Vladimir Lenin led a revolution, which then led to the creation of the Soviet Union. While he’s considered the leader of the movement, he didn’t participate in any of the violent uprisings. He was miles away at the time. His version of communism, Leninism, suited the agrarian population since Russia had not yet become industrialized. Realizing that communism couldn’t compete in a market-driven economy, he “allowed” pockets of capitalism to flourish in order to feed the population (sort of like China, today). These “capitalists” were called Kulaks and were hated among the citizenry. They lived above the poverty standard of the rest of the nation and were despised. Does this sound familiar in our own society?

Rather than base their society after the successful “Kulak” model, envy and bitterness formed, and the Kulaks were swept away (another trend we see today). And like other tyrants we’ll visit, he figured out a way to achieve one-party rule, through devious tactics.

Lenin bungled every aspect of the Russian government and the affairs of the population. The most damning mistake was not providing for a successor, should something happen to him. Lenin suffered a series of strokes that left him unable to speak. The presumptuous successor, Leon Trotsky, was driven out of the Soviet Union by a man lurking in the shadows, Joseph Stalin. After his death, his body was embalmed and put on display at a mausoleum in Red Square

Vladimir Lenin is honored and revered more for his symbolism than actual accomplishments. An interesting example of this is that Earth Day was founded on the 100th anniversary of his birth, April 22, 1970.