Putin Compares Communism to Christianity and Lenin to Saints

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the Communist ideology is similar to Christianity, adding Lenin’s body can be compared to a saint.

In his interview for the documentary ‘Valaam’, an excerpt of which was broadcast on Russia 1 TV, Putin said his words might be disliked by some people.

“There were those years of militant atheism when priests were eradicated, churches destroyed, but at the same time a new religion was being created. Communist ideology is very similar to Christianity, in fact: freedom, equality, brotherhood, justice – everything is laid out in the Holy Scripture, it’s all there. And the code of the builder of communism? This is sublimation, it’s just such a primitive excerpt from the Bible, nothing new was invented,” Russia’s leader claimed.

Putin added that attitude towards the Bolshevik leader Lenin’s body preserved in mausoleum is not at all different from the veneration of saints in Christianity. 

“How is this different from the relics of saints for Orthodox Christians and for Christians in general? When they say that there’s no such tradition in Christianity, well, go to Athos and take a look, there are relics of the saints there, and we have holy relics here,” Putin added.

Vladimir Lenin died on January 21, 1924. His body was embalmed and put on display in a mausoleum in Red Square, Moscow. The cult of Lenin was part of Soviet ideology. Since then, there have been various discussions whether to give Lenin’s remains a proper burial or not, however, according to Gennadiy Zyuganov, the head of the Russian Communist Party, Putin promised him that as long as he remains president, Lenin’s body would remain in the mausoleum in Red Square. 

By Thea Morrison