Compare and contrast Lenin's idealistic vision of a socialist state with the reality of communism in the new Soviet Union.

Without him there would not have been a revolution in November 1917. He persuaded the other Bolsheviks to seize power. November, 1917 the Bolsheviks defeated the provisional government and secured Bolshevik control over the institution. Lenin achieved his aim of setting up a proletariat government by setting up a one-party state and abolishing democratic practices including the Duma. By asserting secret policies such as the Cheka to conduct terror policies, Lenin eliminated his opposition during the Civil War of 1918-1921. Allowing Bolsheviks to govern the state, achieving Lenin's aim of turning Russia into a communist state. Lenin's first actions were to abolish ranks and titles and declare equality for women. Women gained equal rights and pay, as well as access to easier divorces and legalised abortions. Some communists saw free love and public nudty as revolutionary acts of liberation. Older bourgeois frowned on such acts, but tolerating them in spirit of creating a new socialist society. Lenin nationalised the land, this decree redistributed the crown, church and nobility properties to the peasants and the State thus creating equal rights within society. The communists put a lot of effort into education, building schools and making sure that children got adequate food. War Communism began an official system of Communism. Supplying the Red Army with food and weapons, terror was further used to force peasants to hand over grain. Factories were taken over, workers were under government control, private trading was banned. Barter was encouraged. It can be argued that it was Lenin's authority that made the NEP approved, he recognised the need for concessions of capitalism to avoid the harsh famines that occurred as a result of War Communism.