Who the fuck is Nikolai Lenin?

[Nox]

From watching American anti-Communist propaganda clips on youtube, I have noticed that in many of them they call Vladimir Lenin 'Nikolai Lenin', why do they call him that? Surely they must have known his real name...

[ColonelCossack]

Maybe its because of COD.

Nikolai Belinski...?

What era are the clips?

[Aspiring Humanist]

His dads name was ilya nikolayevich ulyanov so maybe thats related somehow? I dont know anything about Russian naming customs

[PhoenixAsh]

Its his pseudonym....

[Nox]

Maybe its because of COD.

Nikolai Belinski...?

What era are the clips?

The clips are mostly from the 40's/early 50's

[ColonelCossack]

Its his pseudonym....

Wow... an anarchist knows more about Lenin than a leninist. Whoops! S.L.A.G.I.A.T.T. :blushing::blushing::blushing:

[PhoenixAsh]

His dads name was ilya nikolayevich ulyanov so maybe thats related somehow? I dont know anything about Russian naming customs

-yevich designates, in Russian, the name of his father. So the father of Lenin was the son of Nikolai. So litterally translated Ilya son of Nikolai Ulyanov.

So this has nothing to do with why they call Lenin Nikolai.

[Rusty Shackleford]

i always thought it was Ivan... curse you american propaganda!

[North Star]

He used to sign articles N. Lenin. The N meaning Nikolai was an invention of the Western press.

[Nox]

Its his pseudonym....

His Pseudonym is Vladimir Lenin, not Nikolai Lenin...

[PhoenixAsh]

His Pseudonym is Vladimir Lenin, not Nikolai Lenin...

You are right and you are wrong. He had several. As has been said...he signed with N. Lenin.

Bryant invented the fill-in Nikolai. I am not sure if Lenin used the name himself.

[Rusty Shackleford]

N probably meant "Not" so he could fool the tsarist police.

i mean, if it was Not Lenin then its obviously not Lenin.

[Sir Comradical]

He used to sign articles N. Lenin. The N meaning Nikolai was an invention of the Western press.

The N backwards is the Russian letter used to begin the name "Ilyich". So perhaps thats the error.

[Aspiring Humanist]

N probably meant "Not" so he could fool the tsarist police.

i mean, if it was Not Lenin then its obviously not Lenin.

"meeting at 3:30
-totally NOT lenin"

tsarist police must have had severe mental deficiencies

[Luc]

"meeting at 3:30
-totally NOT lenin"

tsarist police must have had severe mental deficiencies

Well they are tsarists:unsure:

[Nox]

You are right and you are wrong. He had several. As has been said...he signed with N. Lenin.

Bryant invented the fill-in Nikolai. I am not sure if Lenin used the name himself.

I'm pretty confident that he never called himself Nikolai Lenin which is why I am still wondering why American Propaganda calls him that, even though they surely must have known his real name...

And as someone else already said, the 'N' you're thinking of is probably an upside down 'N' that represents the letter 'I' in the cyrillic alphabet, here it is: И

[RED DAVE]

As i recall:

(a) Lenin was born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov.

(b) His pseudonyms were both N. Lenin and Lenin, never Nikolai Lenin.

(c) Close friends and comrades called him Vladimir Ilyich.

RED DAVE

[Rusty Shackleford]

Jacob Richter

[MaciejRozga]

As i recall:


(a) Lenin was born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov.

(b) His pseudonyms were both N. Lenin and Lenin, never Nikolai Lenin.

(c) Close friends and comrades called him Vladimir Ilyich.



You are not right. He was born as Vladimir - it's true. His father was Ilya Ulyanov. In Russian tradition you called to man which using his name and patronymic. That’s why Lenin was “Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov”.

It’s true that his pseudonym was “Lenin” and “N. Lenin”. But why “N.” if he was “Vladimir”? After October Revolution he signed “V. I. Lenin” or “V. Lenin” – so maybe he never was “Vladimir”? It’s absurd!

