First, it is widely believed that Lenin may have had a negative impact on the USSR due to various tactics of deception, manipulation of the apathetic and desperate Russian people, assassinations of mass caused by hunger and the Cheka, and finally; destruction of its own economy due to lack of benefits from trade, etc. Despite this, many others are of the opinion that Lenin's overall impact was perhaps very beneficial in regards to the impact on the USSR due to the way he and Trotsky made the country much more tactically advanced than before (during the Civil War) visiting the troops to inspire and encourage them, while those who showed cowardice were executed, making more people willing to fight and win. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In addition to the positive impact Lenin had on the USSR, Lenin is believed to have had a negative impact on the USSR due to his reign of terror with the introduction of the Cheka; which was established on 20 December 1917 with a decree by Vladimir Lenin, who came under the leadership of Dzerzhinsky to destroy all opposition before the success of the Bolshevik revolution. The reason for this was because it seemed to greatly contradict Lenin's promises of October 1917 (The Land Decree), when he ordered the 'Cheka' to take land and grain from the land that 90% of the peasants desperately needed , and requisitioned it; much to the disapproval of the peasants as it caused mass starvation. The 'Cheka' was also used to terrorize political opponents of the Bolsheviks as a warning to various other counter-revolutionaries, who gradually deteriorated in the USSR juxtaposing their promise of a communist state, while Lenin's increasing dependence on political centralization (a single party ) state) meant that a more dictatorial, autocratic, imperialist and fascist regime arose, which was often not recognized by the apathetic and hopeful Russian people. Therefore, linking back to my last point with reference to the main question, it is argued that Lenin's overall impact on the USSR was negative, because his distorted communist values ​​and promises ended up counteracting the democratic society that the Russian people imagined ( due to the fact that Lenin was so deceitful); this meant that there were again greater class divisions between peasants and bourgeois, as peasants were persecuted more but had less to give, which resulted in mass anger in March 1921 when they attacked government grain depots and 100,000 were arrested. This was once again a negative impact for the USSR by Lenin, because communism was supposed to be harmonious life, fair distribution of materials and freedom of speech, however Lenin encouraged persecution, inequality and an unequal society democracy by closing the Provisional Government because he did not get a majority, and relied on the Politburo rather than the Sovnarkom because it contained his most loyal supporters: Stalin, Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev. Furthermore, another reason why many might be of the opinion that Lenin overall had a negative impact on the USSR is due to the destruction of the economy of the USSR. Although the USSR traded with India, this accounted for very little of their GDP and could not supply the warring soldiers on its own. Therefore, the government was forced to use its own money made from grain requisitioned from farmers to supply the soldiers, which meant there was not enough food and resources for those at home; leading to inflation, mass starvation, and bankruptcy of the nation, as workers were paid a lot.