| Almost seventy years have elapsed since the | | | | groups, but was arrested and exiled to |
| beginning of World War II. This was the | | | | Siberia in 1895. In 1900 he went to Europe, |
| bloodiest conflict our global world has ever | | | | and in 1903 he led the Bolsheviks in the |
| endured. Almost every country throughout the | | | | split of the Russian Social-Democratic |
| world lost millions upon millions of its | | | | Workers' party. When revolution broke out in |
| population. There has never been a war fought | | | | Russia in 1917, he led the Bolsheviks to |
| on such a massive scale as the Second World | | | | control the government. Lenin had complete |
| War. It is doubtful if such a war will ever | | | | political control over the Union of Soviet |
| be fought again. If it ever happens, it will | | | | Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) until his |
| mean the total destruction of our world. | | | | death, and is remembered as the man who put |
| | | | Marx's ideas to practical use. |
| The Lenin Mausoleum is the first of a series | | | | |
| of articles that document some of the names, | | | | For decades after his death, Lenin's |
| places, catch words, and other items that are | | | | well-preserved body has been put on public |
| now lodged permanently in our vocabulary, | | | | display in a special mausoleum in Red Square. |
| History was made some 68 years ago. We dare | | | | It was named The Tomb of Lenin. |
| not forget. | | | | |
| | | | Stretching along one side of the Kremlin |
| The Lenin Mausoleum | | | | walls, Red Square has become a part of its |
| | | | overall architectural ensemble, with seven |
| Lenin's preserved body is on permanent | | | | Kremlin towers standing along its western |
| display at the Lenin Mausoleum in Moscow. | | | | side. The Lenin Mausoleum is at the |
| Because of Lenin's unique role in the | | | | compositional center of Red Square. Its |
| creation of the first communist state, and | | | | architect employed a simple and expressive |
| despite his expressed wish shortly before his | | | | design in the form of a monumental edifice, |
| death that no memorials be created for him, | | | | faced in dark red granite and black |
| his character was elevated over time to the | | | | labradorite. |
| point of near religious reverence. By the | | | | |
| 1980s, every major city in the Soviet Union | | | | Every hour on the hour to the peal of the |
| had a statue of Lenin in its central square. | | | | Kremlin chimes the guards are changed at the |
| There was either a Lenin street or a Lenin | | | | entrance to the Mausoleum. It is a solemn |
| Square near the city center. Often 20 or more | | | | ceremony that is comparable to the changing |
| smaller statues and busts populated its | | | | of the guard in the Tomb of the Unknowns in |
| territory. Collective farms, medals, hybrids | | | | Arlington National Cemetery. |
| of wheat, and even an asteroid were named | | | | |
| after Lenin. Children were taught stories | | | | During national festivities the Mausoleum |
| about "granddad Lenin" while they were still | | | | becomes a focal point of military parades. On |
| in nursery school. | | | | both sides of the Mausoleum there are stands |
| | | | of light-grey granite for the guests. Behind |
| The almost religious fervor that surrounded | | | | the Mausoleum along the Kremlin wall the |
| the existence of the Tomb of Lenin is | | | | revolutionary necropolis is located. Here lie |
| comparable to the religious significance of | | | | buried figures of the Communist Party of the |
| the Tomb of Mary. Orthodox and Franciscan | | | | Soviet Union and the former Soviet State. |
| monks watch over her tomb daily. Mary, the | | | | |
| mother of Jesus, was buried in the Kidron | | | | We cannot overlook the significance the Lenin |
| Valley. According to writings, the Church of | | | | Mausoleum has played in the growth and rise |
| the Assumption was erected upon the tomb that | | | | of world communism. The communist regimes |
| received the mortal remains of the Blessed | | | | that followed the death of Lenin have |
| Virgin. From this tomb she was taken into | | | | propagated this into a shrine. Because of |
| heaven. The death and assumption of Mary into | | | | world communism in the 1930s and early 1940, |
| heaven is described in the apocryphal writing | | | | the origin of nazism in Germany and other |
| "The transition of the Virgin" or "Dormition" | | | | countries took root. Here indeed began a |
| of Mary. | | | | chain of events which led to the start of |
| | | | World War II. |
| Although the Tomb of Mary contains many of | | | | |
| the most sacred religious artifacts of | | | | Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the level |
| Christianity, the tomb is unoccupied. Because | | | | of reverence for Lenin in post-Soviet |
| of the multitudes of annual pilgrims to this | | | | republics has gone down considerably. |
| site, the Israeli Defense Force provides | | | | However, generations who grew up during the |
| protection to the thousands of visitors to | | | | Soviet period still consider Lenin an |
| the Tomb of Mary that visit the Holy Land | | | | important figure. Most statues of Lenin have |
| each year. | | | | been torn down in Eastern Europe, but many |
| | | | still remain in Russia. The city of Leningrad |
| Just as the Tomb of Mary bore the highest | | | | reverted to St Petersburg, which was its |
| significance to Christianity, so did the Tomb | | | | original name, The surrounding Leningrad |
| of Lenin become the highest monument of | | | | Oblast still carries his name. The citizens |
| significance to the world of communism. | | | | of Ulyanovsk, Lenin's birthplace, have so far |
| Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov Lenin (April 22, 1870 | | | | resisted all attempts to revert its name to |
| - January 21, 1924)was a Russian | | | | Simbirsk. |
| revolutionary, a communist politician, the | | | | |
| main leader of the October Revolution, the | | | | The subject of interring Lenin's body has |
| first head of the Soviet Union, and the | | | | been a recurring topic for the past several |
| primary theorist of Leninism, a variant of | | | | years in Russia. To this day, the body of |
| Marxism Lenin was a driving force behind the | | | | Lenin lies in perpetual state in the Tomb of |
| Russian Revolution of 1917 and became the | | | | Lenin. The elite unit of Russian guards still |
| first great dictator of the Soviet Union. | | | | constantly stands watch round the clock. It |
| After his brother was executed in 1887 (for | | | | is a living icon that despite democratization |
| plotting to kill the Czar), Lenin gave up | | | | within the Russian Federation, the spirit of |
| studying law and became a full-time | | | | communism has not gone away. |
| revolutionary. | | | | |
| | | | . |
| Lenin studied Karl Marx and formed workers' | | | | |