For example in old works Stalin signed “K. Stalin” – why? Because he’s pseudonym was “Koba Stalin”. Not because his pseudonym was “K. Stalin”. Maybe you can’t belive me, but in Slavonic language “K. Stalin” or “N. Lenin” sounds idiotic…

“Nikolai Lenin” was a pseudonym of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. After Revolution he use name “Vladimir Ilich Lenin” as Stalin used name “Joseph Vasarionovich Stalin” (not “Koba Stalin”). Why? Because most knew Lenin as Lenin (not Ulyanov) and Stalin as Stalin (not Jughashvili). But they back to their really first names.

(it’s not only about Lenin and Stalin, but I’m using them as example)

Someone who told Lenin “Nikolai” wasn’t idiot! In the West they told Lenin “Nikolai” much time.
Look there:
marxists.org/history/international/comintern/sections/britain/periodicals/communist_review/1923/7/nikolai_lenin.htm

[PhoenixAsh]

I'm pretty confident that he never called himself Nikolai Lenin which is why I am still wondering why American Propaganda calls him that, even though they surely must have known his real name...

And as someone else already said, the 'N' you're thinking of is probably an upside down 'N' that represents the letter 'I' in the cyrillic alphabet, here it is: И


As i recall:

(a) Lenin was born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov.

(b) His pseudonyms were both N. Lenin and Lenin, never Nikolai Lenin.

(c) Close friends and comrades called him Vladimir Ilyich.

RED DAVE


The N is adopted to Nikolai by Bryant (Louise Bryant) an American Marxist/Anarchist journalist in the early 20th century. She wrote "Six months in Russia"a fairly interesting read to be sure. She was married to John Reed.

Therefore Nikolai is a pseudonym, not a self adopted one, but one that was used in papers in the US.

[Nox]

None of the answers yet explain why the American's used his little-known pseudonym rather than his real name.

[A Marxist Historian]

None of the answers yet explain why the American's used his little-known pseudonym rather than his real name.

Because Louise Bryant's book was a bestseller. So non-leftist Americans thought that was his real name.

She probably got the Nikolai from something signed "N. Lenin" plus the assumption that any Russian whose first name started with N was a Nikolai. I don't think her Russian was very good.

-M.H.-

[Nox]

Because Louise Bryant's book was a bestseller. So non-leftist Americans thought that was his real name.

She probably got the Nikolai from something signed "N. Lenin" plus the assumption that any Russian whose first name started with N was a Nikolai. I don't think her Russian was very good.

-M.H.-

But still, the name was used in American Propaganda, surely the government must have known Lenin's first name, and it would be stupid beyond belief to intentionally display the wrong name.

[A Marxist Historian]

But still, the name was used in American Propaganda, surely the government must have known Lenin's first name, and it would be stupid beyond belief to intentionally display the wrong name.

Do not underestimate the stupidity of American anti-Communists. They probably were vaguely aware that that wasn't his real name, but they just didn't care. Since that was the name usually used in the American press, that's the name the nitwits writing crazed anti-Communist spiels for Uncle Sam about how women were nationalized in the Soviet Union (I kid you not!) used.

After the 1920s, with FDR in there and then WWII, with some actual attention paid to the Soviet Union by *intelligent* right wingers, things like misspelling Lenin's name tended to fade away.

-M.H.-

[Nox]

Do not underestimate the stupidity of American anti-Communists. They probably were vaguely aware that that wasn't his real name, but they just didn't care. Since that was the name usually used in the American press, that's the name the nitwits writing crazed anti-Communist spiels for Uncle Sam about how women were nationalized in the Soviet Union (I kid you not!) used.

After the 1920s, with FDR in there and then WWII, with some actual attention paid to the Soviet Union by *intelligent* right wingers, things like misspelling Lenin's name tended to fade away.

-M.H.-

Fair point, they must have been pretty stupid.

The bulk of the propaganda clips I saw that called Vladimir Lenin 'Nikolai Lenin' are from the 40's, with one or two from the early 50's

[graymouser]

The name "Nikolai Lenin" was extremely well known in that period - it's used, for instance, in Robert Sherwood's play Idiot's Delight to show that a character is a radical socialist. There wasn't the internet back then and fact-checking wasn't nearly up to the level where it is now; if you could get away with using "Nikolai Lenin" then that's what you did.

In Russian, his pseudonym would've read Н. Ленин, and his real name Владимир Ильич Ульянов, with the combined version appearing as В. И. Ленин. Definitely no possibility of ambiguity.