The Spark That Lit the Revolution

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, spent 11 years in London at the beginning of the 1900s, where, in the same city Marx wrote Das Kapital , the roots of Lenin's political thought took shape. This book, from the former head of the Russian archive at the British library, tells the story for the first time of how Lenin met and fell in love with Apollinariya Yakubova – a revolutionary known as ' The Black Earth' - reveals his London-based accomplices and political mentors, and sheds new light on his world-view – one which would have such a crucial impact on the twentieth century. This is the first full exploration of the formation of one of the leading political visionaries of his age. Henderson has made a series of stunning archival discoveries, such as unearthing Lenin's reading ticket to the British Library (published here for the first time), as well as pictures and details of some of the Russian anarchists and communists who congregated in the east end of London - known then as 'little Russia'. Featuring an extraordinary amount of new archival material, this is an essential addition to our knowledge of the roots of Russian communism.