Penza, 22 April 2016. PenzaNews. The members and activists of the Communist Party laid flowers to the Vladimir Lenin monument at the eponymous central square of Penza to celebrate the 146th anniversary of the founder of world’s first socialist state.

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The event, which lasted for around 20 minutes, brought together several dozens of people, who remained in a festive mood even under a drizzle and gathered at the city’s wall of fame.

At exactly 10.00, the Communists marched in a column towards the Lenina square for a public rally.

The first to speak to the crows was the first secretary of the CPRF city committee Dmitry Filyaev.

“Indeed, Lenin has passed away a long time ago, but his ideas, his thoughts still live in the heart of every honest worker, in the heart of every man who dreams of socialism as the best, the most supreme form of the human society. Lenin’s ideas still capture the minds of workers around the world. His works enjoy enormous printing runs, surpassing the Bible,” he said.

He was followed by the Russian Duma deputy Vladimir Simagin, who called Vladimir Lenin a genius.

“Lenin’s theoretical genius lies in the fact that he brought together a shattered power and presented the world a state where peace, liberty, working men and friendship of peoples were above all. His military genius lies in the fact that he brought together the disarrayed army of 4 millions, defeated the Entente – the army of conquerors from 14 states – and created the great and mighty Soviet Army. His propaganda genius lies in the fact that he presented the world with only a handful of slogans: ‘Peace to the People,’ ‘Land to the Peasants,’ ‘Factories to the Workers,’ and ‘Power to the Soviets.’ The mad country, the illiterate people believed him, and the great country was created. His economic genius lies in the fact that he proposed several variants of economic policy, from the surplus appropriation system to the agricultural tax in kind and the New Economic Policy; he managed to unite private and civil property. And in brief time, the country went from a poor dilapidated semi-colony to a grand state,” he pointed out.

In turn, Georgy Kamnev, first secretary of the Regional Committee of the Communist Party, deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Penza region, recalled Vladimir Lenin’s role in the international history and pointed out that his ideas remain relevant even now.

“Today, there is a lot of talk against public rallies or events: they say they are biased towards somebody, that the Communists are successors of the revolution and are inciting for something bad. I would like to tell you that there are different revolutions. There are Orange Revolutions that lead to the state’s downfall and destruction, and there are revolutions of the kind that we had in our country, the one dear to every true patriot – the Great October Socialist Revolution. […] The big empire succumbed to the weight of its own conflicts and problems. And it was only Lenin’s genius that was able to propose the alternatives, lead the country out of the deepest crisis, and in just 5 years create the Soviet Union by uniting all the republics,” said the leader of Penza Communists.

The newly created people’s enterprise in the Penza region – the cooperative “Tovarisch” – can be called a reflection of Vladimir Lenin’s ideas, Georgy Kamnev added.

“I am proude of that, and I believe you are proud to be the carriers of these ideas, proud to remember them and fight for them,” the deputy stressed.

The speeches were followed by a flower-laying ceremony at the Vladimir Lenin monument.

The event, which was agreed with the authorities, concluded without any incidents, and without any infractions with the police, unlike a similar event a year ago that resulted in a lengthy lawsuit.