Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich

(1870–1924)

   Politician. Born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. Lenin led the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution establishing Soviet Russia. He oversaw the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922, and became its first leader. His contributions to Marxism—specifically his ideas on how to govern a “workers’ state,” the creation of a vanguard political party, the effects of imperialism, and promotion of world revolution—led to the creation of the ideology of Leninism. Marxism-Leninism, in turn, became the governing ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Against Lenin’s dying wishes, he was succeeded by Joseph Stalin, who emerged as the uncontested leader of the Soviet Union in 1928. After Lenin’s death in 1924, his body was preserved and placed on permanent display in the Lenin Mausoleum in Red Square, Moscow; Boris Yeltsin failed to have the leader’s body buried in the late 1990s, due to a popular backlash. While many streets in Russia were renamed in the 1990s, returning them to their pre-Soviet appellations, certain major streets in Moscow and other urban areas still bear the name of Lenin; his sculptures continue to decorate squares of provincial cities, especially in the Red Belt. Lenin remains a revered figure within Russia’s extreme left, especially the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. His image continues to figure prominently in marches and political propaganda, as well as being displayed in the homes of many older Russian citizens.