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Evaluating Lenin in the Indian Context


By Madan G Singh

Vladimir Lenin has an important place in the 20th century. Unfortunately, his name is associated with more negative qualities than positive qualities. He was an intellectual with a formidable brain and he wrote many books and papers during his time in Russia. He ushered in what is called the communist state but that state created by him collapsed within 5 decades of his death and now Russians feel that Lenin led them up the garden path into a state which was tyrannical and had restricted personal freedom.

Lenin and Russia

Lenin remains a historical figure in Russia and his body on his death was embalmed and kept in the mausoleum in Red Square. Any dignitary visiting Russia was dutifully taken to visit the mausoleum of Lenin on Red Square After the collapse of communism and the breakup of Russia into 18 countries the realization dawned on the Russian people that Lenin had led them up the garden path. There were many who wanted the body from the mausoleum to be removed like Stalin. People will recollect that Stalin's body was also kept in the mausoleum in Red Square along with that of Lenin but after Nikita Khrushchev became first Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, the body was removed and is now buried in the crypt in the Kremlin wall.

The mausoleum of Lenin is no longer a place of pilgrimage for those who come to Moscow and the Russian government spends no money to maintain the mausoleum. It is maintained by the Communist Party of Russia with its own funds. it's a moot point how long the body will remain in Red Square as there are many demands to remove the body from there. There is no doubt that Lenin did electrify the world in 1917, in what is known as the as the October revolution. This revolution which was supposed to give a lot of hope to the Russian people, unfortunately, did exactly the opposite. The Russian people came under the jackboots of the Communist Party through the Secret police, the NKVD and people began to fear the Midnight knock. Lenin was responsible for creating the police state so excellently brought out brought out by George Orwell in his book 1984.

The man

Lenin was an intellectual, nobody will deny that but his mind was warped and there are some facts which cannot be condoned. There is some evidence that when he was the dictator of Russia, he may have ordered the murder of Tsar Nicholas II and his children in Siberia. The Tsar who was a prisoner of the Communist Party was shot dead along with his family on the pretext or being taken for a family photo. The house of Romanoff was finished and many Russians even now shudder at this.

Lenin has another distinction. He is the first man in world history to have brought into effect the concentration camp. This is very sad as Russia has a great tradition and certainly having a concentration camp is not is not something to be proud of.

Lenin was not much concerned about India and there is no evidence that he mentioned about India anytime in any of his writings or speeches. For him, India was a nonexistent country and he always considered it to be a part of the British Empire. Lenin had no respect for any of the Indian leaders during his time including Gandhi, Tilak, or Gokhale. In India, we have the Communist Party of India which initially was an extension of the Russian Communist Party. This party is known to have been an anti-Nationalist party and during the famous Quit India Movement of 1942, Communist Party of India supported the British. This is a historical fact and most of the communist leaders on direction from Moscow supported the British rule at that time.Britain was an ally of Russia in the battle against Nazi Germany and the Russian government had instructed the Communist Party of India not to create trouble for the British.

Lenin and India

The Communist Party of India was just like a fifth column in the Indian subcontinent, Even in the 1962 war with China, the Communist Party of India never came out in support of Indian case against China and generally supported China. These facts of history cannot be brushed under the carpet. This party claims to be an intellectual party and considering Bengalis themselves to be more intellectual have repeatedly voted them into power. The CPI agenda was simple - to create a separate state in India and hence very little development was done. The purpose was to create a divide in the country. The party generally lionized Lenin. I have already written Lenin was never interested in India or Indian Independence. There is no record that Lenin ever said that India should be a free country. These facts are in the history books. Lenin died in 1924 and was succeeded by Joseph Stalin. Even Stalin was not interested in India until his death in 1953. He considered Indian leaders like Gandhi and Nehru as the running dogs of British imperialism

The state created by Lenin had no permanence and within 5 to 6 decades of his death, the communist state created by him collapsed like a pack of cards. Russian's realized that there was no personal freedom and the entire Russian was like a massive concentration camp so nicely brought out by Boris Pasternak and Alexander Solzetsysian. They brought to light in their books and novels a state which is built on sand and was bound to collapse and the Russian State built by Lenin collapsed. Lenin cannot have a permanent place in history because he was basically a failure. The title of the great will elude him for all time to come

Last word

In India we have lopsided properties and when the BJP which came to power in Tripura and toppled two statues of Lenin there has been a hue and cry as if Lenin was very much part of the Indian psyche. The real fact is that he was not interested in India. yet it is a matter of great regret that Lenin is being greater importance in India than in Russia. Can anyone forget that over 150 Statues Of Lenin were toppled in Eastern Europe after the collapse of communism? Lenin was certainly a historical figure and an important figure of the 20 century but he probably falls in the same bracket as Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo and that is not a very happy thought

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