Vladimir Ilitch Lenin, who died in 1924 at the age of fifty-four, went through two distinct periods in his life. He spent twenty years in exile dreaming of the revolution and creating his political tool-the Communist Party-with the Russian Revolution happening in his absence. But eight months after the Revolution, in October 1917, he gained total power. Within four years, amidst a society that had previously rejected him, he created the Party for Global Revolution and established the Communist Party.

How can the conquest and the preservation of a party's power that originated with only a few thousand members in a country of 140 million people be explained? How can the longevity and the global influence of Leninism be explained? In spite of the horrifying death toll of Lenin's regime-more than 14 million died-one must admit to his political genius. Lenin founded a system of power unprecedented in the history of the twentieth century.