Changes

==Early life==

==Early life==

Lenin was born on April 22, 1870 (first [[Earth Day]] was established on his 100th birthday) to a middle-class Russian family; his parents Ilya Ulyanov and Maria Ulyanova were school teachers.  In 1889, he became a [[Marxist]] after his older brother Aleksandr was hanged for the attempted murder of Tsar Aleksandr III.  Lenin obtained a law degree shortly afterward, and hints at his more callous nature, including his intention of using starvations to foster his Marxist agenda, started showing itself by 1891 during the Volga famine. Acting as a high ranking member of the socialist intelligentsia at that time, he was the one voice who opposed supplying any relief aid to them, even going as far as to ruin the Samara charity committee in the process, citing that starving the peasantry would bring death to the old peasant economy and hasten their goal of Marxist revolution, or as he put it, "one shouldn’t improve [the peasants'] lives, but instead let them become bestial and unleash monstrous violence."<ref>https://canadafreepress.com/article/vladimir-lenin-russias-original-cold-blooded-communist-revolutionary</ref><ref>https://www.rferl.org/amp/lenin-at-150-even-without-covid-19-russia-was-set-to-snub-the-soviet-union-s-founder/30568383.html?fbclid=IwAR2s0upNQ-WaEeeXyJBcVF3mL1InW2ynJmOoqg7PkC7Y9OzPSL2X5bXaMDY</ref> By 1895, Lenin was a [[subversion (political)|subversive]] who was arrested and sent to a prison in [[Siberia]] as punishment.  He was in exile 1900-1917, during which time he married Nadezhda Krupskaya. He collaborated with Georgy Plekhanov and others to set up the clandestine newspaper ''Iskra'' (The Spark), designed to "ignite" radical consciousness.  In the pages of ''Iskra'', Lenin denounced any alliance with liberals or other elements of the bourgeoisie because they would keep power in the hands of the middle class. He emphasized social democracy—equality of condition, rather than political democracy, as the basis for individual freedom.  His major theoretical publication was the pamphlet "What Is to Be Done?"  (1902). In 1903 he organized and controlled the '''"Bolshevik"''' wing of the Russian Social Democratic Labor party, fighting the opposition "Mensheviks." Lenin, like his populist predecessors in the Russian radical movement, stressed the need for a small elite vanguard to lead the revolution

Lenin was born on April 22, 1870 (first [[Earth Day]] was established on what would have been his 100th birthday) to a middle-class Russian family; his parents Ilya Ulyanov and Maria Ulyanova were school teachers.  In 1889, he became a [[Marxist]] after his older brother Aleksandr was hanged for the attempted murder of Tsar Aleksandr III.  Lenin obtained a law degree shortly afterward, and hints at his more callous nature, including his intention of using starvations to foster his Marxist agenda, started showing itself by 1891 during the Volga famine. Acting as a high ranking member of the socialist intelligentsia at that time, he was the one voice who opposed supplying any relief aid to them, even going as far as to ruin the Samara charity committee in the process, citing that starving the peasantry would bring death to the old peasant economy and hasten their goal of Marxist revolution, or as he put it, "one shouldn’t improve [the peasants'] lives, but instead let them become bestial and unleash monstrous violence."<ref>https://canadafreepress.com/article/vladimir-lenin-russias-original-cold-blooded-communist-revolutionary</ref><ref>https://www.rferl.org/amp/lenin-at-150-even-without-covid-19-russia-was-set-to-snub-the-soviet-union-s-founder/30568383.html?fbclid=IwAR2s0upNQ-WaEeeXyJBcVF3mL1InW2ynJmOoqg7PkC7Y9OzPSL2X5bXaMDY</ref> By 1895, Lenin was a [[subversion (political)|subversive]] who was arrested and sent to a prison in [[Siberia]] as punishment.  He was in exile 1900-1917, during which time he married Nadezhda Krupskaya. He collaborated with Georgy Plekhanov and others to set up the clandestine newspaper ''Iskra'' (The Spark), designed to "ignite" radical consciousness.  In the pages of ''Iskra'', Lenin denounced any alliance with liberals or other elements of the bourgeoisie because they would keep power in the hands of the middle class. He emphasized social democracy—equality of condition, rather than political democracy, as the basis for individual freedom.  His major theoretical publication was the pamphlet "What Is to Be Done?"  (1902). In 1903 he organized and controlled the '''"Bolshevik"''' wing of the Russian Social Democratic Labor party, fighting the opposition "Mensheviks." Lenin, like his populist predecessors in the Russian radical movement, stressed the need for a small elite vanguard to lead the revolution

Despite the disapproval of the Mensheviks, Lenin's followers continued to raise money through a mixture of bank robberies, kidnapping, extortion, terrorism, and murder. Unlike the leaders of other Marxist organizations, Lenin did not spend the money on his own lifestyle and carefully strengthened his movement.  

Despite the disapproval of the Mensheviks, Lenin's followers continued to raise money through a mixture of bank robberies, kidnapping, extortion, terrorism, and murder. Unlike the leaders of other Marxist organizations, Lenin did not spend the money on his own lifestyle and carefully strengthened his movement.