Born Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov in 1870, Lenin was drawn to the revolutionary cause after his brother was executed in 1887 for plotting to assassinate Czar Alexander III. He studied law and took up practice in Petrograd, where he associated with revolutionary Marxist circles. In 1895, he helped organize Marxist groups in the capital into the "Union for the Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class," which attempted to enlist workers to the Marxist cause. In December 1895, Lenin and the other leaders of the Union were arrested. Lenin was jailed for a year and then exiled to Siberia for a term of three years.

After the end of his exile, in 1900, Lenin went to Western Europe, where he continued his revolutionary activity. It was during this time that he adopted the pseudonym Lenin. In 1902, he published a pamphlet titled What Is to Be Done?, which argued that only a disciplined party of professional revolutionaries could bring socialism to Russia.  After the outbreak of the Russian Revolution of 1905, Lenin returned to Russia. The revolution, which consisted mainly of strikes throughout the Russian empire, came to an end when Nicholas II promised reforms, including the adoption of a Russian constitution and the establishment of an elected legislature. However, once order was restored, the czar nullified most of these reforms, and in 1907 Lenin was again forced into exile.

Meanwhile, the Russian economy was hopelessly disrupted by the costly war effort (WWI), and in March 1917 riots and strikes broke out in Petrograd over the scarcity of food. Demoralized army troops joined the strikers, and on March 15, Nicholas II was forced to abdicate, ending centuries of czarist rule. In the aftermath of the February Revolution (known as such because of Russia's use of the Julian calendar), power was shared between the weak Provisional Government and the soviets, or "councils," of soldiers' and workers' committees.

After the outbreak of the February Revolution, German authorities allowed Lenin and his lieutenants to cross Germany en route from Switzerland to Sweden in a sealed railway car. Berlin hoped (correctly) that the return of the anti-war Socialists to Russia would undermine the Russian war effort, which was continuing under the Provisional Government. Lenin called for the overthrow of the Provisional Government by the soviets, and he was condemned as a "German agent" by the government's leaders. In July, he was forced to flee to Finland, but his call for "peace, land, and bread" met with increasing popular support, and the Bolsheviks won a majority in the Petrograd soviet. In October, Lenin secretly returned to Petrograd, and on November 6-8 the Bolshevik-led Red Guards deposed the Provisional Government and proclaimed soviet rule.

Lenin became the virtual dictator of the first Marxist state in the world. His government made peace with Germany, nationalized industry, and distributed land, but beginning in 1918 had to fight a devastating civil war against czarist forces. In 1920, the czarists were defeated, and in 1922 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was established. Upon Lenin's death, in early 1924, his body was embalmed and placed in a mausoleum near the Moscow Kremlin. Petrograd was renamed Leningrad in his honor. After a struggle for succession, fellow revolutionary Joseph Stalin succeeded Lenin as leader of the Soviet Union.

Also on this day in History…

• Part 1: Joint Franklin Finance Committee/Common Council Meeting
• Part 2: Joint Franklin Finance Committee/Common Council Meeting
• Part 3: Joint Franklin Finance Committee/Common Council Meetin

The November edition of Playboy magazine will feature the “blue-haired bombshell” Marge Simpson; no relation to Jessica. BATTLE JOINED has decided to give our readers a chance to pick which  "animated beauty" they would  have preferred over Marge.  Here are the choices.

 Betty Boop

Lois Griffin

Jane Jetson

Tinkerbell

Jessica Rabbit

Pick your "rather-than-Marge" on the following BATTLE JOINED Poll.

Today, the affable Foreman is still a minister and rancher in Texas and the father of five daughters and five sons named George. He’s also the spokesman for the incredibly popular line of George Foreman indoor grills.

Also on this day in History. . .

Part 2: South 27th Street Corridor Project Flunks Geography

Have you seen the retail growth lately on Oak Creek’s Howell Avenue?  Any reasonable-thinking person would never believe that the City of Oak Creek would promote economic growth of that nature away from Howell Avenue to the 27th Street Corridor.  What incentive would Oak Creek city leaders have to do so?  And in August we had tough guy Oak Creek Mayor Dick “Corleone” Bolender hurling and threats and insults Franklin’s way over the proposed Oak Creek, I-94 Drexel Avenue Interchange and Franklin taxpayers’ rightful unwillingness to help Oak Creek fund it.  “Fortunately,” some of the usual suspects in both cities, including a couple of corrupt state legislators “fixed things right up” for everyone!  Frankly, l don’t believe Mayor Taylor and most on the Common Council understood the Memorandum of Understanding pertaining to the funding of the Drexel Avenue Interchange which they approved unanimously a month or so ago.

