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Lenin was just lucky

For many, the Soviet leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin is a Hegelian world historical figure who fulfilled his destiny as the leader of the world's first proletarian revolution - a man who rode a tidal wave which swept away the old Tsarist order and built a new Russia?

But not for everyone. Others contend that his success was dependent on Tsar Nicholas II's ineptitude, German help during World War I, Trotsky's political genius and rigged elections. They say he was just a gangster who got lucky.

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