He changed his country and the entire world, but a century following his death, virtually no one cares regarding his legacy. The Russian Government has not organized any event for the 100th anniversary of the death of the padre of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, Lenin, which was fulfilled this Sunday. Only around half a thousand people came to his mausoleum – being generous – to honor the memory of the man who established, with the sacrifice of thousands of victims, the first socialist State in history and elevated Moscow to the status of a superpower. For the Kremlin, the figure of Lenin is more uncomfortable than that of Stalin, winner of his Great Patriotic War – the Russian front in World War II – and Vladimir Putin, passionate regarding history, prefers to remember wars and tsars first. than events that evoke revolutions.
The leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Gennady Zyuganov, went to Moscow’s Red Square to place a bouquet of flowers on the grave of his predecessor. This framework was a golden opportunity for a party that in two months will compete in the presidential elections as the supposed great alternative to Putin. Before arriving at the place, the head of the communists since 1993 remarked in an interview that “Lenin showed that in five years you can change your policy four times”, words that draw attention in light of the party’s official policy: Zyuganov has been one of Putin’s main supporters in the Russian Parliament in the last quarter of a century.
Other communists who braved Moscow’s minus 12 degrees to honor Lenin, most of them elderly, were more critical. “People demonstrate everywhere abroad, they show their anger at their situation, while here we have silence and we go straight to prison. All laws are once morest us. There is no popular will, everything is prohibited,” lamented an elderly woman named Lidia as she stood in line to place a rose at Lenin’s grave. “Putin has destroyed everything that socialism brought and disdains its figure. “He covers his mausoleum with a sign every time there is a holiday,” she added with resignation.
Russia has not experienced a general strike since the 1917 Revolution, not even in the last 30 years. “Lenin’s ideas are unacceptable for this State. Since he cannot exercise a socialist policy, he has become a capitalist,” stated Víktor, 85 years old. “Lenin was a great man, the founder of the first State of workers and peasants, the first State of a just society,” said this man who defined himself as a “lifelong communist.”
While hundreds of people queued to enter the mausoleum, many more walked indifferently on the other side of the fence that divided Red Square between Christmas trees and attractions that have not yet been removed. According to the VTsIOM sociological studies center, around 49% of Russians have a positive view of Lenin, although in general they only consider him a historical figure from the past and do not care if his remains are moved to another place, a debate that still eludes the Kremlin.
Preference for Stalin
The Soviet figure that the current Russian Government praises is that of Stalin, who represents stability and order in the country’s imagination, despite the fact that behind his firmness there was an enormous human cost. “Putin’s policy is being outlined with that of Stalin, this is more evident with each passing year,” said Elizaveta, a young woman who appeared in Red Square with a poster of the Soviet dictator and who stated that Putin “finally honors “Russian history.” Her partner, Alexander, carried another one by Lenin. “Putin inherited a destroyed country from Yeltsin before adopting this —Stalinist— policy. He has restored everything destroyed in 20 years. “That the current president chooses a policy similar to that of this historical figure says something special regarding him,” the young man added following praising that school history books “already present the Soviet Union as something positive.”
This couple did not define themselves as socialists nor did they emphasize Soviet social policies, but rather highlighted the work of Lenin and Stalin in industrializing the country and elevating its role to that of a power. “It cannot be said that communism or capitalism are bad, each system has its pros and cons,” said Alexánder.
At that small meeting there was an argument between several communists and two Russians dressed in military uniforms who renounced that formation. “Look at them. Zyuganov destroyed the Soviet Union together with Gorbachev. These people have simply let themselves be fooled and think that Zyuganov is a great guy, but he is a traitor, he voted for the law that allowed the entry of foreign companies like Shell, Chevron or Mitsubishi,” Vadim, 49, argued to this newspaper following argue with several older people who said goodbye to him with a resounding insult once morest Putin.
“Lenin is an ambiguous figure,” Vadim continued. “He led the revolution following arriving in Russia by train from Germany, and liberated Poland and Finland from the Russian empire, with whom there was later a war. With Stalin it was different, he put aside the world revolution to focus on his country,” added the man, who according to his account had recently served in the army and considered Ukraine “an artificial state” created arbitrarily by Lenin.
Follow all the international information on Facebook y Xor our weekly newsletter.
to continue reading
_
