Truemors
Digg
del.icio.us
AddToAny
Write
is reporting from
Member
NP Rank:
NP Rank:
Bury Lenin, Says Gorbachev
by jordan | June 5, 2008 at 08:09 am | 491 views | 9 comments | 5 recommendations
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Grobachev has stated that the body of Vladimir Lenin should be finally committed to the earth.
Currently Lenin's embalmed corpse is encased in glass and on display in a mausoleum in Moscow's Red Square. Little by little, over the years, the official ceremony surrounding the upkeep of the mausoleum has been stripped away, but no leader has yet called for the final step of actually burying Lenin's body.
Mikhail Gorbachev said that Lenin’s body should be removed from the mausoleumon Red Square and buried, as the Bolshevik revolutionary’s family hadwanted. But the former Soviet president gave no indication of when hebelieved the corpses of Lenin and other Soviet leaders would be removed fromthe Kremlin.
“One day we will come to see no cemetery or Lenin’s body near the KremlinWall. He should be committed to the ground,” Mr Gorbachev told reporters inMoscow. “I think this will happen. Time will tell.”
The issue remains highly sensitive for Russia’s leadership, even though mostacknowledge the absurdity of keeping Lenin on display 16 years after theSoviet Union’s collapse in 1991. The mausoleum used to attract long lines ofvisitors during Soviet times as school parties, tour groups, andtrue-believers queued to pay their respects to a figure elevated to almostmythical status by party propaganda.
Mr Gorbachev, 77, also backed a campaign to establish a fitting memorial tothe millions of people who were persecuted by the Soviet regime and died inthe gulags. The campaign is being led by the Memorial human rightsorganisation, which has documented the repressions that began under Leninand peaked with the purges launched by his successor Joseph Stalin.
“This is a big problem for our country. It touches almost every family,millions of our country’s people. We should do much more. The rehabilitationof the victims is still not complete,” said Mr Gorbachev.
“There is of course the literature, the archives, the memory passed on by ourparents but there isn’t a single space to bring together this sadness.” MrGorbachev supported calls to establish part of the memorial at Moscow’snotorious 18th Century Butyrka prison, where detainees were taken beforebeing sent into prison camps spread across Central Asia and Siberia.
A statement signed by Mr Gorbachev and other prominent intellectualscriticised recent moves to rewrite Russian history and restore Stalin’simage as a great leader. It said: “The true history is giving way to mythsand coldly written paragraphs in textbooks. On the basis of a voided memory,Stalin’s sinister image is returning, this time as an effectiveadministrator.”
June 5, 2008 at 08:09 am by jordan, 491 views, 9 comments
Crowd Power
jordan
Toronto, Canadajaumedurgell
Madrid, M, Spain (Espana)trevorhaldenby
Central Toronto (The Annex / North Midtown / Yorkville), Ontario, Canada
Matti Mattila
Helsinki, Finland
vostok71
Berrien Springs, Michigan, United Statesdogbreath@yahoo.com
Gurnee, Illinois, United Statespdxjmorris
Portland, Oregon, United Statesmolly_jane6
Portland, Oregon, United Statesovejas
Spain (Espana)iwonao
Canadathlorinc
Budapest, Hungarywrd39
Seal Beach, California, United Statesrobber84
Tallahassee, Florida, United Stateschigbee2003
Colorado Springs, Colorado, United Stateskick_start
Italysyhleung
Hong Kongsakre41
Spain (Espana)bboygraphix
Tustin, California, United StatesPedro J. Saavedra
Spain (Espana)runnerone
Australiarobluskey
Placentia, California, United StatesPam F.
McLeod, Montana, United Statescj.sveningsson
Estoniamikework
Pasadena, California, United Statesgleefully gloomy
Canadayumiang
Canadafraklein
Malden, Massachusetts, United Statesdannycg
Indiasvanur sig
Icelandchicanelk
Australiakapachino8
Katy, Texas, United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (9)
at 08:55 on June 5th, 2008
jordan, a great story! Thanks!
- reply
Pedro J. Saavedraat 22:37 on June 5th, 2008
A finales de 1921, la salud de Lenin se vio gravemente afectada: sufría de insomnios progresivamente acusados y sus dolores de cabeza eran cada vez más frecuentes. En marzo del año siguiente asistió por última vez a un congreso del partido, en el que fue elegido Stalin secretario general de la organización. Al mes siguiente se le intervenía quirúrgicamente para extraerle las balas que continuaban alojadas en su cuerpo desde el atentado sufrido en 1918. Si bien se recuperó rápidamente de la operación, pocas semanas después sufrió un serio ataque que, por un tiempo, le impidió el habla y el movimiento de las extremidades derechas. En junio su salud mejoró parcialmente y dirigió la formación de la Unión de Repúblicas Socialistas Soviéticas. Pero en diciembre sufrió un segundo ataque de apoplejía que le impidió cualquier posibilidad de influir en la política práctica. Aun así, tuvo la fuerza de dictar varias cartas, entre ellas su llamado «testamento» en la que expresa su gran temor ante la lucha por el poder entablada entre Trotski y Stalin en el seno del partido. El 21 de enero de 1924 una hemorragia cerebral acabó con su vida. El hombre que detestaba el culto a la personalidad y abominaba de la religión fue embalsamado y depositado en un rico mausoleo de la plaza Roja. La lucha contra el Lenin de carne y hueso no había hecho más que comenzar.
©2007 Pedro J. Saavedra
www.pedrojsaavedra.com
Pedro J. Saavedra has contributed a photo to this story.
at 23:22 on June 5th, 2008
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin in New York, US
Avenue A ;)
http://snipurl.com/lenin-nyc
kick_start has contributed a photo to this story.
- reply
ovejasat 00:10 on June 6th, 2008
Perfectly could be a joke, the father of the comunism with one of the world's largest fortunes, Roman Abramovich, this is the new Russia.
ovejas has contributed a photo to this story.
- reply
frakleinat 01:36 on June 6th, 2008
This statue of Lenin can be found in lovely downtown Fremont, WA.
fraklein has contributed a photo to this story.
at 01:55 on June 6th, 2008
If you are instested in buying my poster of Lenin, just visit my gallery at Imagekind.
- reply
cj.sveningssonat 03:10 on June 6th, 2008
This statue is still standing in a back corner of the Narva Castle courtyard - not as a celebration of Lenin anymore, but for the Estonian people to remember the pain inflicted by the Soviets.
cj.sveningsson has contributed a photo to this story.
- reply
svanur sigat 09:09 on June 7th, 2008
Mikhail Gorbachev is seen here (in the four bnw pictures I am providing) giving a lecture in Reykjavík, Iceland in October 2006, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the great summit of USSR and USA in Reykjavík in 1986. It was one of the pivotal meetings in bringing an end to the cold war. I had the luck to listen to Gorbachev give a very well rounded account of these events and more. - Svanur Sig.
svanur sig has contributed a photo to this story.
- reply
Alex.TCMat 11:30 on June 10th, 2008
This was taken on board a Moskva class helicopter carrier, in Tianjin, China.
Alex.TCM has contributed a photo to this story.