An Iron Spike in the Body of the Era: Lenin’s Life and Long Shadow

On January 24, it will be 100 years since the death of the man of whom Ferdinand Peroutka wrote that “he penetrated the body of the era like a sharp spike”. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the mastermind of the Bolshevik coup in Russia, imprinted his fixed ideas on a state that gradually turned into a world power under the name of the Soviet Union, to the misfortune of hundreds of millions. In a debate looking back at Lenin’s personality and times, threeguests will reflect on the causes and effects of the Bolshevik Revolution. What role did it play in the Russian historical story and in the history of the world? How is Lenin’s “work” perceived in contemporary Russia? Why was Lenin criticised by Vladimir Putin? We will touch on these and other questions with historian Daniela Kolenovská, political geographer Michael Romancov and journalist Libor Dvořák. David Svoboda will chair the discussion.