In the US, you can catch a cold.
In Soviet Russia, cold catches you!

Oh Mr. Yakov Smirnoff, you so crazy.

Putin is just making room for his final resting place.

For Pete's sake ... the tyrant's been dead for almost a century (died 1924) .... bury this damned Communist Marxist already and stop giving him an exalted place in Russian history!

NJ - I think you will find that he was a Leninist.

Lenin is a hero like Barack Obama today. They should mummify or clone him.

It's really not our perception of Lenin that matters. It's solely up to the Soviets/Russians. Some think they were better off as the USSR.

And some think, possibly correctly, that they were actually better off under Czar Nicholas than they were under the USSR. Lenin possessed some truly monstrous characteristics. Lenin was no better than anyone else. Lenin is dead; bury him.

Conk--we're a young Republic, but we have have our share of suspicious characters leading this country. When the masses are dumbed down, they will follow the one with the loudest voice.

I believe all of the characters who have led the United States and who are now dead, and who were suspicious or not as the case may be, are buried or cremated---mostly buried. Lenin is dead and his corpse should be respectfully laid to rest as well.

Early in the history of the USSR, the people of the USSR learned that it was not permitted to seriously question Lenin or Leninism. The Soviet Government accorded Lenin the status of a demigod and Lenin's corpse was not buried but instead put on display as an object of veneration in order to help establish the Cult of Lenin. The Soviet Government used the Cult of Lenin to establish the moral authority and power of the Soviet Union; everything the Soviet Union did was referenced to the Great Lenin. In burying Lenin's corpse, Lenin would be declared symbolically to be just another man, which is in fact all he was. Lenin is dead; end the Soviet farce of venerating him and bury him as he should have been over 80 years ago.

Or Jack Lemmon, or the Lennon sisters... Are we sure that's really him? I thought I saw him shopping at a 24 Igor's in Minsk with Elvis last week.

now thats not very classy to say that at all.. Elvis wouldnt have even been caught with Lenin alive, much less dead.

In America, you can always find a party

In Soviet Russia, the party ALWAYS finds YOU

ANyways, I like that simpsons clip of lenin busting out of his glass coffin and saying "Must....Crush...Capitalism"

I'd suggest that Peter the Great was the cornerstone of Russian history. So-called Lenin was the toilet bowl for much of what ails Russia and much of the world today.

I'm with you on this, Ram. The man is dead. Don't move him just because he was a "controversal figure". Keep him there for historys sake. Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it...

mkaipo I think both were important; without Lenin and his revolution Russia would have continue to lack industrialization and people would have stayed longer under the serfdom system. In less than 20 years after the revolution, the nation was spiting factories, railroads, dams, people learned how to write and read, etc, they stood and defeated industrial Germany in WWII and got into space before than anybody else, communism was very bad in many other things, but definitely brought Russia into the XX century and created the scientific basis for Russia's future success.

By the way, Peter the Great's projects and wars built a modern Russia over the dead bodies of many countrymen too.

I agree with Romilio on this one. You may not agree with his doctrines or ideas, but Lenin's acomplishments did bring Russia out of the hole in which it was just prior to and during WWI and would later shape it into a world power. We just dont like it because the Soviet Union was our rival during the Cold War. History though, has many angles and has to be looked at from as many as posible so we can come up with the most impartial and educated opinions. We were allies with them once, always remember that! And it was indeed the fact that there was an Eastern Front, that drained german resources in vast numbers during the war (at a great cost to the Soviets as well). Trust me on this one, if the Germans would've not been fighting the Soviets, the outcome of WWII would've been a helluva lot different.

Not to mention that if this country wouldnt have had a technology race with the communist state that he started, America would not be what it is today. You may not like it, but you can say we owe him more than one.

Lenin was a peter.

Romilio,

Before posting get your facts right. The serfdom system in Russia was formally abolished in 1861, and Lenin (back then just Vladimir Ulyanov) was born in 1870.

Another monument to lust for power.

Communism is a religion.

Like religion it makes false promises to its followers of a non-existent utopia, robs people of their reasoning ability and their money, involves the worship of long dead leaders who are treated as gods, and is responsible for millions of deaths.

The only cure for a insane belief system is to bury it with reason.

