My late dad and I used have this argument about Lenin's motivation. He always said I was "overestimating the personal" with respect to the Bolshevik Revolution and horrific murders of the last of the Romanovs. But I've always held that had Illych not seen the royal family execute his brother at the tender age of 16 he might not have been the revolutionary he became. His family, after all, was not of the peasant class. I've never read this but the brief intro makes it sound as though it is along the lines of what I have always believed.

Not many people know that Lenin was baptized as a child. One of the more telling things, imo, about his motivation was his answer to the question, "When did you stop believing in God?" He said, "At age 16." Not coincidentally, his age when he witnessed his brother's execution.