Lenin, in post-communist Russia
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Communism might be a thing of the past, but the presence of Lenin still lingers.
Lenin mosaic, Sochi
I associated the breakdown of communism with removal of Lenin’s statues from public spaces of eastern Europe. On my trip to Russia, I was pleasantly surprised to see a number of statues of Mr. Vladimir Lenin (or Nikolai Lenin) on streets, parks and squares. Granted, their numbers might have decreased, and Lenin’s reverence among the post-modern generation might have declined, but you still get a feeling that someone is watching you all the time.
Lenin was the founder and the first head of state of USSR. He tweaked the Marxist communist theories to suit the predominantly agrarian Russian economy and lead a revolutionary movement against the Tsarist monarchy in the country. It is very interesting to read the history – Russian Revolution of 1905.
Lenin’s Mausoleum, Red Square, Moscow
Today he rests in a mausoleum at the Red Square, in the heart of Moscow, his body fully preserved. When he died in 1924, the line of mourners wanting to offer respects to his dead body was so huge, that Stalin, Lenin’s successor, decided to preserve Lenin body as a holy relic. Lenin’s brain was removed for scientific studies (of the perfect communist brain), his face was bleached, eyes and lips were sewn tight and his body was finally sent for preservation. The preservation technique is still a state secret.
Lenin has been resting here since 1924 (except a retreat to Siberia during WW II). From 1953-1961, he shared his tomb with Stalin, but then a well-known Bolshevik lady narrated, to the Soviet Party congress, her dream in which Lenin expressed to her his unwillingness to rest next to his ‘evil’ successor. Many believe this ‘dream narration’ was planned by the leaders. Stalin was promptly removed and buried among other (minor) leaders of the Soviet state.
Lenin’s Mausoleum, simply titled “ЛЕНИН” (“LENIN”)
The mausoleum is open for public visits from 10:00 to 13:00 except on Monday and Friday. Visitors must deposit their baggage at the left-luggage office in the State History Museum on the Red Square. Young soldiers posted every few meters will prompt you to keep walking and their serious, humorless faces will make sure that you don’t indulge in a non-serious behavior. Photography is not permitted inside. Lenin’s body can be seen enclosed in a glass case and brightly illuminated. His face looks kinda pale, shiny and waxy, but very similar to his statues and pictures. You may stand here for a couple of seconds, but you’ll be nudged to move on by guards who look like ghosts – since they are completely covered in dark army uniforms except for their faces which look bright and pale in the dim light emerging from Lenin’s casket.
Salutes to Lenin, one of the great leaders the world had.
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I’m watching a documentary on the fall of the Berlin wall as I’m reading your post
France still have Leningrad street (rue) in almost all cities. Weird, eh?
↵Hey Zhu, there was recently an installation of Lenin’s statue in Seattle too
Funny, remove some statues, put some new ones!
↵Red mosaic of Lenin – so very appropriate!
↵hehe yep! What an original idea, LOL!!
↵The dude actually looks pretty stylish for someone from that time. I haven’t seen pictures, statues of him before. Nice post.
↵Thanks Sid! He sure looked well groomed and stylish. But I don’t know if that was in real life too, maybe his only statues and murals were ordered to look good. hehe!
↵[...] narrating my trip to Russia. Here are the other posts and pictures! « Previous post: Lenin, in Post-Communist Russia | Next post: [...]
↵A dream? I wonder what the full back story of that is. Sounds like it was planned as you mentioned.. doesn’t seem like they’d go to all that trouble for a vision in a dream!
↵hehehe, Soviet rule was full of such conspiracies. Stalin, during his rule, portrayed himself as a great leader on par with Lenin. However, after his death, his popularity crashed as one by one his blunders during WW2 and negative effects of his other policies such as labor camps emerged. He was then systematically dethroned from glory and the removal of his body was a part of that process.
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