year, on the 10th April—the 23rd by our
calendar. He was born in Simbirsk in the
Volga region. His father was by origin a
peasant. His mother came of the same stock.
Consequently Lenin is a pure born Russian.
His family were always on the side of the revolution,
his brother Alexander being executed
in 1887 by order of Alexander II. Lenin
attended the university of Kazan, but was expelled
for taking part in a students' demonstration.
In spite of this he took his degree.
In 1890 he was exiled to Siberia and then went to Geneva, where he spent a great deal of time in the libraries studying Marx and the literature of the revolution.
It is often stated that his wife and he live apart. This is one of those falsehoods which it has suited the enemies of socialism to perpetrate against one of the most high-souled men that ever led a popular movement. Nadiezda Krupskaya-Ulianova, wife of Lenin, has always been his most active helper both in the secret and public organisation of Russian socialism and she is still his most ardent helper and friend.
During the war he was active at Zimmerwald and at the Kienthal Conferences. He has always opposed pure pacifism and has taken the stand that the socialists' reply to war was revolution. I met him on the day of my 61st birthday. I found him in a quite
