Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov was born in Simbirsk on the Volga River on 22 April 1870. His family were prosperous and well educated and would be considered part of the small middle class in Russia at the time. In 1887 Lenin’s older brother was executed for his involvement in a plot to kill Tsar Alexander III and this helped radicalise him. Lenin started to study law at Kazan University but was expelled for his political views. He managed to complete his law degree as an external student and then moved to St Petersburg.
There were many different opposition groups around at the time and Lenin joined the Russian Social Democratic Party (RSDLP). His activities soon came to the attention of the tsarist secret police (the Okhrana) and he was arrested a number of times. In 1900 he left Russia and in 1901 he adopted the name ‘Lenin’. He returned to Russia in the aftermath of the failed 1905 revolution but was soon in exile again and did not return to Russia until after the 1917 February revolution.
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