On the 100th anniversary of Lenin’s death
Russian communists gather in Red Square
January 21, 2024, 3:46 p.m
Red Square in Moscow is particularly red today. Communists remember the founder of the Soviet Union. Russian state television, however, is using the anniversary of Lenin’s death to attest to the revolutionary leader’s serious mistakes in line with today’s Kremlin line.
100 years after the death of the Russian revolutionary leader Lenin, communists in Moscow and other cities commemorated the founder of the Soviet Union. Lenin founded a socialist state for the first time in the world, said communist leader Gennady Zyuganov on Red Square at the mausoleum. The mummy of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (1870-1924), as his real name was, is on display in the building.
“We bow to Vladimir Ilyich,” Zyuganov said. To commemorate the event, some communists gathered and laid flowers. Zyuganov said that Lenin tried to build a world with justice and friendship between peoples – without capitalism. The Soviet Union existed for almost 70 years until it collapsed in December 1991 and capitalism returned. Despite being 53 years old at the time of his death, Lenin changed the world.
State TV reminds us of the greatness of Russia before Lenin
Russian state television showed a debate between Zyuganov and a moderator loyal to the Kremlin who, in the tone of today’s Russian historiography, accused Lenin of serious errors. In contrast, Zyuganov insisted that the leader of the socialist October Revolution of 1917, as a “genius”, had not only built a world with a new quality, but was still the founder of an alternative social model to this day. The moderator emphasized that Russia was already a world power during the times of the tsars before Lenin’s revolution. Although Lenin was a great historical figure, he also made major historical mistakes.
Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin had accused Lenin of serious mistakes in the past, but spoke out against burying the body because of many people’s attachment to history. From a Western historical perspective, Lenin is seen as a pioneer of a state reign of terror and violence in which people who thought differently were politically persecuted or wiped out.