Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) was a Russian political philosopher, revolutionary, and politician. Followers of his brand of Communism, inspired by the Karl Marx' and Friedrich Engels' anti-capitalist ideas, were called Bolsheviks. Bolsheviks supported the 1905 Russian revolution, which started with the massacre of civilians called Bloody Sunday. In February 1917 during WW1, a revolution overthrew the absolutist monarchy (since 1894 headed by Emperor Nicholas II). Bolsheviks led by Lenin took advantage of the ensuing instability to take over the power in a military coup in November 1917. Subsequently, they renamed Russia into Soviet Union, turning it into a repressive totalitarian one-party state. Lenin's interpretation of Marxism, modified by Joseph Stalin and known as Marxism-Leninism, became Soviet Union's official ideology.