An important round-table discussion was held in Moscow yesterday which assessed the role of the Bolsheviks and their leaders in Russian history.

The round-table talks were organized by the All-Russian Committee for the Removal of Lenin! www.netlenin.ru. The discussions were held in the State Duma of the Russian Federation and attended by more than 100 prominent politicians, scientists, historians, and philosophers, many of which tabled papers. Representatives from monarchist groups, Cossacks and the Russian Orthodox Church were also present.

The main purpose of the round-table is to consolidate public opinion from a historical perspective for the future development of Russia. Prominent thinkers, philosophers, scientists, along with representatives of the State Duma will work out a consensus on the moral and historical assessment of the October Revolution of 1917, the criminal activities of the Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin. Of importance to those present will be the discussion of the removal of Lenin's remains from the mausoloeum on Red Square. The talks are considered a landmark, historic and watershed event in modern Russian history.

1. "Crimes of the Bolsheviks and their leaders. Extremism in the works of Lenin"

On the investigation of crimes committed by the Bolsheviks headed by Lenin himself; and by creating a public commission of inquiry into crimes of Lenin and to study issues relating to the murder of the Emperor Nicholas II and his family;

Speaker: Vladimir Lavrov, Russian historian Doctor of History, Academy of Natural Sciences, Deputy Director of the Institute of Russian History (up to 2011). Head of Research Center of Religion and the Church in Russia (until June 2012).  Author of works on the history of the Orthodox Church in Russia, the history of the revolution of 1917 in the Russian Empire.

2. "Bolshevism as the Red Faith"

Speaker: Petr V. Multatuli, Russian historian, author of a contemporary study of Nicholas II.

 3. "Evaluation of the Bolshevik era crimes in determining the identity of modern Russian"

Speaker: Alexander Tsipko, Russian expert in the field of social philosophy, political scientist. Senior Researcher, Institute of International Economic and Political Studies. Doctor of Philosophy.

4. "Spiritual and moral assessment of the further preservation of Lenin's body in the mausoleum on Red Square"

Speaker: Fr. Vladimir, a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church and the head of the Moscow Patriarchate Publishing.

5. "Lenin, as a source of inter-ethnic, and religious hatred in Russia"

Speaker: Leonid Simonovich-Niksic Donatovich, Russian public figure, the head of the Union of Orthodox Banner Bearers (SPH), the chairman of the Union of Orthodox Brotherhoods, co-chair of the St. Sergius of the Union of the Russian People, Deputy Chairman Union "Christian Revival", Deputy Chairman of the Society of Russian-Serbian friendship, head of the Russian-Serbian brotherhood.

6. "Cultural, historical and aesthetic background on the dismantling monuments to Lenin in Russia"

Speaker: Vladimir Makrousov, Prominent Russian sculptor, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, Member of the Artists' Union, Member of the Russian Academy of Arts, the Chairman of the Parish Council of the community of Christ the Savior.

7. "Bolshevik leaders as government assassins"

Speaker: Boris S. Ilizarov, a leading researcher at the Institute of Russian History

8. "Russian legislation in overcoming the consequences of the communist terror"

Speaker: Daniel V. Petrov, Master of Laws (University). He worked as head of the arbitration department of the St. Petersburg City Property Management Committee, Head of the Department of State Policy Law Office "EPAM", Head of the Department of property management "RZD"

9. "Socio-cultural study of historical return is cities and towns of Russia, by the example of Ulyanovsk"

Speaker: Konnov Vladimir Deputy Simbirsk branch of the International Foundation of Slavic Literature and Culture, a public figure in Ulyanovsk.

10.  "On the need for the establishment of a permanent anti-Bolshevik and anti-Leninist historial and ideological center"

Speaker: Yuri K. Bondarenko, writer and journalist.

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 22 March, 2013

Why did Vladimir Lenin drive the ultimate rich man's car?

Did he not vow to create a classless state?

Communist revolutionary Vladmir Ilyich Lenin declared that revolutionaries must guard against bourgeois tendencies. And yet, Moscow’s State Historical Museum contains something Lenin owned that is one of the ultimate examples of bourgeois conveyance - a Rolls Royce car, Silver Ghost model complete with fog lamps and all-leather interiors.

What business did the leader of the Communist party have owning such a luxury automobile?  How did he come to own it – and why did he keep it?

Early in the Revolution, the Bolsheviks had seized the Tsar's gold, and the Tsar's collection of fine automobiles. There were about 40 motor vehicles in the Tsarist garages and even the Communist leaders could not resist taking a liking to these cars.

So perhaps Lenin owned this Rolls Royce because he got it for free? To be certain, proof was needed to confirm that Tsar Nicholas II was the original owner.