Lenin however should remain unburied as a testimony of the failure of that religion so that we do not forget our history.

Elena, my dear, your rant does you little justice, considering there have been BILLIONS of people tortured, maimed and murdered all in the name of Jesus Christ and God throughout history! These two hold all records for being the direct cause of more wars then any single HUMAN ever born..

Yes, I put Lenin right up there with Hitler, Stalin and Idi Amin (just to name a few), those human beings who took it upon themselves to try and change things with brute force, murder and genocide.. But NO human has EVER been the direct cause of the kind of massacres that can be attributed directly to Jesus and God.. From the Crusades to the American Indian decimations to the war on terrorism that goes on today, thousands still die as a result of those who believe in these two and those who believe differently!

So, let's set the story straight, the honor of holding the world's record for causing the most human deaths belongs to Jesus Christ and God.. And, if ANY human could break the record it would be the one or ones who finally push that button that sends out the rockets that contain the means to pretty much destroy the planet itself.. There are 6 Billion people on Earth right now, but I think there have been more then that killed down through the ages over religion, so perhaps even the bombs couldn't break the record..

Susie, you conveniently left out Mohammad in your tired old argument. . The math doesn't work out for your claim. But you can believe it if it makes you feel better. It's obvious that you hate Jesus and God but don't try and justify your hate with nonsensical claims. Crusades = Isalm, now that is real "new math"

Susis,

Your argument that Jesus and God have caused so many deaths is absolutely without basis and as silly as can be. You desperately want to find fault with God, because you know you have sinned against Him, and you refuse to repent. So you try to cover that all over by hating the One who holds your eternity in His loving hands and by claiming He is a murderer. Ask yourself something logical: If God is a murderer, and He created the entire universe, is it wise for you to say that He is a murderer? Can you stop Him from retaliating against you by destroying you? "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God."

Silly...silly...Susie-630707! Your ignorance is not attractive. :-( Poor, silly, silly Susie !!!

No Susie is correct many people go to war in the name of Jesus and God and yes other deities. I do not hate god I am Christian myself. But it bothers me when Christians do not want to admit that their past is racked with murder as well. No one religion is better than the other and when we all realize that maybe we can have some sort of peace. Oh what am I saying that will never happen because the men are always right no matter what religion they believe in.

dennis

Susie never said god was a murderer she said that people murdered in the name of god, Hello. My question is are you denying the crusades happened? What is sad is when people only want to believe in one thing and do not open up their minds... poor sad people I cry for you...

Susie, you're statement was inaccurate. Jesus Christ killed no one. It was his FOLLOWERS that did those dastardly deeds. Even today people that claim they are Christian do some pretty dastardly deeds in His Name.

Unknown2962713 is right. Sorry, Susie!

Jakrabt and the rest of you should really READ what I wrote and not skim over things.. I NEVER said Jesus Christ or God killed anyone, I said PEOPLE have killed BILLIONS in THEIR name! And, just to set the story straight I am not an atheist at all, I do believe in The Creator but first and foremost, I am a realist, plain and simple, ..

If you all want to believe that the Christian religion is pure and good and has never been the cause of a single death since it's beginnings, then keep your heads buried deep in those sands and play the fools but not everyone is inclined to do that.. Religion, ALL religions have, at one time or another, been the direct cause of people (usually a LOT of people) dying..

As a species, we are totally intolerant of others of our species that do not believe as we do and the usual resort of the stronger is to try and FORCE the weaker to accept their beliefs and down through the ages BILLIONS of people have died for their refusal to do this! We are STILL killing each other today all in the name of Jesus Christ and this God or that God!

I hope this will enable some of you people who refuse to accept the fact that no single ruler or dictator can hold a candle to the amount of deaths attributed to Jesus Christ and God, no matter how many people were killed in their reign of terror.. It's history people, I didn't write it, the human race wrote it and is still writing it and there is nothing you can do or say to deny it, it happened, get over it!

susie (and whomever else is inane enough to argue with her)---for one thing you obviously are not an authority on the fundamentals of true Christain faith. Which is fine, it's not a requirement but it would help if you're going to hold forth at such length regarding a subject about which you know absolutely nothing. That is point one. Point two is, how the hell did everyone get on this subject from whether or not they should or should not bury an old preserved corpse? Who cares???? What difference does it make to anyone else in the world but those Soviets and Russians who are directly involved in the debate? Why does some religious (or anti-religious) crackpot always manage to turn the conversation away from the subject at hand?

oh yes, and Susie by the way...saying billions of deaths are "attributed" to Jesus Christ and God IS saying they are responsible. Not that you couldn't truthfully say mankinds' acts of murder could be attributed to their inaccurate understanding of the holy scriptures--that is VERY true, but that is not what you said. I'm sure there's a thread somewhere having to do with misplaced religious animosity you'd probably get more discussion on, and it would at least then be on subject.

