Religion, Bolshevism, and the Origins of the Lenin Cult

Bibliographic Data

ID3371146
AuthorsNina Tumarkin (corresponding author)
Year1981
Volume40
Issue1
Pages35
Publication date1981-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Russian Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0036-0341 • E-ISSN: 1467-9434
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/128733
OpenAlexW2334113015
LanguageEN
Citations received11

In 1925, one year after Lenin's death, a story, called Clever Lenin, circulated among the peasants of the Viatka countryside. One day, it begins, Lenin was leafing through books and newspapers and in every one found writings about himself. Why should we fear the Entente and America when we have Vladimir Il'ich, who goes by the name of Lenin? Lenin worried about how his country would fare without him, so he sent for the finest Soviet doctor and explained that he wanted to appear to die remain alive. We will put you not in a grave, replied the doctor, but in a spacious room, and we will cover you with glass so no one can poke you with his fingers. And so, soon after, Lenin's death was announced. People wept and moaned: What will become of us now? The British and French will attack us. But Kalinin consoled the people, urging them to stop weeping and start working. They put Lenin into a shed called a mausoleum and put a guard at the door. One day, two, a week, and then a month passed and Lenin grew tired of lying under the glass. One night he slipped out the back door of the mausoleum and went to the Kremlin, where the commissars met. He entered just after a meeting and asked two janitors, who had been listening through the door, what they had heard. Did they mention Lenin? he queried. What a question. 'Look,' they say, 'Lenin died we now have almost twice as many communists. Now let the Entente dare make a peep.' Lenin returned to the mausoleum and lay down under the glass feeling satisfied. The next night he went to a factory. He asked the workers whether they were Party members. Before Lenin's death we did not belong to the Party, they replied, but now we are communists, we are Leninists. Lenin was very pleased. On the third night he journeyed to a remote village. In one hut a light was still burning. Can one rest here a little? asked Lenin. Come on in, came the reply. Lenin entered and was astonished. No icons. Red posters and portraits everywhere. Are you not Christians? he queried. We are citizens, Comrade. This is a reading room and here

Ancient history · Cult · Guard (computer science) · Newspaper · Political science · Chinese history and philosophy · History · Law · Philosophy · Political Economy and Marxism · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious studies

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