Unfortunately the original documents do not exist. However, when researchers took a closer look at the auto itself, they looked more closely at the chassis number. The chassis number is fixed to the front of the dashboard under the bonnet. With a car this old, it would be surprising if the chassis number could be traced. Or maybe not? Rolls Royce keeps records of all the cars it has manufactured and sold. A request was made to the Rolls Royce head office in London. Incredibly, the original bill of sale was elicited. The purchaser was not Tsar Nicholas II, but an emissary of Vladimir Lenin. The date is 1922.

In the years following the bloody revolution, all industrial nations imposed an embargo, forbidding trade with the Russian Communist State. So how did Lenin manage to do business with a British car maker? A clue lies not in cars, but in planes. Rolls Royce made the best engines for bomber planes and Lenin needed them for his war machine. Lenin asked the British to break the embargo. He knew that Britain was mired in depression, with idle factories and hungry workers. British leaders held their noses and allowed the Bolshevik government to buy several of their most advanced airplane engines. To sweeten the deal, Lenin was given a 15% discount on something else . . . . . a Rolls Royce automobile, a luxury in which he paid £1850.

The Rolls Royce engines helped Lenin and his Bolsheviks win the civil war and impose a brutal totalitarian state.

© The History Channel and Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 17 March, 2013

Statue of Lenin in central Ekaterinburg. Photo © Paul Gilbert (2012) 

Russian lawmakers believe it is time to remove monuments to the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution, Vladimir Lenin, from town and city squares across the country.

Memorials to such “a controversial figure” should be re-located in museums or alleys with statues of other historic persons, suggested the author of the initiative, Liberal-Democratic party (LDPR) Deputy Aleksandr Kurdyumov.

The idea of “De-Leninization” was welcomed by the ruling United Russia party, writes Izvestia daily.

According to Kurdyumov, the main argument in favor of the removal of monuments is the high cost of maintenance. He says they would be better looked after and safe from vandalism in museums.

Soviet-legacy statues of Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin) can still be seen in central squares of almost all Russian towns. There is hardly a single settlement in the country without a street named after the Bolshevik leader.

The time has come to get rid of Lenin’s “stranglehold” and leave only monuments that are considered true masterpieces of art and only in those places where local population want to see them, the LDPR lawmaker insists.

It often happens that there no other memorials but to Lenin in Russian towns and that is “unfair” to other outstanding personalities – such as Peter the Great, General Aleksandr Suvorov, Tsar Ivan the Terrible and others.

Under the proposal, municipal authorities should hold referendums to find out where people want the Lenin statues to be placed. If they do not want to see the leader of the 1917 Revolution at all, such monuments should be dismantled, sent to museums or sold to collectors, Kurdyumov suggests. The money received from the sales could be used, for instance, to create new parks.

United Russia’s lawmaker, Valery Trapeznikov agrees that the idea should first be discussed with the people. In the USSR, monuments were erected at the government’s bidding. If now they are dismantled by order of the authorities, “it can lead to a wave of protests,” he told Izvestia.

Meanwhile, the Communist party (KPRF) is strongly opposed to the idea of removing monuments to their key ideologist.

“Lenin is the founding father of the Russian Federation…Same as George Washington in America,” a senior member of the party, Sergey Obukhov stressed. He noted that some laws signed by the Bolshevik leader are still valid in Russia.

Besides that, the destruction of “architectural pieces” of historic value is illegal, the KPRF deputy pointed out.

© Russia Today. 20 November, 2012

Almost one-third of Russians believe the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 jumpstarted the country’s development and opened a new page in its history, according to a poll published on Tuesday, RIA Novosti reports.

However, the share of respondents with a positive view of the revolution has declined over the past decade, from 34 to 27 percent, the All-Russia Center for the Study of Public Opinion on Social and Economic Issues (VTsIOM) poll said.

At the same time the share of the people who see the revolution as “a catastrophe for our country” has increased from 10 percent to 18 percent. About 43 percent of respondents said the root cause of the revolution was the miserable life of the people with 17 percent saying a weak government was a factor and 11 percent blaming the Bolsheviks’ “political unscrupulousness.”

Some 40 percent said the revolution, though a mixed blessing, was inevitable, while 37 percent believed the needless loss of human life and the trouble it caused meant there was no justification for it. Eighteen percent said they would observe Revolution Day on November 7, compared to 16 percent who said they would celebrate National Unity Day on November 4.

© Russkiy Mir. 07 November, 2012

A senior Russian Orthodox priest has called Vladimir Lenin an "even bigger villain" than Adolf Hitler and backed an effort to check his works for extremism.

Archpriest Dmitry Smirnov, head of church relations with the armed forces and law enforcement, said in an interview that a closer study of Lenin's writings could drastically alter societal beliefs regarding the Bolshevik leader, who he described as an "unscrupulous and utter cynic and villain," Interfax reported.

Soviet authorities ruthlessly suppressed religion, confiscated church properties, and demolished holy sites over their decades in power, leading many church officials to view them with bitter resentment.

