Lenin RELATED VIDEO CNN's Jill Dougherty interviews today's Russian Communists Windows Media 28K 80K

• 'The Yeltsin era is over'
• 'No split in the party'
• Debate over body
• Related stories and sites

MOSCOW (CNN) -- Russia's Communist faithful marked the 75th anniversary of the death of revolutionary Vladimir Lenin on Thursday, with Lenin's modern-day successor vowing to undo the legacy of President Boris Yeltsin.

"I have to say that Lenin is more important than ever," Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov said after laying flowers at Lenin's Mausoleum in Red Square. "Lenin's New Economic Policy is knocking at Russia's doors and will be required. It is as important as it was in the 1920s."

The New Economic Policy was Lenin's effort to mix elements of the market economy with Communism.

Lenin, who led the 1917 Bolshevik revolution and founded the Soviet Union, died of a massive stroke in 1924 at the age of 53. His body was embalmed and put on public display despite his wife's pleas to bury him. Lenin had said he wanted to be interred next to his mother in St. Petersburg.

'The Yeltsin era is over'

Several hundred mostly elderly Communists and their allies visited the mausoleum on Thursday, laying carnations along the black granite exterior.

"Comrades, don't rush," one man admonished as several dozen elderly pushed forward to get to the tomb.

Communists from around the Soviet Union used to regard a trip to Lenin's tomb as a pilgrimage of almost spiritual proportions, but visitors have been relatively scarce in recent years. Most visitors these days are international tourists.

After visiting the mausoleum and placing flowers by the tombs of Soviet leaders Josef Stalin and Yuri Andropov, Zyuganov predicted sweeping wins in December parliamentary elections.

"The Yeltsin era is over. A period of enlightenment is coming," he told reporters.

'No split in the party'

Zyuganov used the opportunity to try to deflect reports that his party is becoming more fractured and weakened by extremist factions.

The Communists "are now the most modern and the most influential party in Russia," he said, according to the Interfax news agency. "There is no split in the party."

Lenin's body in the mausoleum in Red Square

In a formal statement on the eve of the anniversary, the post-Soviet Communist Party vowed to follow in Lenin's footsteps.

"It is now three-quarters of a century since the heart of the leader of the worldwide proletariat, V.I. Lenin, ceased to beat," it said.

"As they carried their loyal friend on his final journey, our fathers and grandfathers swore to 'hold high and guard in purity the great name of the Communist'. We -- today's Russian Communists -- are true to that oath."

Most tributes fell far short of the outpourings of emotions and words on Lenin anniversaries during the Soviet era.

But the pro-Communist Sovietskaya Rossiya newspaper tried to revive the old spirit, dedicating nearly the entire front page to Lenin, with one corner offering a poem to the "genius of the revolution."

Debate over body

Some newspapers ran flippant articles referring to the revolutionary leader as a withered mummy. Television news programs led with President Bill Clinton's trial in the U.S. Senate and a miners' strike in Hungary before getting to Lenin.

Most of the fascination around Lenin these days surrounds how he has been preserved for the last 75 years. His embalmers periodically bathe his body in a chemical solution and cover his face in a preparation to prevent tissue decay. They also change his business suit occasionally.

Still, the years have taken their toll. Lenin's fingertips have turned black and blue, and his lower body is covered by a thick black drape. All that is visible of him are his face and hands.

The anniversary gave commentators the opportunity to debate what should be done with the body, which remains on public display three hours a day in his mausoleum. Yeltsin has periodically suggested removing Lenin and burying him, a suggestion that Communists regard as heresy.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.