‘Russians want Lenin removed from Moscow mausoleum’
By IANSSunday, January 23, 2011
Moscow, Jan 24 (IANS/RIA Novosti) More than two-thirds of Russians want revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin to be removed from his mausoleum in Moscow and be buried, a poll has suggested.
In an online poll launched by the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, a total of 200,000 people have taken part so far. About 70 percent of them said they supported the proposal of burying Lenin, while 30 percent were against.
The poll of the goodbyelenin.ru website has only one question “Do you back the idea of burying the body of Vladimir Lenin?” The question requires a “Yes” or “No” answer.
Lenin died Jan 21, 1924, and his corpse was embalmed and placed in a specially built mausoleum on Moscow’s Red Square.
Even after the end of Soviet rule, crowds and delegations from countries have visited Lenin’s shrine.
However, proposals that Lenin’s mummy should be removed from the heart of Moscow arose immediately after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years (1917-1924).
–IANS/RIA Novosti
