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The man who would began the transformation of Russia was one Vladimir Ilych Ulyanov. Ulyanov was born in 1870 in Simbirsk, Russia. At the age of 17 Ulyanov's elder brother Alexander was executed for conspiracy to assassinate the Tsar Alexander III. The young Ulyanov like his brother was a revolutionary who believed in the teachings of Karl Marx. In 1890, at the age of only twenty, Ulyanov began the Social Democratic Party (SD's) which had a small leadership as to avoid detection from the Okhrana - the Tsarist secret police. Furthermore to escape the same fate as his brother, Ulyanov was forced to consistently change his name - one such alias Lenin remained when he came to power. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin or V.I. Lenin was now beginning his quest for power. Throughout this time Lenin not only used false names, he also had a series of disguises including a famous period when he wore a wig and was clean shaven.The initial party members included Leon Trotsky, the Georgian Josef Stalin , Lev Kamenev and Gregory Zinoviev. However despite becoming Lenin's successor , at this time Stalin was a diminuitive figure within the party and it was Trotsky who held the position as Lenin's closest confidant
Russian History [Continue]
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The Bolsheviks stood for the idea that everyone would be the same and in this way government would eventually not be needed. Lenin and his party would then be able to bridge this timeframe and it would be his party that would set up the Marxist prinicple of not having a government and so everyone would, in effect, have a say in the running of their country. However under Bolshevism, one such method of requiring power was by revolution and that it could mean by violent uprisings if needed.
The party however lacked the wide public support of Russia at this time. The majority of the 180 million people were still loyal to the Tsar. Lenin and his Party needed to capitalise on any opportunity to criticise Tsar Nicholas II in their quest to him from power and install their Bolshevik government. Throughout thus time Lenin and the Bolsheviks were wanted men, if caught they would be arrested for conspiracy and treason. Lenin, himself was arrested twice in 1887 and in 1895 when he was exiled to Siberia
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