Passion or Profession: Political Leader

Period: 1870–1924

Lenin is a highly controversial revolutionary figure in Russia. He effectively organized the Russian Social-Democratic Workers’ Party and led the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, which caused political disarray and civil war. Lenin promoted and enforced communism in Russia, becoming the leader of the first Soviet government. Some consider him to be the 20th century’s most powerful and influential political leader.