Lenin Still Alive: Celebration of 100th anniversary of ‘Great October Revolution’ in Minsk
Several hundred people are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution in Independence Square in Minsk.
The representatives of the Communist Party of Belarus are making speeches. People carrying placards and flags of the USSR have laid flowers to the monument to Vladimir Lenin.
“Firstly, I’m 77 years old and I got the best education in the world – it was provided by Stalin. Secondly, I am here because my residential area Uskhod turns 50 years today – it was established in 1967 by Pyotr Masherov, first high-rise block of flats in Minsk appeared here. And I have come because today is the 76th anniversary of the anti-fascist parade in Red Square,” a man said.
Some students state that they are participating in the celebration voluntarily.
“I would like to see it [the celebration], because we did not live in that time [Soviet]. We know some details only from history textbooks and our parents’ stories. I wanted to know whether people remembered their past and were ready to come here,” a young girl said.
Jeffrey and Jason who founded an English language school in Minsk have been spotted in Independence Square. They are holding a Soviet flag. The brothers who came from New York are fans of the Soviet Union.
Admitting that one may hold and advocate Communist views in the United States, they complain that the Communists do not play a great role in the country.
Several men with red flags introduce themselves as ‘The Circle of Recent History Amateurs’. They are interested in history and study it from the point of view of scientific materialism and Marxism.
One of them wishes Belsat journalists a happy Great October Revolution Day. When told that not everyone holds it as a holiday, he answers that Belarusians need to bridge the gap.
