From Lenin to Xi Jinping

How the Chinese Communist Party has buried the revolutionary spirit of 1917

Written by Pratap Bhanu Mehta | Updated: November 2, 2017 11:01 am

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President Xi jinping. (File)

The 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution this month has passed without too much discussion. This is for entirely understandable reasons: The meaning of 1917 has to a great degree been eclipsed by the meaning of 1989. The more we learn about the revolution from new archives, or rescue it from encrusted Cold War histories, the more difficult it is for even the last remnants of Communist nostalgia to hold onto any idea of commemorating it in a celebratory spirit. The revolution had far-reaching effects, no doubt. The ways in which Bolsheviks acquired, and more importantly, held onto power, still repays study.