Vladmir Ilyich Lenin, one of the world s greatest revolutionary leaders of all time, didmore to change the face of Russia than any other man. What we now know asCommunism was a product of this great man s mind, and the government he created wasthe Soviet Union. Lenin sought power and ruled as a dictator, but always firmly believedthat his actions were for the betterment of Russia and his countrymen. Lenin saccomplishments have greatly influenced not only Russia, but the past and present world. Still, the historical legacy of Lenin lives and his powere continues to persevere and affectthe modern world. Lenin, originaly named Vladmir Ilyich Ulyanov, was born in Simbirsk on theVolga, on April 22, 1870. He was born to Ilya Ulyanov, a school director, and MariaBlank, a doctor s daughter. Lenin enjoyed an idyllic chikdhood, was extremely bright,and felt superior to most of his classmates. The first breach in Lenin s comfortablechildhood came in 1886, with the death of his father. The following year, Leninexperienced more hardship when his brother Alexander, a social revolutionary, wasarrested and hanged for the attempted murder of Czar Alexander III. This tragedystrongly influenced Vladmir, who had deeply admired his brother. During the arrest ofhis brother, Vladmir told a fellow conspiritor, My path has been blazed for me by myolder brother . As a result of this tribulation, Vladmir vowed to devote his life to theabolishment of czarism. In 1887, Lenin enrolled in the University of Kazan, as a law student. WhenVladmir became a law student, his intention was to become a lawyer. He had nointention of pursuing a revolutionary career, knew no revolutionaries, and had readnobooks with revolutionary tendencies. Here he spent most of his time organizinganti-czarist demonstrations, and was quickly expelled as an excessive troublemaker andexiled to his grandfather s estate in the village of Kokushkino. During his exile, Leninbecame familiar with some of the written works of revolutionary thought, particularlyKarl Marx s Das Kapital and soon joined an illegal Marxist discussion group in Kazan. In the fall of 1893, Lenin was granted permission to move to St. Petersburg, thecapital of Russia at the time. There he joined the growing Marxist movement anddevoted the majority of his time to political studies. Lenin had aleready begun to have areputation as a theoretician and became popular among other Marxist intellectuals. In1894, Lenin illegally wrote and published his first work, What the Friends of the PeopleAre, which was a plea for the formation of a Russian Social-democratic Party. Marxistrevolutionaries were greatly impressed by Lenin s work, and they realized he was seriousabout being a revolutionary. In 1895, Lenin helped establish the St. Petersburg Union for the Struggle for theEmancipation of the Working Class. Police soon arrested all members of thisorganization,, and Lenin spent fourteen months in jail and was then exiled to Siberia. While in Siberia, Lenin married Nadya Krupskaya, a fellow revolutionary. When theirexile ended in 1900, they settled in Switzerland. Lenin still continued his involvement in revolutionary activities. lenin wentabroad, met with other Marxists and created a newspaper, Iskra. This newspaper wasaimed at inspiring more recruits to join the Marxist movement. The newspaper was

published and smuggled into russia. In 1902, Lenin wrote a pamphlet, What is to BeDone? , stating that the revolutionaries planned to establish socialism. In 1903, Russian Marxists congregated in London in order to form a unifiedpolitical party. However, this idea collapsed and instead, the congress broke apart intotwo major factions. Those who agreed with Lenin formed the Bolsheviks. The people indisagreement with Lenin s views formed the Mensheviks. The Mensheviks becamesocialist dedicated to peaceful change, while the Bolsheviks formed the basis for theCommunist party. Quarrels between the two factions arose until it became evident thatthe two could not exist together. Lenin then officially formed and led the independentBolshevik Party. Lenin spent the following years in exile in Europe. In 1905, workers seekingchanges in labor laws, revolted against the czar and revolution broke out. Lenin returnedto Russia at the peak of the revolution to take part in the uprising, but was sent back toEurope where he kept fighting for socialism. WWI broke out in 1914, which many Russians supported. However Leninopposed the war. Early into WWI, many people were against Lenin s oppostion to thewar, but further into the war, the Russian people began to agree with him. The Russianpeople began to suffer of starvation. In March of 1917, revolution occured in Petrograd. Workers and the military began a strike and riots broke out for more food. After a fewweeks of rioting, Czar Nicholas II was overthrown and a government was arranged underthe authority of Alexander Kerensky. Lenin returned to Petrograd to find Russia underKerensky s leadership. Lenin wanted this government under Kerensky abolished andpower given to workers and peasents. Lenin organized an uprising against the provisional government in July 1917, andwas then forced to flee to Finland to hide. While there, Lenin created the Red Guard,which was an army of Russian factory workers to overthrow the government. Lenin soonreturned to Russia in November, and with the Red Guard, removed Kerensky frompower. The Bolsheviks now controlled Russia and changed their name to the communistparty. Lenin was elected head of the government. At this time, Lenin provided Russiawith its most dynamic leadership since the dath of Peter I. Lenin believed that his ownregime would be a transitional one. Lenin wanted to get out of WWI and did so bysighing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. In 1918, civil war erupted in Russia because of anti-communists who revoltedagainst the communist regime. With the aid of Leon Trotsky, Lenin was led to asuccessful victory over the White Army and the Communist party overtook Russia. On December 30, 1922, the Communist party finally established the Union ofSoviet Socialist Republics, which was Lenin s life ambition. Not long after he formedthe USSR, Lenin suffered the first of three strokes in 1922, which would permanentlyincapacitate him. He partially recovered from the stroke but never again undertook anactive position in the Communist government. In March 1923, Lenin suffered a strokewhich ended his career in politics. Lenin died in the village of Gorki, near Moscow, onJanuary 21, 1924. Vladmir Ilyich Lenin was a brilliant thinker and strategist who changed the faceof Russia forever. His perseverance as a revolutionary along with his extensive politicalwork allowed him to achieve what he had always dreamed of: a government he thoughtwould stabilize Russia and contribute to its great power.