Jewish element in his ancestry (Service, 6). The effect was that his mind .
was left exposed to other influences, including revolutionary ideas in .
particular. Lenin's education enabled him to read foreign languages and .
to respect science, but also left him open to the attractions of any .
ideology that seemed to make sense of the society in which he lived .
(Service, 7). Lenin's parents brought him up in a Marxist atmosphere. .
Marxism was the primary ingredient of Lenin's thought, but it gained a lot .
of its solidity from combination with other ingredients (Service, 9). .
Lenin was always thinking of ways to gain power and ways to think .
of different strategies at all times. His favorite distraction was chess, which .
allowed him to play a game he enjoyed as well as work in his strategic .
skills at the same time. His father had initiated him to it when he was .
seven or eight years old. Vladimir was inflexible on the application of the .
rules of the game and would countenance no relaxation. Recognizing .
himself as inferior, his father soon gave up playing with him. The young .
man looked for partners in town; he vied with the best; he studied the .
problems and tactics thoroughly. But he realized that chess took too .
much of his time, that it diverted him from more important questions. .
Overnight, he practically gave it up; he later played only rarely, careful .
not to allow himself to be repossessed by a passion for the game .
(Gourfinkel, 12). .
Vladimir - from his nickname Volodya - was a lively, gay, and .
enterprising child. He learned to read at the age of five; the teacher .
of the parish school prepared him for the Simbirsk high school. Very gifted, .
very attentive, the little boy completed his homework with such rapidity .
that his father, suspicious, sometimes checked it, but was forced to agree .
that Volodya had neglected nothing. The studious atmosphere of the .
house and the example of his elders developed in him a sense of duty .
