How the ‘Red Terror’ Exposed the True Turmoil of Soviet Russia 100 Years Ago

On Aug. 30, 1918, Fanny Kaplan, a 28-year-old member of Russia’s Socialist Revolutionary Party, brandished a pistol at that day’s guest to the Mikhelson factory in Moscow. As its workforce gathered to wave off their esteemed visitor, Vladimir Lenin, Kaplan catcalled at him. When the Soviet leader turned to face the culprit, three shots rang out. Seconds later, amid the chaos, a wounded Lenin was spirited off to the Kremlin and Kaplan apprehended.

Or so the official Soviet line went.