Why did Ulyanov begin to call himself Lenin

Until 1917, the leader of the world proletariat, VI. Ulyanov, like other professional revolutionaries, had to live, observing the strictest secrecy. It was impossible for him to sign his articles and other works with his own name. Therefore, VI Ulyanov had to use pseudonyms, party names.

He had many aliases for printing. Part of the articles and brochures published abroad, he signed simply - N. In other cases, he signed S. Tulin, V. Ilyin, V. I-in. Sometimes as a pseudonym Ilyich used foreign names - Frey, Richter, Meyer.

Pseudonym Lenin, more precisely - N. Lenin appeared in the leader in 1901. With this pseudonym he began to sign his printed works. And it was under this name that went down in history. This name became so widely known that after the revolution of 1917 he began to sign "V. I. Ulyanov (Lenin).

Versions of why the leader of the world proletariat chose precisely this pseudonym, there are several.

The version is family, it's official. The leader's alias is derived from the name of the Lena River. The niece of Vladimir Ilyich, the daughter of his brother Dmitri, Olga Dmitrievna Ulyanova, wrote: "I have reason to suppose," wrote my father, "that this pseudonym comes from the name of the river Lena, so beautifully described by Korolenko. Vladimir Ilyich did not take the pseudonym Volgin, as he was sufficiently worn out, in particular, it was used, as is known, by Plekhanov, as well as by other authors, for example, the well-known God-seeker Glinka, etc. "

Researchers supporting this version believe that the name of this great river arose because Ilyich was in exile in Siberia, in Shushenskoye. But, apparently, this is not the point. Shushenskoye stands on the river Shush, the tributary of the Yenisei. If it were a question of Siberian impressions, it would be more logical to expect the alias "Shushin" or "Yenisein". The famous "Lena shooting" in the gold mines could not play any role here either, since it happened in 1912, when Ilyich was already using this pseudonym.

Probably, if the pseudonym really comes from the name of the Lena River, the matter is in a simple accident. Lenin - simply because it is not Volgin, at the peak of Plekhanov.

The second version belongs to the historian V. Loginov. In 1900, when Vladimir Ulyanov needed to go abroad, there was a difficulty with the passport. According to his "native" documents, of course, he would not be released anywhere. And then a friend of Nadezhda Konstantinovna, sympathizing with the revolutionary movement, gave Ilyich the passport of her father, Nikolai Yegorovich Lenin, in which he forwarded the date of birth. Having left for a counterfeit document abroad, Vladimir Ulyanov remained Lenin forever.

The third version belongs to the writer Alexei Golenkov. Everyone knows that Vladimir Ilyich was very fond of the work of Leo Tolstoy. Nadezhda Krupskaya recalls that on his way to exile in Shushenskoye, Vladimir Ulyanov read Tolstoy's novel The Cossacks. The hero of this novel, named OLENIN, also goes to exile, however, to the Caucasus, and not to Siberia. Tolstoy, according to Lenin, was the "Mirror of the Russian Revolution." And the thoughts, which are in part consonant with the revolutionary moods of Ulyanov-Lenin himself, are expounded also by the hero of the story OLENIN.

The fourth version. In one of the telecasts of the late 90s, a version was voiced that Vladimir Ulyanov took the pseudonym Lenin in honor of the Kazan student Helen Rozmirovich, in which, they say, he was unrequitedly in love with the years of his youth. And this is not the only Lena, who is credited with the honor of breaking the heart of the young leader. As other contenders for this role called Kazan beauty Elena Lenin, actress of the Mariinsky Theater Elena Zaretskaya and even some Elena St. Petersburg, in which Ilyich allegedly was in love.
This version for obvious reasons does not stand up to any criticism, however, it is quite popular.