This visionary who dreamed of a government by the workers was a product of the Russian middle class and the political conflicts of this period in history. While recounting the details of Lenin’s life, this program presents an outline of Marxist socialism and the historical forces that brought the workers’ government to power and reduced Imperial Russia to ashes. Lenin was studying to become a lawyer when his brother was assassinated for revolutionary activities. Dismissed from the university, Lenin began to read the writings of Karl Marx. Lenin was arrested by the Tsar, sentenced to exile, and, after his release, he moved to Switzerland where he joined other Russians in their socialist activities during World War I. When the Tsar’s forces crumbled on the Eastern Front, Lenin’s group outlasted democratic rivals to seize and hold power for the Communist Party. (13 minutes)