Day in Memory of V. I. Lenin

a traditional holiday of the Soviet people that is observed annually on April 22, the birthday of the founder of the CPSU, the founder of the first socialist state in history, and the leader of the world proletariat, V. I. Lenin (1870).

Every year on April 22 there are festive meetings of workers, lectures, talks, and evenings devoted to the life and activity of Lenin, his intellectual legacy, and the significance of Leninist ideas in building communist society and developing the world revolutionary movement. Lenin prizes are awarded annually on the Day in Memory of V. I. Lenin, and, as a rule, International Lenin Prizes for Strengthening Peace Among Peoples are also awarded on that day.

On Jan. 26, 1924, the Second Congress of the Soviets of the USSR decided to ratify “the Decree of the Eleventh All-Russian Congress of Soviets on declaring January 21, the date of the death of Vladimir Il’ich Ul’ianov (Lenin), a day of mourning and making that resolution effective throughout the territory of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics” (S”ezdy Sovetov Soiuza SSR, soiuznykh i avtonomnykh sov. sotsialistich. respublik: Sb. dokumentov, vol. 3, 1960, p. 36). On Jan. 4, 1955, the Central Committee of the CPSU adopted the decree On the Day in Memory of V. I. Lenin, which declared that “it is appropriate to commemorate V. I. Lenin not on the day of his death, which leaves the mark of mourning and grief, but on V. I. Lenin’s birthday—April 22—making that date a holiday, which will be more in agreement with the whole spirit of Leninism as an eternally living, life-giving teaching” (KPSS v rezoliutsiiakh …,” 7th ed., part 4, 1960, p. 52).