Lockdown dampens Lenin’s 150th birthday celebration

Russian Communists celebrated 150 years since the birth of Bolshevik leader Lenin on Wednesday with sombre, sparsely attended ceremonies because of the coronavirus pandemic.

In Moscow, several dozen Communists, many wearing face masks, visited the Lenin Mausoleum on Red Square despite a national lockdown.

Lenin, whose real name was Vladimir Ulyanov, was born in 1870 in the Volga city of Simbirsk, later renamed Ulyanovsk in his memory by the Soviets. He died in 1924.

His mausoleum has been closed to visitors since March, ostensibly for upkeep but reportedly also because of anti-coronavirus measures.

The Russian Communist Party, the largest opposition party in parliament, said supporters observed social distancing and laid flowers in small groups.

Most wore face masks, though party leader Gennady Zyuganov opted not to.

Supporters of the more radical anti-Kremlin group Left Front also took part.

The group said in a statement that “the current situation in the world, the development of a global crisis accompanied by the coronavirus, makes Lenin’s legacy relevant once more”.

Communist supporters carrying flowers and a giant wreath passed through barriers on to the deserted square as red flags fluttered in strong winds and snowflakes whirled.

Some also left flowers at the nearby bust of Lenin’s successor, the brutal dictator Josef Stalin, who is buried by the Kremlin wall.

Communists held similar ceremonies beside Lenin statues in other Russian cities.

On the main square of the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Communist Mayor Anatoly Lokot said the coronavirus pandemic vindicated Lenin’s ideas on equality.

“Countries that chose the path of denying universal access to medicine in favour of medicine for the rich have encountered a big problem,” he said in a speech published on the Communist party website.

Some Communist supporters also laid flowers at monuments in ex-Soviet countries including Kyrgyzstan.