Lenin on the Train

One of The Economist's Best Books of the Year A  gripping, meticulously researched account of Lenin’s fateful 1917 rail  journey from Zurich to Petrograd, where he ignited the Russian  Revolution and forever changed the world In April 1917, as the  Russian Tsar Nicholas II’s abdication sent shockwaves across war-torn  Europe, the future leader of the Bolshevik revolution Vladimir Lenin was  far away, exiled in Zurich. When the news reached him, Lenin  immediately resolved to return to Petrograd and lead the revolt. But to  get there, he would have to cross Germany, which meant accepting help  from the deadliest of Russia’s adversaries. Millions of Russians at home  were suffering as a result of German aggression, and to accept German  aid―or even safe passage―would be to betray his homeland. Germany, for  its part, saw an opportunity to further destabilize Russia by allowing  Lenin and his small group of revolutionaries to return. Now, in Lenin on the Train,  drawing on a dazzling array of sources and never-before-seen archival  material, renowned historian Catherine Merridale provides a riveting,  nuanced account of this enormously consequential journey―the train ride  that changed the world―as well as the underground conspiracy and  subterfuge that went into making it happen. Writing with the same  insight and formidable intelligence that distinguished her earlier  works, she brings to life a world of counter-espionage and intrigue,  wartime desperation, illicit finance, and misguided utopianism.  When Lenin arrived in Petrograd’s now-famous Finland Station, he  delivered an explosive address to the impassioned crowds. Simple and  extreme, the text of this speech has been compared to such momentous  documents as Constantine’s edict of Milan and Martin Luther’s  ninety-five theses. It was the moment when the Russian revolution became  Soviet, the genesis of a system of tyranny and faith that changed the  course of Russia’s history forever and transformed the international  political climate.