The Soviet Union is gone. Why do Lenin statues remain?

With ever-increasing enthusiasm, Russia claims to be the heir to the Soviet Union, and attacks on bronze, granite and plaster Lenins in Ukraine have generally been interpreted here as anti-Russian. The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, reacted to a recent Ukrainian law on “de-Communization,” which mandates changing Soviet-era city and street names and removing Soviet-era monuments, by calling the members of Ukraine’s Parliament “ignorant zombies.”

Russia’s Soviet past has been reglorified in recent years. Even Stalin’s public image is being largely redeemed: His likeness has gone up on posters around the country, and he has been praised as a great military and industrial leader. Lenin, as a historic figure, had always seemed to be beyond criticism, and residents of the neighborhood where his statue was destroyed last week have already asked that it be restored.