Lenin is the key to understanding the Russian Revolution. His dream was the creation of the world's first Socialist state. It was a short-lived dream that became a nightmare when Stalin rose to absolute power in 1929. Lenin was the avant-garde revolutionary who adapted Marxist theory to the practical realities of a vast, complex and backward Russia. Is he chiefly to blame for opening the way to the totalitarian regime of Stalin? Readers will be able to judge for themselves. Lenin's career is depicted in this book from his obscure provincial origins to architect of the Bolshevik October Revolution, and his ideas, his genius for underground organization and strategies for agitation are explained. It is impossible to estimate the events in post-communist Russia and Eastern Europe today without some basic grasp of the Russian Revolution and Lenin's role in it. This book aims to make that history accessible and digestible.