Last night at the joint Finance Committee -Franklin Common Council Meeting, it was clear to me from the debates over the 2010 budget that the South 27th Street Corridor Project, based on the current economic conditions in our country and here in the City of Franklin—which have very little chance of significantly improving over at least the next three to five years—should seriously be considered for one of Franklin’s back-burners.  Can the City of Franklin realistically move forward with this project without it becoming Mayor Taylor’s “BOOMGAARDCARE”?

Two weeks after the storming of the embassy, the Ayatollah began to release all non-U.S. captives, and all female and minority Americans, citing these groups as among the people oppressed by the United States government. The remaining 52 captives were left at the mercy of the Ayatollah for the next 14 months.

President Jimmy Carter was unable to diplomatically resolve the crisis, and on April 24, 1980, he ordered a disastrous rescue mission in which eight U.S. military personnel were killed and no hostages rescued. Three months later, the former shah died of cancer in Egypt, but the crisis continued. In November 1980, Carter lost the presidential election to Republican Ronald Reagan. Soon after, with the assistance of Algerian intermediaries, successful negotiations finally began between the United States and Iran.

On January 20, 1981--the day of Reagan's inauguration--the United States freed almost $3 billion in frozen Iranian assets and promised $5 billion more in financial aid. Minutes after Reagan was sworn in, the hostages flew out of Iran on an Algerian airliner, ending their 444-day ordeal. The next day, Jimmy Carter flew to West Germany to greet them on their way home.

Also on this day in History...

As we reported in Part One yesterday, the billing, collection and distribution of each of the three Franklin school districts’ (Franklin Whitnall and Oak Creek-Franklin Joint) tax levies is processed by City of Franklin Treasurer Cal Patterson’s office in November of the levy year, for use in the following year.  The Franklin Treasurer’s Office gathers the levy information and produces tax bills for all taxable properties, collects those amounts, and remits them to the tax jurisdictions in accordance with Wisconsin State Statutes.  In other words, the City of Franklin acts as a clearing house for the three school district tax levies collected from Franklin taxpayers.  For example, in 2008, according to the Franklin Treasurer’s Office $2,312,202 was remitted to the Whitnall School District, $4,264,165 to the Oak Creek-Franklin District and $29,476,874 to the Franklin School District.

This Friday, the tax payer funded Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) is hosting a briefing for Members of Congress and their staff on their new study: Online Town Hall Meetings: Exploring Democracy in the 21st Century. The CMF study consisted of 21 townhall meetings where Members of Congress and CMF provided a moderator: “spoke via voice over IP, and constituents asked questions and made comments by typing them. Only off-topic, redundant, unintelligible, or offensive questions were screened, and only questions asked by people who had not yet asked a question were prioritized.”

CMF does not say what qualifies as offensive, but if this summer is any indication that definition would include anything that the Congressman did not want to talk about. In other words, this report urges Congressmen not to actually interact with their constituents, but to avoid them altogether by holding safe townhalls they can completely control. And what did CMF find where the results of these Potemkin townhalls?

Continue reading…

Click to read a brief South 27th Street Corridor Fact Sheet.

As reported in her blog My Board's Eye View, Janet Evans was the only school board member to vote against the 2009-2010 Franklin School District Tax Levy of 3.9%.  The levy passed on a 4-1 vote with two members absent.  It has been well documented on BATTLE JOINED and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that due to the fiscal irresponsibility of the Doyle Administration and the Wisconsin Legislature, most Wisconsin school districts would likely see a 15% reduction in state aid compared to the previous year.

Within the city limits of Franklin there are three school districts; Franklin, Whitnall and the Oak Creek-Franklin Joint District.  Of the three, the district receiving the largest cut in was the Franklin School District which received $2,694,234 less than 2008/09, representing a 15.12% decrease in funding.  Solution: Reduce spending, reduce/eliminate programs or increase taxes.  As usual, Franklin Public Schools focused most of its attention on increasing taxes.  This year the state eliminated $1,261,112 in aid from the Whitnall School District, a 13.48% reduction from the previous year. And finally, the Oak Creek-Franklin Joint District will have to do without $1,386,890 in state aid compared to last year, representing a 4.96%reduction.  The solutions for these districts are the same as those available to the Franklin School District; spend less, reduce programs or increase taxes.

According to Franklin Treasurer, Cal Patterson, each taxing district submits to the City of Franklin, its approved tax levy in November of the levy year for use in the following year.  The City takes the levy information and produces tax bills for all taxable properties, collects those amounts, and remits them to the tax jurisdictions in accordance with Wisconsin State Statutes.  In other words, the City of Franklin acts as a clearing house for the three school district's tax levies collected from Franklin taxpayers residing in one of three school districts.  This process actually seems fair and logical considering it’s being administered by the government.