In the twentieth century the most obvious heirs to Marx have been
the leaders of the former Soviet Union. The most ideologically
creative and politically influential of these were Vladimir Illich Lenin
(born V. I. Ulyanov) [1870-1924] and Ioseph Stalin (born Ioseph
Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili) [1879—1953]. They led this successor
state to the Russian Empire in their capacities as secretaries of the