Great question. Here's a good book on an in depth look at Lenin's life. Goes really into detail about his childhood. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0674008286?pc_redir=1397253682&robot_redir=1

Alright. Lenin, whose real name is Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov, but later used the psuedonym everyone knows him by, was born in Simbersk, later renamed after him. Now this is important, he was not poor. Contrary to popular belief, he actually was somewhat rich. At least in Simbersk. The Ulyanovs were quite a well to do family, but always a little on the polical side. This is shown in Aleksandr, who tries to assassinate the emperor of Russia, Aleksandr III. I will get to this later.

Anyways, the Ulyanovs were well to do. Known all around Simbersk as a prominent family, and stressed virtues such as honesty. Vladimir was said to be extremely honest, once breaking a vase and hiding it for weeks before breaking down and telling his mother about it. This may be one reason he turned to communism, to deflect the autocratic monarchy and bring about a new society for the working class. Run by Good honest workers. The Ulyanovs were also big on education, and Vladimir was very well read and attended Saint petersburg university, and before that, Kazan federal. He was noted by his teachers for having 5s in all his classes. Same as his sister, Olga. But she is not important right now. In fact, after the assassination attempt by his brother, his gimnazia almost refused to give the award for highest grades. Aleksandr Kerenski's (leader of the 1917 2nd provisional govt.) dad, who was Vlad's teacher wrote a letter concerning the gimnazia's failure to give Ulyanov his reward.

Ive got the letter in my book here, somewhere, and if I find it, Ill post it.

So this is when our young Ulyanov got into one Nikolai Chernyshevski's writings. Nikolai was an agrairian socialist who wrote in a... controversial fashion. He wasnt well liked, but Vladimir seemed to identify with him well. Now Ulyanov takes on Chernyshevski's views on speeding up industrialization and cultural development. Is he a communist yet? Not quite, but almost. Just note that Chernyshevski's What is to be Done is detrimental to young Ulyanov's development. Also note Chernyshevski kept correspondence with our emerging Marx.

Alas, the weight of discrimination placed on the Ulyanov's after the assassination attempt was too much to bear. Now this is probably when he soldifies into communism. His family moves to Samara and with their small fortune left by the Ulyanov father, Nikolaevich, who had died a few years earlier, became land owners of an estate. Soon, a slight revolt comes about and Ulyanov i informed of peasants killing one of their land owners. This really shows Ulyanov how hard the peasants work and how little they get. This is where he runs correspondence with other other Marxists and joins the communists.

Huzzah, kamerade, just call about any more Communism slash Socialism questions.