De-Leninization
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (July 2022) |
.jpg)
De-Leninization (Ukrainian: Ленінопад, romanized: Leninopad, lit. 'Leninfall') is political reform aimed at refuting Leninist and Marxist–Leninist ideology, ending the personality cult of Vladimir Lenin, removing images and toppling statues of Lenin, renaming places and buildings, dismantling the Lenin Mausoleum currently in Red Square, Moscow, and burying his mummified corpse.
Former soviet states did remove many monuments even before the event, and after, although some remain.
In 1991, Ukraine had 5,500 Lenin monuments.[1] In November 2015, approximately 1,300 Lenin monuments were still standing.[1] More than 700 Lenin monuments were removed and/or destroyed between February 2014 and December 2015, [1] "Leninfall" Demolition of monuments to Vladimir Lenin in Ukraine.
On 9 April 2015, the Ukrainian parliament passed legislation on de-communization,[2] which provided for their removal, signed into law on 15 May 2015.
De-Stalinization began in the mid 50's during the Khrushchev thaw following the latter's secret speech On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences, but this was framed as a return to orthodox Leninism and thus the cult of Lenin remained until the dissolution of the USSR.
In 1992 Lenin's likeness disappeared from the currency as the country's bank system transitioned to the Russian Ruble.
There was some reform in education, and Lenin's name began to disappear from books, articles, and dissertations, but only partial and intermittent removal of his statues and likenesses in Russia. As historian Yury Pivovarov notes, “All these metamorphoses predominantly took place in publishing, on TV and the radio… the dismantling of Lenin happened only verbally and almost didn’t materialize in any other way.”[3]
Russia's first president Boris Yeltsin tried and failed to establish the new regime on a basis of Anti-communism. Russian president Vladimir Putin made peace with the Communists when he came to power in 2000, but after his 2012 election began denouncing the Bolsheviks for their treachery in "betraying the country's national interests" to Germany in World War I, usually without mentioning Lenin by name, who retains broad popularity in Russia.[4] In 2016 he denounced Lenin's concept of a federative State divided along ethnic lines, each with a right of secession. He denounced Lenin for executing the czar and his family and servants and for killing priests.[5] A 2017 survey showed that 56% of Russia's population had a favorable opinion of Lenin, higher than when the survey had first been conducted in 2006.[6]
In 2012 the state sponsored Russia Today media network announced that Liberal-Democratic party (LDPR) deputy Aleksandr Kurdyumov proposed removal of monuments to museums, citing high maintenance costs due to the prevalence in vandalism, and saying that Lenin's dominance was "unfair” to other outstanding personalities – such as Peter the Great, General Aleksandr Suvorov, Tsar Ivan the Terrible and others. The lawmaker proposed regional referendums to decide the question.
In August 2022 Estonia began removing Soviet-era monuments, beginning with a T-34 tank in Narva, saying it was necessary for public order and internal security.[7][8]
Mausoleum Controversy
Many have proposed burying Lenin's corpse and dismantling the Lenin Mausoleum, including Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, and hierophants of the Russian Orthodox Church. In 2017 legislation was proposed by six lawmakers, including 3 from Putin's United Russia Party and three from the LDPR, but was opposed by the Russian Communist Party. The embalming and Mausoleum had been opposed from its outset by Leon Trotsky, Bukharin, Kamenev, by Lenin's widows Nadezhda Krupskaya, and reportedly by Lenin himself before his premature death.[9]
See also
- Decommunization
- Anticommunism
- Fall of the monument to Lenin in Kyiv
- Fallen Monument Park
- Good Bye, Lenin!
- Statue of Lenin (Seattle)
References
- ^ a b c Out of Sight Archived 29 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The Ukrainian Week (28 December 2015)
- ^ Hyde, Lily (20 April 2015). "Ukraine to rewrite Soviet history with controversial 'decommunisation' laws". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 May 2015. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
- ^ Sinelschikova, Yekaterina (2021-12-25). "What Russia felt IMMEDIATELY after the USSR's breakup". Russia Beyond. Retrieved 2022-05-09.
- ^ Nast, Condé (2014-09-03). "Putin Disses Lenin". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2022-08-18.
- ^ Press, Associated (2016-01-25). "Vladimir Putin accuses Lenin of placing a 'time bomb' under Russia". the Guardian. Retrieved 2022-08-18.
- ^ "Lenin's approval rating surges, 100 years after the Bolshevik Revolution". Newsweek. 2017-04-19. Retrieved 2022-08-19.
- ^ "Estonia removes Soviet Union war monuments". POLITICO. 2022-08-16. Retrieved 2022-08-18.
- ^ Olsen, Jan. "Estonia removes Soviet-era monument, citing public order". ABC News. Associated Press. Retrieved 2022-08-18.
- ^ "A century after the Russian Revolution, why is Lenin's body still on display in Red Square?". Newsweek. 2017-11-05. Retrieved 2022-08-19.
Books
- Shub, David (1966). Lenin: A Biography (revised ed.). London: Pelican.
- Lenin, Vladimir (1948). "Appendix: Essentials of Leninism". Lenin: A Biography. By Shub, David (revised ed.). New York: Mentor Books.
- Sebestyen, Victor (2017). Lenin: The Man, the Dictator, and the Master of Terror. Pantheon Books. ISBN 9781101871638.
- Volkogonov, Dmitri (1994). Lenin: A New Biography. Translated by Shukman, Harold. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-255123-6.
- Velikanova, Olga V. (2001). "The Public Perception of the Cult of Lenin Based on Archival Materials". UNT Digital Library (in Russian). Retrieved 2022-04-14.
- Shub, Anatole (1989). "De-Leninization" Or "post-Leninism"?: New Soviet Thinking on the Past and Future. U.S. Information Agency, Office of Research.
Articles and Reviews
- Clines, Francis X. (1992-01-22). "Moscow Journal; Temple to Lenin Opens Its Doors to Freethinkers". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
- Sinelschikova, Yekaterina (2021-12-25). "What Russia felt IMMEDIATELY after the USSR's breakup". Russia Beyond. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
- "The Next Line of Hills: The Challenge of Peace Revisited | George Weigel". First Things. Retrieved 2022-04-14.