looks over at Lenins portrait on the wall

sheds a single tear

I think that’s probably an unhelpful way to think of any historical figure, Lenin included, impressively devoted though he was, and I don’t think Russel is a great judge since he of course attacked Lenin as a dogmatist, a cruel sicko, and so on, and it’s very easy to see how this “compliment” can rhetorically be used to help frame that attack.