Lenin is the founder of the Bolshevik party and the Soviet State. During World War I he developed a plan to turn the imperial war into civil war, and succeeded in his plan.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (Ulyanov) was born on April, 22nd, 1870 in the city of Simbirsk (nowadays Ulyanovsk) on the banks of Volga River.

  Vladimir Ulyanov was born into the family of an inspector of folk schools, who became a hereditary nobleman. Vladimir’s elder brother was executed in 1887 for his participation in an attempt on the life of Tsar Alexander III. In November 1917 the Socialist Revolution broke out under Lenin’s leadership, which later led to the Civil War. After the revolution Lenin signed a peace treaty with Germany, thus having put an end to Russia’s participation in World War I. He founded the Red Army and III Communistic International. Lenin started violent struggle against peasants who did not want to give up their property, witch-hunt against “public enemies”, and established VChK (All-Russian Extraordinary Committee, later KGB) to implement the new state policy of “The Red Terror”.

Later Lenin changed the policy of military communism to the new economic policy directed on the growth of national economy, and founded the socialist state – the USSR.

As a result of a suddenly deteriorated health Vladimir Lenin died on January, 21st, 1924.

After his death the cult of his personality gained even more strength: Lenin monuments were set up in villages and cities, and many streets and settlements were renamed after him. Lenin’s libraries were opened all over the country, however not all his wishes were implemented. Lenin's mausoleum in the Red Square in Moscow is still keeping the mummy of Lenin, one of the most controversial figures of the 20th century.

A great range of literature memoirs, verses, poems, short stories, stories and novels about Lenin were published in the USSR, and a great number of films were made about Lenin. In the Soviet epoch it was a sign of great trust from the side of the Communist Party leaders for an actor to play Lenin in a film.

An innumerable quantity of Lenin’s monuments became an integral part of the Soviet tradition of monumental art, and typical symbols of the Soviet epoch. After the collapse of the USSR lots of Lenin monuments were removed by new authorities or destroyed by various individuals.