Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was born April 22, 1870 in Simbirsk, Russian Empire. Lenin worked as a lawyer for a few years in Samara before he moved to St. Petersburg in 1893. Instead of pursuing a legal career he instead became involved in revolutionary propaganda efforts and joined the Marxist group. He was arrested and when released was exiled to the village of Shushenskoye in Siberia. There he mingled with notable Marxist such as Georgy Plekhanov who intoduced socialism to Russia. He married Nadezhda Krupskaya a socialist activist during the month of July in 1898. In 1900 he began his travels throughout Russia and the rest of Europe. He was active in the RSDLP and in 1903 Bolshevik factions after splitting with the Mensheviks. The names referred to the narrow outvoting of the Mensheviks in the decision to limit party membership to revolutionary professionals, rather than including sympathizers. The division was inspired by Lenin’s Pamphlet “What is to be Done?” that focused on his revolutionary strategy. This was said to be one of the most influential pamphlets in pre-revolutionary Russia.

He returned to Russia November 1905 to support the 1905 Russian Revolution.Lenin was elected to the presidium of the RSDLP in 1906. Lenin at the time shuttled between Russia and Finland but in December 1907 the revolution was crushed by the Tsarist authorities he was returned to exile in Europe. He spent the majority of his time exiled in Europe until he revolutions of 1917. Lenin completed Materialism and Empirio-criticism in 1909 as a response to debates on a socialist revolutions proper course. His work became fundamental in the Marxist-Leninist Philosophy. He conyinued his travels and participated in many socialist meetings including the Prague Party Conference of 1912.

When WWI began in 1914 and the large Democratic Parties Of Europe supported their various efforts lenin was stunned at what the German Social Democrats had voted for war credits. This led him to a final split with the SI which was composed of these parties. Lenin adopted the stance he described as imperialist war that ought to turn to a civil war between the classes. As the war broke out he was detained by the Austrian authorities in the town of Poronin. He resided at Switzerland  on September 5, 1914 and attended the anti-war Zimmerwald Conference in 1915. He was the main leader of Zimmerwald left who urged unsucessfully againts the majority pacifists that the conference should adopt Lenin’s sstance of converting imperialist war into a class war. Lenin and the Zimmerwald urged a similar resolution at Kienthal (April 1916) but in the end settles for a compromise manifesto. Lenin wrote the important theoretical work Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism in Zurich in the spring of 1916, in this he argued that the merging of banks and industrial cartels give rise to finance capital. According to Lenin capital is exported at the last stage of capitalism.

Lenin realized he must return to russia as soon as possibe after the 1917 February revolution and the abdication of  Tsar Nicholas II. This though was problematic because he was in neutral Switzerland as WWI raged throughout the neighboring states. The Swiss communist Fritz Platten managed to negotiate with the German government for Lenin and his colleagues to pass through Germany by train. The German Government hoped that Lenin’s return to Russia would create political unrest helping to end the war on the eastern front thus allowing Germany to focus on defeating the allies on the western front. He arrived by train to a reception at the Finland station in petrogard. Immediately he took a leading role within the Bolshevik movement by publishing the April Theses, this called for an uncompromising opposition to the government.

Seven months later Lenin was elected to be the the Chair of the Council of People’s Comissars. Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the entire country,” Lenin stated emphasizing the importance of modernizing Russia’s industry and agriculture also bringing electricity to all corners of Russia:

 He initiated & supervised the devising and realization of the GOELRO plan, the first ever soviet project for national economic recovery and development. He was very concerned in creating a free universal health care for all, women’s rights, and teaching uneducated Russians to read and write. Faced with a threat of German advance eastwards he argued that Russia should immediately sign a peace treaty yet other Bolshevik leaders advocated continuing the war as a means of fomenting revolution in Germany. The RCA was shut down during its first session January 19 and the Bolsheviks in alliance then relied on the soviets for support.

Following an attempt to assassinate Lenin in Petrograd the chief of the secret police Moisei Uritsky, Stalin argued in a telegram that a policy of open and systematic mass terror instigated to those responsible. Other Bolsheviks agreed and commanded Felix Dzerzhinsky, whom Lenin appointed to be the head Cheka in 1917 to start a red terror that was officially announced publicly September 1, 1918 by Kraznaya Gazeta. The Cheka murdered and abused their victims mercilessly. Expected enemies expected brutal torture, flogging, maiming or death by being shot, drowning, freezing to death, buried alive, or being hacked with a sword.

In March 1919 Lenin and other Bolsheviks met with revolutionary socialists from around the world and formed the Communist International. Members of the CI broke off from the socialist movement. In Russia the Bolshevik party was renamed to the Russian Communist Party that eventually became the CPSU. Meanwhile the civil war between the red army and white army raged across Russia. While the Red and White Armies fought foreign countries like Japan, France, Britain, and The United States intervened on this war on the behalf of the white army. In the late 1919 successes against the White Russians convinced Lenin that the time has come to spread the revolution to the west using force if necessary. The long years of war, Bolshevik war communism policies, the Famine of 1921, and hostile governments laid Russia in ruins. Lenin replaced War Communism with the New Economic Policy which was later reversed by Stalin.

Lenin’s health had been severely damaged by the strains of revolution and war and the assassination attempt earlier in his life had added to his health problems as well. The bullet had been lodged in his neck until a German doctor removed it in April 24, 1922. He had a stroke in May 1922 which left him paralyzed partially at his right side. He had a second stroke December of that same year and he permanently resigned from politics. He again had a stroke in March 1923 which left him bed ridden for the rest of his life. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin died at 18:50 (6:50PM) Moscow time January 21, 1924 at the age of 53 years old.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s preserved body is on permanent display at the Lenin Mausoleum at Red Square, Moscow