Death of Vladimir I. Lenin

On 21 January 1924 in Gorky, the founder of the Soviet Union, Vladimir I. Lenin, leader of the ruling Communist Party, dies at the age of 53.

© CIDC Waiting line of mourners in front of the Lenin mauloseum on Red Square in Moscow

Because of multiple strokes he had already turned over his governmental duties to Josef W. Stalin, Grigori Sinoviev, and Leo Kamenev. Lenin’s body is embalmed and, as witnessed by hundreds of thousands of people, interred in a mausoleum on Red Square.