Veterans march in Red Square in Moscow, below a sign reading 'Glory to 1941 Parade Participants'

Communists in Russia are marking the 88th anniversary of Lenin's 1917 Bolshevik revolution that led to the founding of the Soviet Union.

Hundreds of people turned up for commemorations in several cities across the country.

During Soviet times, November 7 was a highly celebrated workers' holiday, with huge government-sponsored parades and displays of military hardware.

But President Vladimir Putin scrapped the holiday last year, renaming it "National Unity Day" and shifting the date to November 4 to mark Russia's victory over Poland in 1612.

Monday's anniversary comes as post-Soviet Russia tries to decide what to do with Lenin's embalmed body, which has lain in state since 1924 in a large marble mausoleum in Moscow's Red Square. The tomb is considered a symbol of the old Soviet era.