ANNIVERSARY OF LENIN’S BIRTH MARKED BY FANS…

Communists in many parts of Russia celebrated the 126th anniversary of Lenin’s birth yesterday. In Moscow, Communist party leader and presidential candidate Gennady Zyuganov headed a procession of hundreds of people carrying red flags to lay wreaths at Lenin’s mausoleum on Red Square. "This is a holiday honoring a man who made a huge contribution to the development of civilization," Zyuganov was quoted as saying. "Lenin came to power in 1917 at a moment when Russia was collapsing. He left behind a strong ruble, a single union state, and a new economic policy." The Communist party newspaper Pravda, founded on Lenin’s initiative in 1912, said it was necessary to distinguish Lenin’s policies from those of Stalin. Had Stalin not deviated from Lenin’s policies, Pravda asserted, socialism might have survived and the Soviet Union would not have collapsed. (Itar-Tass, April 22) The occasion was also marked by small crowds in St. Petersburg, Belgorod, Barnaul, and other cities across Russia, news agencies reported April 22.

…And Critics.