Lenin: The Train (1988)

In 1917, Lenin, a refugee in Switzerland near Geneva with his wife Nadezhda Krupskaya, is approached by German intermediaries about returning to Russia, then governed by Kerensky. The Kerensky government favors continuing the war, whereas Lenin wants to end it as soon as possible, which is of interest to the German General Staff. The operation is delicate, since, among other things, a special train carrying Russian revolutionaries must cross imperial Germany, which is at war with Russia, in the utmost secrecy. A dubious go-between, both revolutionary and businessman, immensely wealthy and recently naturalized as a German citizen (Alexander Parvus), who initiated the venture, spares no effort—but to no avail, since Lenin will not even agree to meet him, delegating this dirty work to one of his associates, the Austro-German revolutionary Karl Radek. Lenin first tries to have as many revolutionaries of every tendency as possible accompany him on the journey, including Mensheviks and anarchists, but they all back out. His former mistress, Inessa Armand, does join him, hoping to continue on to Moscow to see her children, and also to see Lenin again. In the end, Lenin manages to gather around thirty people, including Grigory Zinoviev and Karl Radek. The journey begins. The small group is accompanied by two German officers: a colonel, who fully understands the strategic importance of his mission, and a young, fervent nationalist captain, who nearly jeopardizes the operation several times. Lenin and his entourage have no contact with the two German officers overseeing their train, except through Fritz Platten, a Swiss socialist traveling with them. A line drawn in chalk on the floor of the carriage by the German colonel marks the physical boundary of the extraterritorial status granted to the Russian revolutionaries. Difficulties arise from the outset: Swiss customs officers prevent the group from taking provisions, which they will sorely miss while crossing Germany, where food is scarce. During a stop in Germany, Radek takes it upon himself to harangue German workers in Lenin’s name from a carriage window, nearly causing the operation to fail. This is followed by a stormy, closed-door meeting chaired by Lenin, which brings to light personal quarrels among some of the group, particularly between Zinoviev and Radek. In Berlin, the young German captain—who at one point plans to kill Lenin—nearly wrecks the whole operation through his fiancée, who has connections at the War Ministry. Throughout the journey, Lenin also suffers from bouts of illness. At the final stop before leaving Germany, Lenin, who until then has agreed to meet no one from outside the group, gets off the train to hold a lengthy meeting in a car with German plenipotentiaries. He wants to ensure that the funds due to him through Alexander Parvus—whom he wants nothing to do with—are handed over to him directly, a concession he succeeds in securing. Later, in Stockholm, Parvus expects at last to meet a grateful and indebted Lenin, but learns from Radek that he has been outmaneuvered, which sends him into a violent rage. At last, the train manages to leave Germany. The delicate mission of the two German officers is over. The young captain, still as fervent as ever and additionally suffering from romantic disappointment—during his brief stop in Berlin, he realized his fiancée was cheating on him—will go to his death in yet another “heroic charge” on the French front. After a short boat crossing, the group makes it to Sweden. On the boat, Lenin gathers information and learns that the Russian army, despite its iron discipline (one scene shows the mass execution of deserters), is suffering numerous defections. They finally reach Finland, then part of Russia, before heading south to Petrograd. Once they arrive in Russia, one last incident occurs: a Russian cavalry officer tries to stop the train and arrest Lenin, but Lenin turns the situation around with a brief speech from his carriage window. After these six memorable days of travel, Lenin does not know whether he will be cheered or shot when he steps off the train. But a jubilant crowd, led by red flags, welcomes him with honor. Inessa Armand, to whom Lenin has finally confided that he intends to stay with his wife, quietly slips away to board a train bound for Moscow.