Vladimir Lenin and Ukraine
Ukraine resisted Russian rule with a passion Lenin had not expected.
Lenin’s gambit, similar to developments in Ukraine in 2022, was to promote and arm a pro-Russian rival, in the form of the Bolshevik Ukrainian State in the east of the country.
This was made plausible by the many ethnically Russian workers in mining and industry there. They went to war against the Kyiv regime, but were at first beaten by unexpectedly passionate resistance. Even Bolshevik-sympathizing Ukrainians were so culturally nationalistic that it was hard to motivate them to fight against Kyiv.Russia, however, continued to support pro-Bolshevik Ukrainian forces, which put the Kyiv-based government under pressure on many fronts. Going back to the end of WWI, the Russians signed a side-deal with Poland which then suddenly owned chunks of Western Ukraine. Then Lenin struck his decisive deal—Russia offered Ukraine self-government “equal to that of Russia,” if Ukraine agreed to co-found the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The package included a secure territory of its own and a mode of government, language of choice, and systems of education and religion of its own choice. It was an attractive bait.