LENIN IN LONDON

Revolution was already in the air. As the 19th century came to a close, the radical shock wave sent around the world at the end of the 18th century by the American War of Independence and the French Revolution could still be felt. In some places, like Britain, it had forced slow but ever-increasing reforms of the state giving greater voice to the masses. In other states, like Russia, it had meant ever-increasing central government control, oppression and the persecution of opposition voices.

“VICTORIAN ENGLAND HAD ALWAYS BEEN PROUD OF ITS REPUTATION FOR WELCOMING REFUGEES FLEEING FROM ANY REPRESSIVE STATE”

This was the world that Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, later to take the alias of Lenin, joined when he was born in the small town of Simbirsk (renamed Ulyanovsk in 1924 after Lenin’s death). As the son of a school inspector, Lenin grew up in relative comfort, with maids and cooks looking after the family. His parents Ilya Nikolayevich Ulyanov and Maria Alexandrovna Ulyanova were not radicals, but they seem to have raised them, fostering an atmosphere of open debate and a respect for self-education. But it was likely the double blow of his father’s death and the execution of his eldest brother that sent Lenin down an extreme path.

“In 1886, when Lenin was only 16, his tells us. “He had been devoted to his brother whom he’d placed on a pedestal, so you can only imagine the impact this would have had on a young man’s psychology and his general outlook. It may have been this event more than any other that set him off on his radical path.” Despite all of this he still managed to graduate at the top of his class from school and looked to study law at university.