What our Chinese friends think these days the World Forum for Socialism is taking place in Beijing. Are they talking about it on our TV? It's weird if not. Li Shenming, former vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, noted in his opening remarks that denying the prominent historical role of Lenin and Stalin is a destructive historical nihilism, which already led to the collapse of the Soviet Union as a result of the treacherous policies of Khrushchev and Gorbachev. And today's war between Russia and Ukraine is a direct result of this historical nihilism. Who would have thought! But for some reason we think almost the opposite! The more we blame Lenin, the easier it will be for us. We also believe that there is no Lenin at all, and in China there is "long capitalism". These people should read the great Chinese collection in Russian "Li Shenming". History reflects this. Notes on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the Soviet Union, 2012". In the collection, China's leading experts reflect on why the Soviet Union fell and how China can avoid it. The summary of the collection is what constitutes an axiom for the major thinkers of modern China. Lenin is an infallible thinker. The Russian genius Vladimir Ilyich did everything right on the whole, and China remains loyal to his orders today. Stalin appears as a controversial figure, with roughly the same characteristics as Mao: "70% good and 30% bad." Lenin's legacy, we repeat, in the opinion of his Chinese friends is 100% beneficial, and his actions, given the situation, impeccable. The pinnacle of Lenin's genius, in the Chinese view, was NEP. State capitalism or market socialism. A poor, illiterate, agrarian country, such as the Soviet Union was in the early 1920s and China in the late 1970s, cannot immediately transition to socialism. Socialism is only possible if the society is very prosperous - and China is moving towards that. Lenin planned "NEP for at least 50 years".

What our Chinese friends think these days the World Forum for Socialism is taking place in Beijing. Are they talking about it on our TV? It's weird if not. Li Shenming, former vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, noted in his opening remarks that denying the prominent historical role of Lenin and Stalin is a destructive historical nihilism, which already led to the collapse of the Soviet Union as a result of the treacherous policies of Khrushchev and Gorbachev. And today's war between Russia and Ukraine is a direct result of this historical nihilism. Who would have thought! But for some reason we think almost the opposite! The more we blame Lenin, the easier it will be for us. We also believe that there is no Lenin at all, and in China there is "long capitalism". These people should read the great Chinese collection in Russian "Li Shenming". History reflects this. Notes on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the Soviet Union, 2012". In the collection, China's leading experts reflect on why the Soviet Union fell and how China can avoid it. The summary of the collection is what constitutes an axiom for the major thinkers of modern China. Lenin is an infallible thinker. The Russian genius Vladimir Ilyich did everything right on the whole, and China remains loyal to his orders today. Stalin appears as a controversial figure, with roughly the same characteristics as Mao: "70% good and 30% bad." Lenin's legacy, we repeat, in the opinion of his Chinese friends is 100% beneficial, and his actions, given the situation, impeccable. The pinnacle of Lenin's genius, in the Chinese view, was NEP. State capitalism or market socialism. A poor, illiterate, agrarian country, such as the Soviet Union was in the early 1920s and China in the late 1970s, cannot immediately transition to socialism. Socialism is only possible if the society is very prosperous - and China is moving towards that. Lenin planned "NEP for at least 50 years".