http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (Russian: Влади́мир Ильи́ч Ле́нин; April 22 [O.S. April 10] 1870 – January 21, 1924), born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Russian: Влади́мир Ильи́ч Улья́нов) and also known by the pseudonyms V.I. Lenin and N. Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, a communist politician, the principal leader of the October Revolution, the first head of the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic and, from 1922, the first de facto leader of the Soviet Union. In 1999, he was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.[1] His contributions to Marxist theory are commonly referred to as Leninism.
WOW notice how many names Lenin went by
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Lenin
Your link also has this:
After the 1917 February Revolution in Russia and the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, Lenin realized that he must return to Russia as soon as possible, but this was problematic because he was isolated in neutral Switzerland as the First World War raged throughout neighboring states. The Swiss communist Fritz Platten nonetheless managed to negotiate with the German government for Lenin and his company to travel through Germany by rail, on the so-called “sealed train”. The German government clearly hoped Lenin’s return would create political unrest back in Russia, which would help to end the war on the Eastern front, allowing Germany to concentrate on defeating the Western allies. Once through Germany, Lenin continued by ferry to Sweden; the remainder of the journey through Scandinavia was subsequently arranged by Swedish communists Otto Grimlund and Ture Nerman.
On April 16, 1917, Lenin arrived by train to a tumultuous reception at Finland Station, in Petrograd.[20] He immediately took a leading role within the Bolshevik movement, publishing the April Theses,[21] which called for an uncompromising opposition to the provisional government. Initially, Lenin isolated his party through this lurch to the left. However, this uncompromising stand meant that the Bolsheviks were to become the obvious home for all those who became disillusioned with the provisional government, and with the “luxury of opposition” the Bolsheviks did not have to assume responsibility for any policies implemented by the government.[22]
Meanwhile, Aleksandr Kerensky, Grigory Aleksinsky and other opponents of the Bolsheviks accused them and Lenin in particular of being paid German agents.[23] In response Leon Trotsky, a prominent new Bolshevik leader, made a defensive speech on July 17, saying:
“ An intolerable atmosphere has been created, in which you as well as we are choking. They are throwing dirty accusations at Lenin and Zinoviev. Lenin has fought thirty years for the revolution. I have fought twenty years against the oppression of the people. And we cannot but cherish a hatred for German militarism. … I have been sentenced by a German court to eight months’ imprisonment for my struggle against German militarism. This everybody knows. Let nobody in this hall say that we are hirelings of Germany.[24]
And yet, despite what the politician Trotsky said, the charge was still true -- at least in a sense.
My understanding of the facts is as follows:
Lenin was shipped to Russia by the Germans, and paid by the Germans, to do the Germans' bidding, which was: take Russia out of the war!
First of all, how could this NOT be true?
The Germans had already invested untold sums of money and almost countless German lives in trying to defeat Russia. How could they NOT see the opportunity Lenin represented?
Second, let us just suppose, for sake of argument, that my understanding here is FALSE! Let us just suppose that IT'S NOT TRUE, let's say that LENIN WAS NOT PAID BY THE GERMANS to take Russia out of the war.
Suppose that Lenin provided that service to the Germans FREE OF CHARGE! Would we not then say that the Germans of 1917-1918 had received one of the best bargains of any nation in history?
Would we not say the Germans were "brilliant," to get Lenin to do their bidding WITHOUT PAYING HIM?
But I don't think I am wrong. I think Lenin probably was paid by the Germans, and if I can find you a source (beyond what I remember reading somewhere) for that, I will.
Naturally, Lennin & company would deny it, and we have no proof one way or the other.
But we do have evidence, and here is a curious example indeed:
Note that the author, in 1922, speaks of German General Ludendorf shipping the bacillus of Marxism to Russia, and of receiving payments from the Germans.
An Eyewitness Account of Lenin's Sealed Train
So I'll say again, given the historical context, how could it NOT be true?
"This is Michael Pearson's astonishing book The Sealed Train (1975) which documents Lenin's mysterious journey from Switzerland to Russia where together with his followers (and millions in gold) he was able to start the bloody Bolshevik revolution.
"In March 1917, Lenin was living in Zurich in poverty, the exiled head of a small extremist revolutionary party that had relatively little following even within Russia. Eight months later, he assumed the rule of 160,000,000 people occupying one-sixth of the inhabited surface of the world, something no other conquerer in the history has done before.
"The Sealed Train is the story of those thirty-four fantastic weeks.
"The train itself and the bizarre journey across Germany, then at war with Russia, are a vital and dramatic link in the story. For without the train, Lenin could not have reached St. Petersburg when he did, and if Lenin had not returned to Russia, the history of the world would have been very different.
"It is one of the great ironies of history that without the help of the German Emperor - the archproponent of the imperialist capitalist system that Lenin was dedicated to destroy - Lenin could never have achieved what he did. His establishment of a socialist state, the first stage in what he hoped would be a world Communist system, was made possible only by German cooperation, a German train and the massive German finance that followed it.
"Lenin gained his revolution even if it did not assume the immediate global proportions he expected.
"The Kaiser gained the separate peace he wanted on the Eastern Front so that he could concentrate his forces in France - as well as a side benefit of vast areas of territory that had once formed part of the Tsarist Empire.
"Find out how supposed enemies were in reality secretly cooperating together in order to enslave millions of people and cause untold suffering which later followed. 265 pages. A must read for everyone."