One hundred years after his death Lenin, the father of the Bolshevik revolutionHe still lies exposed and embalmed in Red Square. But his legacy lingers in Russian society, especially after President Vladimir Putin accused him of doing so “invented” Ukraine.
This Sunday, the 100th anniversary of his death, there was no special event, only a Communist Party ceremony took place in his mausoleum near the Kremlin.
tourist attraction
After the death of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov on January 21, 1924 at the age of 53, the Soviet authorities, on Stalin's orders, decided to embalm his body build a mausoleum.
The red and black stone building was completed in October 1930. In 1953, Stalin's remains were placed next to Lenin's, but were removed in 1961 as part of de-Stalinization. During Soviet times, large crowds gathered at Lenin's remains. But these days Only some nostalgics continue to honor to the revolutionary leader.
This Sunday, despite temperatures of almost 15° below zero, a few dozen people gathered. Lenin “represents an ideal,” Valentina Alexandrovna, 78, told AFP. For this pensioner, “only” Lenin’s doctrine can enable Russia to “get out of the current situation.” Lenin's embalmed body remains for the rest of the year primarily a tourist attraction.
Every 18 months the mausoleum is closed so that scientists can repair the deterioration of its mummified remains. According to the state news agency TASS only 23% left Lenin's body in a bulletproof glass sarcophagus, stored at a temperature of 16 °C.
Putin, Lenin and Ukraine
Three days before the offensive against Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, Putin In a speech he denied the reality of the Ukrainian nation and accused Lenin of inventing Ukraine when founding the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
According to the Russian president, the Ukrainian state is on Russian soil; and Lenin, by creating Soviet republics with some autonomy, enabled the emergence of nationalism and the subsequent implosion of the USSR.
“From Due to Bolshevik policies, Soviet Ukraine came into being. It would be completely justified to call it Lenin's Ukraine. He is their inventor, their architect,” he said.
However, the figure of Lenin was not completely suppressed. His portrait is still in the museum today Center of many Russian citiesalthough most of his statues were destroyed after the fall of the USSR.
In Moscow, a 22-meter-high Lenin monument dominates Kaluga Square.
The Kremlin “needs Stalin”
Stalin is the leader Soviet, which Putin refers to most. And not just to denounce the cruel oppression of his regime, but to praise the statesman and war leader who defeated Hitler's Germany.
Since the start of the operation in Ukraine, Putin has framed his election campaign in the legacy of World War II, comparing the Ukrainian authorities to the Nazis.
In the eyes of the Kremlin, Stalin remains Winning model and Lenin a loser.
“The current power needs Stalin because he is both a hero and a villain,” Alexei Levinson, a sociologist at the independent pollster Levada, told AFP.
“He won the war, so all his atrocities have been erased,” he added.
“Lenin is the leader of the world revolution that never happened. Lenin is the leader.” of the world proletariat, unavailable. “Lenin is the creator of the socialist state, which no longer exists and no one wants it to emerge again,” the expert concludes.