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Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the mausoleum of Vladimir Lenin has remained a hangover from a bygone age.

Now, following a request filed by an NGO, the Russians are considering pulling down Lenin’s tomb and returning his remains to his family and followers.

From Kommersant:

The Russian History Institute presented a harsh evaluation of Vladimir Lenin’s role in history yesterday recommending burying the body and pulling down the Mausoleum of Lenin in Red Square, outside the Kremlin. The institute prepared the report following a request of a small NGO. The pro-presidential United Russia party and political scientists believe that the advice will be followed within the next few years.

The Russian History Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences supported an initiative to bury Vladimir Lenin and pull down the Mausoleum of Lenin in Red Square. The institute report is a reply to a request filed by an NGO concerned with victims of Soviet purges.

This development raises questions about how Russia should deal with it’s communist past. Many millions of Russians still yearn for a return to collectivism, and would like to see a powerful Russia regain its pride. Communist sympathisers lionise even Stalin, who Khrushchev famously renounced in 1956.

So why is Russia finding it so difficult to shed its communist past and embrace Western democracy and market economics?

First we have to look at the abject failure of the economic liberalisation that ushered in the new age. Western economists and financial institutions were certain that mass-privatisation and a liberalisation of the markets, would bring about an economic miracle, which would transform Russia into a modern capitalist democracy. In reality, Boris Yeltsin sold off the family silver to his cronies for a song, leaving the Russian people with nothing and facing hyperinflation at the food-markets. Almost overnight millions saw their lifesavings wiped out, as the rubble became worthless, and a handful of Oligarchs became billionaires many times over.

Years later elderly Russians have seen their once mighty nation become a basket case on the international scene. Yeltsin was a drink-soaked embarrassment, Chechnya became a hotbed of separatist violence, and drug-fuelled violent crime became the norm.

Liberal economics was never going to work in post-Soviet Russia. For one the Russians had endured almost a century of communism, so entrepreneurialism and business savvy were at a premium. The second factor was the lack of a sound legal framework, an independent judiciary, and little respect for property rights.

The final and probably the most important factor, was the nature of a heavily deregulated economy. Free-markets favour flexible, innovative, and aggressive companies; and in a market where the legal framework and enforcement is inadequate, it is the mafia business model that thrives. Mafia organisations are unscrupulous, inventive, profit minded, and uncompromising - the perfect animal for the Russian economy.

Only now, with the Kremlins coffers swelling with gas revenue, has Russia regained some international prominence. President Vladimir Putin has employed punitive measures and undemocratic reforms to reign in a failing and increasing corrupt body politic. Violence and malcontent are still rife, but at least people can see some hope for a strong Russia in the future.

So is it any wonder that many people, for whom the reforms and modernisations have brought nothing but suffering, do not want to see Lenin’s tomb pulled down? Why face up to a new reality, when you hanker for the past?

So the removal of Lenin’s tomb represents, not only Russia facing up the purges and terrors of Stalin, but the acceptance of its relative weakness on the international stage.