Lenin

by Sara G. and Lauren S.

Lenin was the third of six children born to Ilya and Maria Ulyanov. He was born in Simbirsk, a small town on the Volga River on April 22, 1870. His father was a successful government official and later in his career became a school director. His mother, Maria was from German background. She spoke four languages and cared deeply for history. His older brother, Alexander studied the ideas of German writer and philosopher Karl Marx. Before he graduated from high school his family suffered from two tragic events. First, his father, Ilya, died. Secondly, his older brother was hanged for planning to assassinate the czar.

Later in his life he applied to the school of Kazan University. Lenin was obviously not ready for a structured school environment because three months after entering he was expelled. Another reason for his expulsion may have been the fact that he was seen at a student protest meeting. The authorities decided that because of his brothers attempt to kill the czar, he was planning the same. Although Lenin got off easier than his brother, he tried to apply to other law schools, but none would accept him. He was told by The Kazan University that if he wanted to learn the material on his own and then take the exams he could, but not to come to the school. In just one year Lenin had mastered a four year program in Law. He even got perfect scores in every area and the Kazan University had no choice but to grant him a degree with honors. Now that he had his degree in law he began to look for work.

He joined a firm where he became a public defender. He helped mostly peasants and poor people that were in trouble. At the same time he was reading about the ideas of a German writer Karl Marx. In 1889 he formally became a follower of Karl Marx, calling himself a "Marxist." Lenin spent most of his life living in exile. Then in 1900, when Czar Nicholas abdicated, he returned to Russia. He then married Nadezhda Krupskaya. He made a famous speech to a crowd gathered at the train station. In his speech he promised peace, land, and bread. He promised to make peace with Germany, ending Russia's involvment in World War I. He took land away from wealthy landlords and put peasants to work to end food problems. Lenin began his own way of running the government called "Leninism." His followers were called Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks and Lenin mobbed Alexander Kerensky's palace where his government had its headquarters. Lenin and the Bolsheviks now controlled Russia and renamed it USSR, which is short for Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Not everyone was happy with Lenin's changes. They wanted the Czar back as well as their power. All of Lenin's enemies formed an army to try and overthrow his government. This army was called the White Army because of the white flag they carried. Lenin quickly orgnanized an army of his own to try and stop them. His army was known as the Red Army because of their red flag. The civil war lasted from 1917 to 1922. The Soviet Union began to recover under the rule of Lenin, but long before the process had finished, Lenin suddenly died in 1924.