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Vladimir Lenin Facts & Worksheets

Vladimir Lenin, widely known as “Lenin,” was a Russian revolutionary thinker and politician.

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Vladimir Lenin, widely known as “Lenin,” was a Russian revolutionary thinker and politician. He served his country as the head of Government from 1917 to 1924. Russia and the Soviet Union became a one-party communist state, headed by the Russia Communist Party. He was known for his own idea of communism, a variant or type of “Marxism,” known as “Leninism.” After his death, his ideas then became known as “Marxism-Leninism.”

See the fact file below for more information on the Vladimir Lenin or alternatively, you can download our 24-page Vladimir Lenin worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

Early Life

  • Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, widely known as Vladimir Lenin, was born on April 22, 1870 in Simbirsk, Russian Empire.
  • His childhood nickname was “Volodya”, which was a shortened version of his name.
  • He was born to Ilya Nikolayevich Ulyanov, who came from a family of serfs, and a well educated woman named Maria Alexandrovna Blank.
  • The ethnicity of his father remains unclear – historians’ speculations suggest that he was Russian, Chuvash, Mordvin, or Kalmyk.
  • His father studied physics and mathematics, then taught at Kazan Imperial University before teaching at the Penza Institute for Nobility, resulting in his rise from lower to middle class.
  • His mother came from a prosperous family.
  • Being a Lutheran by upbringing, her mother Maria was indifferent to Christianity, influencing her children’s beliefs.

Education and Activism

  • Vladimir Lenin was a well-educated man, and studied law at Kazan University, yet he was expelled from the school after three months.
  • In August 1887, just after entering Kazan University, Lenin joined a society that represented people from a specific region, and he became part of a zemlyachestvo.
  • Lenin was elected as its representative to the university’s zemlyachestvo council, in which he took part in demonstrations against government restrictions banning student societies.
  • Being arrested and accused as a ringleader in the demonstration, Lenin was then expelled from the university.
  • He was not only expelled, but also exiled from his family at the Kokushkino Estate by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
  • The Ministry only allowed him to go back to Kazan after being convinced by his concerned mother who possessed a noble reputation.
  • In 1980, his mother also persuaded the authorities to permit Lenin to take an exam at the University of St Petersburg.
  • His graduation happened coincidentally with the death of his sister Olga, due to typhoid fever.
  • Nevertheless, Lenin finished and obtained his first degree with honors.

Lenin and Marxism

  • After joining Nikolai Fedoseev’s revolutionary circle, he discovered Karl Marx’s Capital.
  • Capital by Karl Marx is a book that caught his interests and sparked his fascination with Marxism.
  • In 1889, Lenin produced a Russian translation of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel’s The Communist Manifesto, a political pamphlet originally written in 1848.
  • Lenin devoted himself greatly to radical politics.
  • He formulated ideas on how Marxism could be applied to Russia.

Lenin’s Activism

  • Lenin moved to St. Petersburg in 1893 and worked as a barrister or a lawyer’s assistant.
  • He rose to a position in a Marxist revolutionary cell called the “Social-Democrats.”
  • In 1894, 200 copies of a political tract written by Lenin entitled What the “Friends of the People” Are and How They Fight the Social-Democrats, criticising agrarian-socialists. They were illegally printed.
  • He was one of the 40 activists charged with sedition due to distributing illegal political materials.
  • Although Lenin denied all charges against him, he remained imprisoned for a year before sentencing.
  • He spent this time writing and theorising.
  • In February 1897, he was sentenced to three years’ exile in eastern Siberia.
  • He then finished his longest book, The Development of Capitalism in Russia (1899), criticising the agrarian-socialists while promoting a Marxist analysis of Russian economic development.

Political Ideology

  • Vladimir Lenin was known for being a devout Marxist.
  • His Marxist worldview made him believe in and stand for pure communism, where society would be classless and more egalitarian.
  • He believed that people must be free from exploitation and that everyone deserves the right to control their own destiny according to their abilities and needs.
  • He believed that society cannot be directly transformed by turning to communism, but first, it must become a socialist state.
  • His first concern was how to turn Russia into a socialist state.
  • Although greatly influenced by Marx, his own ideas were not only the result of Russian Marxist theory alone, but also by wider ideas from the Russian revolutionary movement.

Death

  • In March of 1923, Lenin suffered from a stroke.
  • The stroke took his ability to speak, and he experienced partial paralysis on his right side and began exhibiting sensory aphasia.
  • His health continued to decline, and on January 21, 1924, Vladimir Lenin fell into a coma and died.

Vladimir Lenin Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about Vladimir Lenin across 24 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Vladimir Lenin worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Vladimir Lenin, widely known as “Lenin”, who was a Russian revolutionary thinker and politician.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Vladimir Lenin Facts
  • Being Vladimir
  • From School To Streets
  • Timeline Check
  • Lenin’s Crossword
  • Belief Cartoons
  • The Communist Manifesto
  • Leninism Pros and Cons
  • Communist Leaders
  • Radical Wall
  • Lenin’s Legacy

Frequently Asked Questions

What did Lenin believe?

Leninism is an idea about how a country should be run. It was created by Vladimir Lenin. He believed that a group of people called the proletariat should rule the country. A proletariat is a group of people who don’t own land or factories and have to work for other people. They would be led by a vanguard party. This would help establish communism, which is a society where everyone is equal and no one has more than anyone else.

Who is Lenin?

Lenin was a Russian lawyer, revolutionary, and leader of the Bolshevik party. He is most known for his leading role in the October Revolution which gave rise to communism in Russia. Lenin’s ideas became known as Leninism.

What did Vladimir Lenin promise?

Vladimir Lenin was aware of the displeasure of the people living in Russia. He guaranteed them several things they desired – his slogan was peace, bread, and land. This ensured his popularity. Lenin belonged to a group of revolutionaries known as the Bolsheviks.

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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