JANUARY 21, 1924

The day Lenin dies

On January 21, 1924, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, communism’s greatest icon, dies. His 1917 return to Russia in a sealed train car and the October Revolution not only usher in a new era, they also form the basis of a clash of ideologies under his successor, Joseph Stalin, which keeps the world holding its breath for half a century. But what if Lenin had lived 20 years longer? Would terror, purges, and oppression prevail under his rule, as well? In 1932/33 alone, more than 5 million people starve to death as a result of Stalin’s forced collectivization of agriculture. In 1917 Lenin granted each rural resident the right to a portion of land. He must have sensed peril, because in 1923 he wrote: “Stalin is too crude, and this defect cannot be tolerated. I suggest he be deposed.” A year later Lenin dies and Stalin seizes power.