Sergei Bondarenko, Report at the Intellectual Book Fair Non/Fiction (Moscow, December 2011): "The goal of this brief paper is rather simple: I will use a few incidents surrounding Lenin memorials across Russia to illustrate the work of monitoring the politics of history and to offer in connection with this a few potentially meaningful generalizations".

The LiveJournal community “Monuments to Vladimir Ilyich Lenin” features what is probably the most complete thematic catalog of photographs of monuments to Lenin currently available. The community’s creators intend “to collect ALL of the monuments to V. I. Lenin erected on the territory of the republics of the former USSR, and those located in countries in other countries around the world.” As of July 2009, information on 3500 items was already available. The collection is updated on an ongoing basis.

Historical policy implies, by definition, that different political views will compete; but it requires the existence of a democratic society where the State does not have monopoly on history. In Russia, however, even in the absence of political competition and an opportunity to influence the political present, various parties are often competing in the struggle for the past.