Russia marks on Thursday the 140th anniversary...

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov Lenin was born in the provincial city of Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk) on the Volga River on April 22, 1870. His father was a secondary-school teacher.

In 1887, soon after the death of his father, Lenin"s older brother Alexander was arrested in St. Petersburg for plotting against the Tsar. He was convicted and hanged. The tragic event affected young Vladimir deeply, laying the foundation for his revolutionary ideas.

After graduating from high school with a gold medal, Lenin began studying at the University of Kazan, but was soon expelled for holding radical views.

In 1891, Lenin began studying at St. Petersburg University as an external student and was awarded a first class diploma in law in January 1892. During his time at university, Lenin started a Marxist underground movement.

In 1895, he travelled to Switzerland, where he met Social Democrat Georgy Plekhanov. After returning to Russia in 1895, Lenin established the Union of Struggle

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