Iconic Convos: Lenin Statue

Nicole Bearden (NB): Zdravstvuyte, today we are speaking with the Fremont Lenin statue. (I don’t speak Russian, but I learned the phrase for “hello”, just for today).

Lenin Statue (LS): Hello. I do not speak Russian.

NB: Aren’t you a Lenin statue? I thought Lenin was Russian?

LS: Lenin was Russian. My nationality is more complicated. I was created by a Bulgarian, for Czechoslovakia, and have now been in the Capitalist States of America since the ‘90s. What is nationality anyway? What are borders, but arbitrary lines assigned to take power from the many and funnel it to the wealthy?

NB: My apologies. I guess I shouldn’t assume that you share Lenin’s ideals either?

LS: Well. That is less complicated. I do believe in the Collective. My namesake did a lot of great things, but got caught up in the Party, which allowed Stalin to wreak evil havoc and call it Communism.

*shakes head* Your Western powers loved this, since it allowed them to point and say, “Look at what Communism does!”, when in reality, it was a power grab like any other. Marx was a little bit right, and the inspiration for my creation [Lenin] was a little bit right. However, Stalin was all wrong.

NB: Thank you for clarifying. Since you have been here in the States for 30 years now, what do you think about our political systems?

LS: I have been in Seattle, which is a limited view, but what I have picked up from eavesdropping, and the SCN, is that this city, like all Capitalist strongholds, bows to the dollar, and everyone else be damned. You have had a series of corrupt Mayors and Councilpeople who execute absolutely deplorable policies, which then push the people into poverty, and the streets. This country could do with some Collectivism.

NB: Well, I can’t disagree with that.

LS: Of course you cannot.

NB: You mentioned something called the SCN. What is that?

LS: The Statue Communications Network. It is how we communicate with one another. All Lenin statues have an innate bond, but we can bond with other statues as well, so that they can forward pertinent information.

NB: Ah, interesting. Do you communicate with all statues?

LS: Not all. We put the Confederate statues, and slave owners and racists into one channel, and mostly just insult them constantly.

NB: Sounds very 21st Century.

LS: And yet, this network has been around (by one name or another) for centuries.

NB: Speaking of other Lenin statues. You have a very different look. Most Lenin statues are holding a book, waving his hat around. You stand among flames and guns.

LS: Well, yes. Vladimir [Lenin] believed in violence to take down the bourgeoisie and siphon power to the Party and working class. To portray him with a book is not the whole picture, although he was also a proponent of reading. I am a reminder that opposition to fascism and imperialism does not come only through books.

Lenin Statue wearing a white Santa Claus-style beard / The Evergreen Echo

NB: *laughs nervously* I see. On another note, I see you are wearing a beard.

LS: Yes. Lenin had a beard. Why would I not have one?

NB: No…a white beard.

LS: Ah, yes. *scoffs* Some people like to dress me up like Saint Claus.

NB: Santa Claus.

LS: Yes, that’s what I said—Saint Claus! I only bring the gift of inspiration to revolution, I am not a Saint Claus, bringing toys to children. Every year they decorate me. One year…they will learn.

NB: That sounds…sinister. How will they learn?

LS: Let us just say, the SCN is learning the tenets of my namesake’s philosophy. And we watched Dr Who with the Angels. *chuckles*

NB: Well now I’m not terrified at all. Thanks for that, Lenin Statue.

LS: You are safe. For now.

NB: Right. Welllll. Thank you for this enlightening conversation, Lenin Statue. Is there anything you would like to say to our readers?

LS: As my namesake said: “One must always strive to be as radical as reality itself.”

NB: Apt. Lenin Statue can be found in Fremont, at the corner of Fremont Ave N and N 36th St.