In 1900 he was released and fled from Russia, more ardent than ever for revolution. With fiendish devotion and intensity he set about the task of creating a revolutionary organization that could seize power in Russia. For most of the time after 1900 Lenin and his wife, Nadezhda, lived as exiles in Western Europe, going from city to city, often under aliases. Nadezhda in writing about Lenin gave a vivid account of their life in cheap boardinghouses. In Switzerland, on one occasion, they stayed in a room where the windows could be opened only at night because of the “intolerable stench” of a nearby sausage factory. Another time they took their meals at a house where, in the words of Lenin’s wife, “the very ‘lower depths’ of Zurich” congregated. Lenin was happiest when he could talk revolution. Nadezhda was constantly on guard to protect his health. Many times Lenin, engrossed in revolutionary activities, would work himself into a highly nervous state. One time, Nadezhda writes, he “came home after a heated debate ... I could hardly recognize him, his face was so drawn and he could barely speak.” She encouraged him to take a vacation. In London, Lenin “developed a nervous illness called ‘holy fire.’” Nadezhda, after consulting a medical student, painted him with iodine. She, however, couldn’t prevent her husband, lost in thought while pedaling a bicycle, from running into the back of a tram and “very nearly” knocking out an eye. Borrowing from the autocratic character of Marx himself, Lenin made Marxism a highly disciplined, organized, and ruthless creed. How can revolution be achieved? Not by democratic reforms, ballots, or good will but by naked, bloody violence. The sword is the weapon. Everything must be dedicated to this aim: one’s time, talents, one’s very life. Revolutions do not just happen. They are made. Lenin conceived of the Party as a vehicle of revolution. Marx, in his philosophical abstractions, had never thought out the day-to-day composition of the Party. Lenin did. The Party must be a small, tightly controlled, deeply loyal group. Fanaticism, not members, was the key. Members must live, eat, breathe, and dream revolution. They must lie, cheat, and murder if the Party was to be served. Discipline must be rigid. No deviations could be permitted. If an individual falters, he must be ousted. Revolutions cannot be won by clean hands or in white shirts; only by blood, sweat, and the burning torch. These ideas were all inherent in Marxist thought, but they waited for Lenin to translate them into organized action. In 1903 the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (which was the Russian Marxist Party) met in convention in Brussels. The proceedings were later transferred to London, after Belgian authorities had warned several of the delegates to leave the city. One session of the congress was routed by an army of vermin.