Vladimir Ulyanov Lenin.
Born on May 4, 1870 this son of a Russian nobleman was to have a great effect on the future of Russia and, the world. His father had been the son of a serf who had risen to the position of inspector of schools in Simbirsk. While his mother was the daughter of physician. .
In school he proved himself to be very bright though he got picked on because of it. However, he excelled in his studies. He also enjoyed reading and writings of Goethe and Turgenev would affect him for the rest of his life. .
Two major tragedies occurred which had a small effect on the young Lenin (then Ulyanov). In 1886 his father died from a cerebral hemorrhage, the following year his brother, Alexander, was hung for plotting to assassinate Tsar Alexander III. Lenin renounced religion and the political system. Adding to this he was the brother of dead revolutionary and found many doors closed to him. He finally managed to be accepted in a Kazan University where he studied law. This was to be short-lived as he was expelled for attending a peaceful protest some three months later. He studied the law on his own and passed the exam, coming first in a class of 124 in 1891. .
Rise to Power .
He moved to St. Petersburg in 1893 where he practiced law. While there he began developing a Marxist underground movement. He grouped members into six member cells. By this means industrial conditions were investigated, statistics compiled and pamphlets written. It was also through these groups that he met his future wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya, who he married in 1898. .
He traveled to Switzerland to meet like minded Social Democrats in 1895. While there he talked with Georgi Plekhanov. They argued over the means of bringing about change in Russia. Plekhanov wanted to include the liberal middle class; Lenin favored the rise of the proletariat. This disagreement led to the eventual split of the Social Democratic party into Mensheviks and Bolsheviks.