Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (Russian: ????????? ?????? ?????? {{Audio|Ru-Lenin.ogg|listen}}), original surname Ulyanov (????????) (April 22 (April 10 (O.S.)), 1870 – January 21, 1924), was a Russian revolutionary, the leader of the Bolshevik party, the first Premier of the Soviet Union, and the main theorist of Leninism, which he described as an adaptation of Marxism to "the age of imperialism".

Related Topics:
Russian - April 22 - O.S. - 1870 - January 21 - 1924 - Russia - Revolutionary - Bolshevik - Premier of the Soviet Union - Leninism - Marxism - Imperialism

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"Lenin" was one of his revolutionary pseudonyms. There are various theories on its origin and he himself is not known to have ever stated exactly why he chose it. It is likely to relate to the River Lena, in parallel to leading Russian Marxist Georgi Plekhanov who used the pseudonym Volgin, after the Volga River. It has been suggested that Lenin picked the Lena as it is longer and flows in the opposite direction, but Lenin was not opposed to Plekhanov at that time in his life. It has also been suggested that it is an allusion to the Lena execution, but the pseudonym precedes this event.

Related Topics:
Pseudonym - Lena - Georgi Plekhanov - Volga River - Lena execution

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He is sometimes referred to as "Nikolai Lenin" by Western anti-Communists. This was his original pseudonym, as shown in this article by John Reed,http://www.marxists.org/archive/reed/1918/soviets.htm but he was not known as such in the USSR subsequently.

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