The collection “Leader” continues the series of political biographies begun at the publishing house with the book “Stolypin. Life and Death" [1]. Despite the fact that V.I. Lenin can be said to be the most famous political figure of our century, his true biography has never been written. To this day, Lenin is a familiar stranger to many. Who was he? “An inveterate villain,” as ardent anti-communists now call him, or a “mountain eagle,” as the most orthodox Bolshevik I. Stalin called him? The answer to this question, to some extent, is provided by the materials of this collection, among the authors of which are both loyal comrades of the leader of the revolution and his most irreconcilable opponents, as well as people who did not belong to either camp.