7 The 100 Most Influential World Leaders of All Time 7

later, Gandhi accepted a truce, called off civil disobedi-
ence, and agreed to attend the Round Table Conference in
London as the sole representative of the Indian National
Congress. The conference, which concentrated on the
problem of the Indian minorities rather than on the trans-
fer of power from the British, was a great disappointment
to the Indian nationalists. Moreover, when Gandhi
returned to India in December 1931 he found his party
facing an all-out offensive, as the colonial administration
unleashed the sternest repression in the history of the
nationalist movement. Gandhi was once more imprisoned
for a time, and the government tried to insulate him from
the outside world and destroy his influence.
In 1934 Gandhi retired as head of the party but
remained its actual leader. Gradually he became convinced
that India would receive no real freedom as long as it
remained in the British Empire. Early in World War II he
demanded immediate independence as India’s price for
aiding Britain in the war. He was imprisoned for the third
time, from 1942 to 1944.
Gandhi’s victory came in 1947 when India won inde-
pendence. However, the subcontinent was split into two
countries (India and Pakistan) and incited Hindu-Muslim
riots. On January 30, 1948, while on his way to an evening
prayer meeting, Gandhi was killed by Nathuram Godse, a
young Hindu fanatic who had been maddened by the
Mahatma’s efforts to reconcile Hindus and Muslims.

Vladimir Ilich Lenin

(b. April 10 [April 22, New Style], 1870, Simbirsk, Russia—d. Jan. 21,
1924, Gorki [later Gorki Leninskiye], near Moscow)

V

ladimir Ilich Lenin was the founder of the Russian

Communist Party (Bolsheviks), inspirer and leader