Vladimir Lenin

                       

                    Vladimir Lenin

                          

Lenin in 1920
Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union (Premier of the Soviet Union)
In office 30 December 1922 – 21 January 1924
Preceded by	Position created
Succeeded by	Alexei Rykov
Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian SFSR
In office 8 November 1917 – 21 January 1924
Preceded by	Position created
Succeeded by	Alexei Rykov
Member of the Politburo
In office 25 March 1919 – 21 January 1924
In office 23 October 1917 – 7 November 1917
Personal details
Born	Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Владимир Ильич Ульянов) 22 April 1870 Simbirsk, Russian Empire
Died	21 January 1924 (aged 53) Gorki, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Resting place	Lenin's Mausoleum, Moscow,Russian Federation
Nationality	Soviet Russian
Political party	Russian Social Democratic Labour Party Russian Communist Party (bolsheviks)
Spouse(s)	Nadezhda Krupskaya (married 1898–1924)
Profession	Lawyer, revolutionary, politician
Religion	None (atheist)
Signature

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Russian: Владимир Ильич Ленин,  born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, Russian: Владимир Ильич Ульянов; 22 April [O.S. 10 April] 1870 – 21 January 1924) was a Russian communist revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He served as the leader of the Russian SFSR from 1917, and then concurrently as Premier of the Soviet Union from 1922, until his death. Politically a Marxist, his theoretical contributions to Marxist thought are known as Leninism, which coupled with Marxian economic theory have collectively come to be known as Marxism– Leninism.

Born to a wealthy middle-class family in Simbirsk, Lenin gained an interest in revolutionary leftist politics following the execution of his brother in 1887. Briefly attending the Kazan State University, he was ejected for his involvement in anti-Tsarist protests, devoting the following years to gaining a law degree and to radical politics, becoming a Marxist. In 1893 he moved to Saint Petersburg, becoming a senior figure within the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). Arrested for sedition and exiled to Siberia for three years, he married Nadezhda Krupskaya, and fled to Western Europe, living in Germany, France, England, and Switzerland and becoming known as a prominent party theorist. In 1903, he took a key role in the RSDLP schism, leading the Bolshevik faction against Julius Martov's Mensheviks. Briefly returning to Russia during the Revolution of 1905, he encouraged violent insurrection, later campaigning for the First World War to be transformed into a Europe-wide proletariat revolution. He returned to Russia following the February Revolution of 1917, in which the Tsar was overthrown and a provisional government took power.

He took a senior role in orchestrating the October Revolution in 1917, which led to the overthrow of the provisional government and the establishment of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, the world's first constitutionally socialist state. Immediately afterwards, the new government under Lenin's leadership proceeded to implement socialist reforms, including the transfer of estates and crown lands to workers' soviets. Faced with the threat of German invasion, he argued that Russia should immediately sign a peace treaty—which led to Russia's exit from the First World War. In 1921 Lenin proposed the New Economic Policy, a system of state capitalism that started the process of industrialisation and recovery from the Civil War. In 1922, the Russian SFSR joined former territories of the Russian Empire in becoming the Soviet Union, with Lenin elected as its leader.

After his death, Marxism–Leninism developed into a variety of schools of thought, namely Stalinism, Trotskyism and Maoism. Lenin remains a controversial and highly divisive world figure. Detractors label him a dictator whose administration oversaw multiple human rights abuses, while supporters reject this criticism and promote him as a champion of the working class. Lenin had a significant influence on the international Communist movement and was one of the most influential and controversial figures of the 20th century.