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Communist supporters with Lenin portrait in Moscow

Photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP

100 years after the death of the former revolutionary leader Vladimir Ilyich 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 Sunday at the mausoleum on Red Square.

The mummy of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (1870-1924), as his real name was, is on display in the building.

"We bow to Vladimir Ilyich," said Zyuganov.

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.

Where Putinism and Leninism intersect

Russian state television showed a debate on Sunday 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 was a "genius" who not only built a world with a new quality, but was also 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.

This dispute highlights the ideological orientation of today's Russia.

President Vladimir Putin is sometimes said to want to restore the Soviet Union.

In fact, Putin's points of contact do not lie with the socialists, but rather in the period before Lenin's revolution.

For several years now, the Kremlin has been spreading the message that under Lenin the Soviet leaders made the mistake of strengthening Ukrainian national feeling.

In fact, the Soviet leadership under Lenin initially tried for some time to use national currents in Soviet republics such as Ukraine for their own purposes.

This phase only lasted a short time and was replaced by oppression under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin (read more about this here).

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.

However, there is no fundamental conflict between the communists, who continue to revere Lenin, and the Kremlin.

The party supports Putin's war course.

beb/dpa