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