Smirnov made his comments Friday in response to a question from Interview on whether he agreed with an effort by Russian Academy of Sciences researcher Vladimir Lavrov to have the Investigative Committee check Lenin's works for extremism.

Smirnov said he backed such an effort but that he doubted the works — which were a fixture on the bookshelves of many Soviet citizens and an obligatory subject of study in Soviet schools — would be banned.

He noted that Leninism, a communist ideology that promotes socialism and a "dictatorship of the proletariat," was also a kind of religion and that a check of Lenin's works would not affect how his staunch devotees viewed him.

Speaking about his belief that Russian cities needed to be rid of the ubiquitous images and place-names that include Lenin, Smirnov referred to efforts in post-World War II Germany to eliminate Hitler's name from public spaces.

For him, Smirnov said, Lenin was "an even bigger villain than Hitler" because "Hitler treated his people much better."

© The Moscow Times. 27 August, 2012

The search for the victims of the “red terror”, begun in the Peter and Paul Fortress, St. Petersburg, during the summer of 2010 will now continue, reports Vodye Zhivoi (To the Living Waters), an organization under the auspices of Vice Governor Vasily Kichedzi of Leningrad Province.

Money for the work will be provided by the State Historical Museum of St. Petersburg.

DNA testing will also be financed in order to identify the discovered remains. The goal is to find and identify all the victims of the mass repression that took place in the former Russian capital during the years just after the Bolshevik revolution. The victims’ remains will then be given over to the earth with a solemn burial service.

In 2009, during construction work on Zayachy Island, the buried remains of prisoners executed by the Cheka from 1917–1921 were discovered. Among those who were innocently put to death in 1919 were Grand Dukes Pavel Alexandrovich, Dimitry Constantinovich, Nicholas and George Mikhailovich (three of whom were canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in 1981). The excavation continued through the summer of 2010, and the remains of over 100 people were exhumed. Tsarist Army officer’s caps were found, along with boots, sailor’s ribbons, baptismal crosses, medals, miniature icons, and fragments of soldier’s blouses and jackets.

Now that financing has again been found, another 1700 square meters have yet to be excavated in addition to the 1000 completed in 2010.

© Pravoslavie.Ru. 19 August, 2012

In 1914 Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna stand on the balcony of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to accept salutes and homage from Russian troops departing for the Front.

More bad news for Lenin supporters this week as Russian President Vladimir Putin places the blame for Russia’s defeat in the First World War on Bolshevik policy that he calls ‘national treason’.

Speaking in the Upper House of the Russian Parliament Putin said the Bolsheviks, especially the ruling elite of the party, betrayed Russia’s national interests and allowed Germany to win the war with Russia even though eventually Germany was defeated. The President added that Bolsheviks had been so reluctant to admit their mistakes that in the Soviet period the First World War was called “the Imperialist War” and the authorities deliberately ignored the heroism of Russian soldiers in art and propaganda. Putin added that in reality the First World War was not an imperialist one.

The topic was raised when the upper house discussed the possibility of funding the maintenance of the Russian necropolis in Serbia – the burial place of at least 3,000 Russians, including 124 generals of the Tsarist Army. Putin stressed he supported the idea to fund the monument.

President Putin traditionally opposes the Communist Party of the Russian Federation – the heirs to the CPSU, but at the same time he has called the breakup of the Soviet Union ‘the biggest geopolitical disaster of the century.” Recently Russia is taking steps against what it sees as the ‘revisionism of history’ – manipulations that question the universally accepted opinion on most questionable issues of the past.

© Russia Today and Paul Gilbert. 27 June, 2012

Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky told radio listeners Saturday that Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin should be laid to rest and his mausoleum turned into a museum.

"I have always thought that his body should be returned to the earth. I would observe all the essential rituals," the minister told Ekho Moskvy host Ksenia Larina on air.

"Since he was a senior public figure, if the decision were made, the burial should be accompanied by all the appropriate state rituals, distinctions and a military salute, in a worthy place."

But leaving Lenin's body in a state of "suspension" was "absurd," he said.

As a museum, the mausoleum would be a popular tourist destination, and tickets could be expensive, he added.

Medinsky explained that a decision had not been taken on the matter earlier because the burial would have cost the authorities votes in the elections.

Popular support for burying the founding Soviet leader has been on the rise, though it still stands at just over half the population. A poll in mid-April by the Public Opinion Foundation, or FOM, found that 56 percent of Russians were in favor, versus 46 percent six years ago. In the April poll, 28 percent of respondents said Lenin should remain in his mausoleum on Red Square.

Lenin's embalmed body, treated by highly-trained specialists to prevent decomposition, was interred in a mausoleum in the center of Red Square shortly after his death in 1924. Encased in glass and covered to the waist with a blanket, Lenin's body is still on display for members of the public, who shuffle through a dark underground chamber in the mausoleum illuminated by dim red-tinged lights.

© The Moscow Times. 10 June, 2012