It's a highly subjective point. I mean, was Lenin committed to the Revolution because he thought it would make peoples' lives better, or was he motivated by the same hatred and envy that motivates the Left today? And does that make it any less selfish?

Sure, there's a bit more attenuation between cause and effect when the person is engaging in a level of lying to oneself. At the same time, Lenin's formative event was the fact that his older brother was executed for being part of a plot to kill the Tsar.

To bring it all full circle, there's a joke about Georgians that goes as follows:

"I want to drink to Givi," says the first Georgian. "When his father was murdered, he went out and found the three men who did it and killed them."

"No, let's drink Gogi," says the second one. "When his brother was killed, he went out and found the men who did it and killed them and all their families."

"In that case," says the third one, "Let's drink to Lenin. He got revenge on the entire country when they killed his brother!"