The book includes two not quite ordinary biographical essays on the key figures in the history of the Soviet Union - V. Lenin and I. Stalin. These essays are neither encyclopedias of Leninism and Stalinism, nor the history of Russia in the era of Lenin and Stalin. They introduce the reader to the lives of these two extraordinary, contradictory personalities. In the center of the story is the revolutionary activities of the Soviet leaders and the government after the seizure of power. The sphere of personal life of these people is not left without attention.