this difficult path and helped them to establish life in a new way. Lenin had to work hard. He had many worries. His health became bad, and in 1924 Vladimir Ilyich died.
We were very sad when Lenin died, but what he said we will never forget. Now, we try to do everything as he advised. We rebuild our work and life in a new way.
