V.I. Lenin: A Giant of His Era

A socialist realist depiction of Russian revolutionary leader V.I. Lenin during the triumph of the seizure of power by the Bolshevik Party in October 1917. Lenin led the first socialist state in history until his death in 1924., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Havana. April 22, 2011
Granma International

A giant of his era

THE life and work of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin are worthy of admiration. Today as we celebrate the 141st anniversary of his birth, the continuators of his ideas are proud to describe them as ageless. He was the founder a new epoch, establishing the 20th century as the era of socialist revolution, breaking the power of the exploiters in backward Czarist Russia and creating, with the force of colossal tenacity and heroism, the first workers’ and farmers’ state in history, precipitating the rapid development of revolutionary and emancipation movements around the world.

Fidel on the 100th anniversary of this exemplary revolutionary’s birth said, "Lenin is one of those truly exceptional human beings. A simple reading of his life, his history, his work, the most objective analysis of the way his thinking developed and his attitude throughout his life make him in the eyes of all humanity, I repeat, a truly exceptional man.

No one was able, as he was, to interpret the depth, the essence and the value of Marxist theory. No one was capable, as he was, of analyzing this theory and taking it to its ultimate implications. No one was capable of developing and enriching it the way he did."

Among Lenin’s many significant contributions to Marxism and the progress of humanity, outstanding are his theory of imperialism as the final stage of capitalist development, the creation of a new type of party, the socialist revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat, the obligatory relationship between national and social liberation, the principles of peaceful co-existence and the path to the construction of socialism

Enemies have tried to demonize him, but no one can deny the historic nature of the thought and action of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, a political giant of his time.