Part I: The origins. The background : the rise of the revolutionary intelligentsia ; The marriage of feeling and reason ; The rise of a new faith ; The making of a hero ; The path of least resistance ; Against the stream : the youth of Vladimir Ulyanov -- Part II: The Iskra period. "From a spark a flame shall be kindled" : Iskra and the struggle for consciousness ; A program for social democracy -- Part III: The birth of Bolshevism and Menshevism. Unification and schism : the stillbirth of the RSDRP ; Bolshevism and Menshevism : the search for a definition ; The party and revolution -- Conclusion