The difficult life of a revolutionary

The film is part biography of Lenin, part documentary of the Russian Revolution, with the two stories very much inter-woven throughout. Petrograd is shown on the eve of and after the October Revolution, with banners being taken down, crowds marching, workers with guns on tanks, and a large crowd gathered outside the Winter Palace. This is cut together with images from the First World War. Stills are used as well as film. These capture images of war, protests, Mensheviks, riots and similar scenes.There are images of Lenin presenting his "April Theses" on his return to Petrograd; a priest blessing troops during the First World War; protests against the Provisional Government and the First World War; the abortive attempt by Bolsheviks to seize power in July 1917-riots. Finally, the film covers the uprising of General Kornilov, the Bolshevik revolt of October 1917, and the defeat of counter-revolutionary forces; with these battles won, the job of running a state is considered.