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Vladimir Lenin

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I've listed this article for peer review because it has recently been awarded its GA status and I'd like to take it to FAC in the near future. This is a pretty important article for Wikipedia so it would be great if anyone with an interest could help out on this one.

Thanks, Midnightblueowl (talk) 21:04, 15 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Comments by Dudley

  • "Lenin played a leading role in the October Revolution of 1917, overthrowing the Provisional Government and establishing a one-party state under the new Communist Party." This is unclear. Presumably it was the revolution that defeated the Provisional Government rather than Lenin personally, and what is meant by "new Communist Party"? Was a new party formed in 1917?
  • The Bolsheviks renamed themselves as the "Communist Party" after seizing power, hence my decision to use the term "new" here. Otherwise I've edited the prose to say "Lenin played a leading role in the October Revolution of 1917 which overthrew the Provisional Government and established a one-party state under the new Communist Party". Midnightblueowl (talk) 11:34, 7 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • I think you need to spell this out as it is unclear - "established a one-party state under the Bolsheviks, who renamed themselves as the Communist Party after seizing power" Dudley Miles (talk) 18:13, 9 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • "withdrew from the First World War by signing a punitive treaty" You do not make clear that the treaty was punitive to Russian.
  • In that case I think it best to remove the word "punitive" from the lede. I really don't want the lede to get any larger than it already is, and so don't want to start adding extra wording to explain the nature of the treaty. Midnightblueowl (talk) 11:31, 7 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • "orchestrated by the Cheka". A few words explaining "Cheka" would be helpful.
  • "Lenin's father, Ilya Nikolayevich Ulyanov, was the grandson – and possibly also the son – of a serf". This could be clearer. I thought at first it meant that his father was the result of an incestuous relationship.
  • "an apostate Russian Jewish physician" "apostate" is POV - maybe "secular".
  • I think it would be better to spell it out - "a Jewish physician who had converted to Christianity"
  • "Two latter siblings died in infancy" later siblings?
  • "both a zemlyachestvo, or a group of men from Samara-Simbirsk" I would leave out the word "or"
  • I do not think you need to define Marxism.
  • Personally, I think that it is pretty useful to have a brief description of Marxism here, given the many references to Marxist ideas which appear throughout the rest of the article. I'd have thought that many readers, particularly those researching Lenin for a school project, would not be at all familiar with Marxism. Midnightblueowl (talk) 10:30, 11 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • "Publicly championing Marxism among the socialist movement" I would say "within" rather than "among".
  • "able to correspond with other subversives" Subversives is a bit loaded - revolutionaries?
  • "the couple translated English socialist literature into Russian" No change needed but what literature and was it published?
  • "condemned Lenin for supporting bank robberies" This needs clarification. I see that below you repeat the statement with details, but you need to explain it here.
  • "state expropriation of land, all with for establishing proletariat government and pushing toward a socialist society" The grammar has gone wrong here.
  • "Russian Communist Party, to as Lenin wanted to distance his group from the German Social Democratic Party" I would leave out the word "to".
  • "This coalition only lasted four months, until March, when the Left Socialist Revolutionaries pulled out of the government over a disagreement about the Bolsheviks' approach to ending the First World War." This sounds strange - so they pulled out in March 1919 over a war which had ended in December 1918?
  • " by giving them economic autonomy of husbands" This does not sound right. "from their husbands"?
  • "in June 1918, he expressed the need for centralised economic control of industry," Maybe "in June 1918, he argued that centralised economic control of industry was needed,"
  • "Lenin proposed a three-month armistice in his boDecree on Peace" When?
  • "Requisitioning disincentived peasants from producing more grain than they could personally consume" I had to read this two or three times, but I am not sure how best to revise it.
  • "Although regularly doing so in his coded telegrams and confidential notes" Presumably "doing so" si supporting violence, but this sould be clarified.
  • "For Lenin, however, the killing was axiomatic;" I am not clear what you are saying. Axiomatic means self evidently true.
  • "and privately said he "in love" with Marx and Engel" Grammar again.
Comments by UN

Note: My comments are mainly from the perspective of a layperson, they might seem too obvious at times. Ugog Nizdast (talk) 15:20, 15 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

  • "Among his siblings, Lenin was closest to his sister Olga, whom he bossed around, having an extremely competitive nature; he could be destructive, but usually admitted his misbehavior" confusing, reword. Who has the competitive nature?
  • I've gone with "Among his siblings, Lenin was closest to his sister Olga, whom he often bossed around; he had an extremely competitive nature and could be destructive, but usually admitted his misbehaviour". Midnightblueowl (talk) 10:46, 13 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Somewhere in sections "Early activism and imprisonment: 1893–1900" or" University and political radicalisation: 1887–93", an explanation or background as to the political situation in Russia? Whom was he campaigning against and how did they react to his actions? For instance, it's suddenly mentioned that police spies were after him. Prior to his first arrest and his brother's campaign to assassinate the Tsar, I think some more details need to be added. Or maybe a {{further}} link.
    It's interesting that you say that, for in their comments Dudley suggested that I actually cut down on the explanation of Marxism in the belief that such background information isn't necessary. Obviously it is important that we have some background context in the article but at the same time this is a biography of Lenin and thus needn't concern itself unduly with wider aspects of Marxist theory or Russian history. Accordingly, we do mention the rule of the reactionary Tsar Alexander III Midnightblueowl (talk) 10:03, 16 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
    Agree. There is a need to find a balance between assuming what a reader familiar with this topic already knows and marking the rest as out-of-scope. I couldn't find any suitable article which explains the properly the situation for maybe say a further link? Ugog Nizdast (talk) 15:19, 19 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • "met Wilhelm Liebknecht" and who's he? A reader shouldn't be forced to click on that link.
    I have added "Marxist activist" before his name. Midnightblueowl (talk) 09:55, 16 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • "group of Russian Marxist emigres based in Switzerland, soon visiting Switzerland to meet group members " Redundant. Perhaps "soon visiting the group to meet members"
  • "To evade Bavarian police" why were they after him?
  • The block quotes "Death or Freedom!" and WW1 don't show any context. What is the pertinence? Is it a prominent one or is it placed where "normal prose cannot be used to explain an idea"?
    Done! Midnightblueowl (talk) 10:35, 20 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • The "In response to the Revolution of 1905" para says he was in Petersburg, last line says he was in Finland, not exactly written when he travelled.
  • "...and while there he sued a motorist" seems random and trivial? any reason why this is relevant?
  • It's something that gets mentioned in a number of Lenin biographies, and while it might not be particularly important in the grand scheme of his life, perhaps it does shine some light on his personality. Midnightblueowl (talk) 10:35, 20 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • "Sovnarkom", shouldn't it be preceded by "the"?
    I know that that would appear to make sense given that in English we often refer to "the government", however, in the reliable sources I've been using it is apparent that they often use "Sovnarkom" without any preceding "the". Midnightblueowl (talk) 19:29, 28 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • " to ignore pre-Bolshevik laws" or pro-Bolshevik laws?
  • "While Zinoviev became the International's President", which one?, International or Comintern?
    Comintern was also known as the Third International; I shall make that clear in the prose. Midnightblueowl (talk) 19:51, 28 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • "with Service suggesting" who? not introduced before.

That's it, I've finally finished. As you can see the I couldn't find much to point out. Good luck. Ugog Nizdast (talk) 13:09, 25 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

  • I've still got a few points to work on but I just wanted to offer my thanks, Ugog, both for your comments and the time that you took to read through the article and to offer them. I think that they have definitely helped improve the quality of the article! Midnightblueowl (talk) 19:33, 28 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
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