Russian political leader (1870–1924) who provided the guiding spirit of the October Revolution, which led to the downfall of Russia's imperial government and the birth of the Soviet Union. Lenin's impassioned Marxist beliefs and personal charisma as first head of the Soviet state helped set the nation on a course that would have far-reaching, global ramifications until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Important autograph draft letters signed by Vladimir Lenin, three pages both sides, 4.5 x 7, no date but apparently circa August 1915. Lenin writes about the Zimmerwald Conference, calculating how many votes the central committee of the Bolshevik faction will have at the conference; criticizing Karl Radek's proposed address, of which he has a copy, for its lack of references to the fight against chauvinism; referring to Schklowsky, to the Swiss socialist Robert Grimm, and offering advice to his unidentified correspondent. Purple pencil annotations have been written in another hand. In fine condition.The Zimmerwald Conference, later to be called 'the founding mythos of the Soviet Union,' was held at the Beau Sejour Hotel in Zimmerwald, Switzerland, from September 5–8, 1915. It was the first of three international socialist conferences convened by anti-militarist socialist parties from countries that were originally neutral during World War I. Among the 37 members of the conference were Karl Radek, Leon Trotsky, Grigory Zinoviev, and Vladimir Lenin. With the Zimmerwald Conference began the unraveling of the coalition between revolutionary socialists (the so-called 'Zimmerwald Left') and reformist socialists in the Second International.Format: ALSs