By Michael Martin
The 22nd of May 2018. It was day 18 of our Russian study abroad trip. We went to see Vladimir Lenin. It was interesting to visit not only an important historical figure’s grave, but to see the person’s body, or what is left of it, preserved for the purpose (I have to assume) of allowing us, the visitors, the tourists, the students, and maybe even some Russian people, the opportunity to witness this great leader of Russia, just as he was when he was alive… or as close as possible. Such an attraction leaves one with many things to think about.
First, who was Vladimir Lenin? Born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, he was a hugely influential figure in Russian history. He was the leader of Russian Revolution and the first leader of the Soviet Union. He and his ideas helped take Russia from a monarchy, to Communist superpower, to what it is today.
So why keep him preserved like that? No one else is afforded this honor, if you want to call it that. I have heard some people (not Russians) say that it is disrespectful to keep him like this. That they should just let him be buried already, leave his body alone, let him decompose and return to earth, and that sort of thing. I do not know the exact process, but to keep preserved like that somebody has to touch him. They have to manipulate his body, put stuff into it, maybe take things out, he is probably naked during some parts of the process. Many things have to be done that would normally be considered “defiling a dead body” in almost any other circumstance. If the idea is to honor a hero, is this really the way to do it?
There is another part of this that I do not think is discussed enough. Looking at him, I remember thinking that he did not look real. He looked like a wax dummy. A really well done wax dummy, but still, a wax dummy. A few other students said the same thing. I have seen dead bodies before, both in funerals and unfortunately, not in funerals. There is a similar thought looking at any deceased person, no matter how recent or how well preserved they are. So why go through all this trouble? Why not put him to rest, and make a wax dummy that people can see?
I have tried asking a few Russian people about their thoughts on the subject. There seems to be a mix of a little bit of nostalgia as a lot of older Russians do miss the Soviet Union, a little bit of “this is the way it is and has been,” (the Russians do seem to like their traditions), but mostly it seems as though most of the Russian people do not really even think about it at all.
Maybe it is just a draw for tourist revenue. Maybe it is a form of “honor” that I just do not understand. Earlier in the trip, I tried to argue that Russia is unique to the East and the West, and ended up with the conclusion that they are not so very different. But perhaps in this way they are, because this is just not something that people do in civilized society. I am not trying to say that Russians are uncivilized, but this practice of preserving and displaying Lenin’s body feels rather uncivilized.
There were no pictures allowed to be taken inside, but I took some pictures of the building outside, there is also a picture of Lenin from British newspaper, The Guardian, taken from this website: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jun/15/lenin-body-moscow-burying-news.
