ABSTRACT
The yellower and more leathery the skin of the mummified V. L. Lenin grows, and the higher the statistically determined number of visitors to the Lenin Mausoleum climbs, the less are people concerned about the real Lenin and his historical significance. Though the Lenin Institute in Moscow may publish his collected works, they no longer have any meaning beside the fantastic legends which have formed around his name. "The assertion that history is made by great men is from a theoretical standpoint wholly unfounded". Such are the words in which Lenin himself turns on the legend which insists on making him alone responsible for the 'success' or the 'crime' of the Russian Revolution. The legend of the world-revolutionary significance of Lenin receives its nourishment from his consistent international position during the world war. Lenin never wanted to be more than Marx's disciple, and so it is only in legend that one can speak of a theory of 'Leninism'.
