LENIN

January 21 - 96 years (1924), Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (Ulyanov) died - the leader and teacher of the world proletariat, the creator of the Bolshevik Party and the Soviet state, the organizer of the Great October Socialist Revolution, the most brilliant of the geniuses of mankind.

- He was a man whose whole life and all thoughts were devoted to scientific research and the struggle for a better social order, the man who in the end received the greatest opportunity that the apostles of progress ever had - the opportunity to lead a huge, so far oppressed and backward state . I believe that Lenin’s wide, comprehensive and clear understanding of what is needed and what can be done with a huge country occupying one sixth of the world, a country which, as a result of tsarist tyranny, hundreds of years behind the economic and social standard of living and the scientific progress of modern her America and Europe - most attracted and will always attract the attention of the whole world. It was necessary not only to overthrow the old, despotic regime, but also to find among the people of this country people and means to create such a social system that would be fair and at the same time practically feasible. For, satisfying the urgent needs of the masses, it was necessary at the same time to overcome all the prejudices generated by tyranny, fears and religious superstitions that still weigh on people. It was even more difficult to make these people feel all the significance for themselves of what was required of them.

When I was in Russia in 1927 and 1928, I happened to see on the remote outskirts of the country, united by the spirit of Lenin, peasants and workers, men and women who reverently bowed or bared their heads in front of a bust of Lenin and, as I understand it, saw him (and , in my opinion, quite rightly) of his savior. Now there is a gigantic struggle between those who seek to enslave the masses, and those masses who no longer want to be slaves. They now know that the ruling classes want to live in luxury and idleness, that they want their children and the children of their children to live like that. The French Revolution, the American Civil War, and the Russian Revolution taught the masses a lot.

The Russian people, liberated by Lenin, will never allow to be turned into a slave again. He will fight, imbued with the spirit of Lenin. I have no doubt about the outcome of this struggle. Lenin, his Soviet state will triumph. Whatever the immediate outcome of this struggle, Lenin and his Russia, the humanity and justice that he contributed to governing the country, will ultimately prevail. For, although Lenin is no longer alive, the social system that he created and which his comrades-in-arms and successors have since led to current power and greatness will forever remain for future generations.

- I am especially grateful to the Soviet revolution for the first time that it sharply raised the question of the haves and have-nots on a global scale. The Soviet Union in 1917 began a great campaign in defense of the poor. This is the world significance and the triumph of Marxism. Using labor, agriculture, industry, natural wealth, technology, human knowledge, human power over nature, using all this for the benefit of all working people, in order to provide everyone with a prosperous and cultural life, is the lesson the Soviet revolution teaches the rest of humanity . I hope that I will live to see the day when I see the triumph of Marxism in all countries of the world.

Theodore Dreiser