importance of Lenin in the successful Bolshevik consolidation of power
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Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was born in 1870 into an educated middle class family, a man who would, in the months of 1917 prove fundamental in the successful Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia. A highly intelligent man and a voracious reader, Lenin was predominantly self-educated, with a thorough understanding of Russian politics. His extensive correspondence with fellow revolutionaries concerning the future of Russian politics, as well as numerous political and propagandist writings earned him many loyal contacts and a reputation for revolutionary brilliance that would further aid his involvement in the Bolshevik cause in 1917. His obsessive dedication, intellect and fierce opportunism proved him a master of revolution.
Vladimir Lenin's eagerness for revolution was ignited by the execution of his brother by Tsar Alexander III's forces after his assassination attempt. Lenin was an active revolutionary for many years after he graduated as a lawyer from University, during which he developed a fascination with communism, especially Marxism. He was exiled to Switzerland for his extreme revolutionary ideas in the conservative years after the revolution of 1905, of which he was not actively involved. However, during this exile Lenin further established himself as a great revolutionary writer, producing the prominent propagandist pamphlet "What is to be done?" outlining the official Bolshevik position; support for both Russia's involvement in the war and the Provisional Government must halt, and the soviets, preferably controlled by the Bolsheviks were "the one possible form of revolutionary government". He believed this would bring about the true socialist revolution he so desired...