Well... I agree with you on the history part, but is keeping his body in a venerated state on public display really necessary for preserving the memory of the history he was responsible for? If so, why aren't we preserving and displaying the remains of all of the world's leaders? Are we more likely to forget what Hitler did because we cannot lay our eyes on his corpse as part of a sight-seeing tour? I do not believe so.

Lenin is kind of a special case because he has been preserved for such a long time that I think it would be odd to all of a sudden just bury the man. It just seems like it is an effort to hide a dark chapter of Russian history. The controversy over Lenin's body seems similar to attempts to sanitize the Huck Finn book by replacing the n-word with slave. We should accept history for what it is and not try to clean up or hide those elements of history that we find offensive.

I agree. History is part of who we are, and we must continue to study it both the good and the bad to learn from the mistakes others have made

Yes, Lenin is responsible for deaths, but what revolutionary is not? Grouping Lenin together with Stalin would be a mistake. One was an idealist, who saw a third world nation being eaten alive by Europe while its own people starved. The other was a conservative who never even tried to live up to the ideals the Soviets were founded on, and in the end reigned over a "degenerated workers' state."

Lenin's actions were not any different than Robespierre, nor the Revolutionaries in the United States. People might not like the result, but that is an ideological story.

First of all, who cares whether he's above or below ground. He's part of history so let him be but let the truth be told about him.

Zach (4.4) - Are you serious?? Equating the actions of Robespierre and Lenin with the individuals who founded this Country?? The big difference is that ALL of the Framers of our System willingly and eagerly eschewed power and were, for the most part, true altruists. Lenin and Robespierre were not anything near this. Very, very bad comparison in my opinion.

Keeping "Lenin" where he is is actually more of an insult to dopey communists than moving him. And don't forget, what's there on view is just a wax dummy encasing only 10% of what's left of his rotted corpse. When he was originally "preserved" there, it was so the oppressed Russian people would have a "relic" of their "fearless founder and leader" to venerate in order to keep them under control. Today, it's just a circus oddity, like old carnival sideshows such as the "living headless woman," for drawing in tourists. The founder of Soviet Communism, once glorified, has been reduced to Red Square peepshow for passing time after tourists have finished a meal in cafes and rummaged through T-shirts and ashtrays in the souvenier shops. Keep him there. By doing so, it demonstrates how European Communism went from being a dominant power to a ludicrous freak show of cast-off, decrepit men and women whom history has passed by. European Communism, once encased in threatening glass, is now nothing more than something in a wax museum.

Lenin was indeed responsible for some deaths as if in any revolution (Do not forget the Cars NASTY Secret Police and Virulent Antisemitism.) Research Russia in 1917 and you will see villages straight out of the middle ages. There is a reason that Potemkin Villages was coined in Russia to cover the true despair of the Russian Countryside. It is the ex Criminal Josef Stalin who was Elected to succeed Lenin despite Lenin's choice of Trotsky that brought out the rein of terror. Stalin was elected because the Soviet at the time thought he was too powerful and intimidating. Boy did they get that one right!

If you judge Lenin for his time he was an Intellectual and a Leader and the fact that he rejected Capitalism might be quite visionary when you see what raw and unchecked Capitalism did to the world in the 85 years since his death

Lenin's revolution was founded on blood...LOTSA BLOOD! Why Russians would want to honor him if beyond me!! But then, Im not Russian!

Saddened- Hitler's body's location is unknown. Nobody can find his body. No offense, but that was a terrible example.

Saw him over 25 years ago when there was still the USSR. It was a big deal back then to go through the line--coats buttoned up, single file, hands by your side, no talking. He was lying there with his hands on his belly, one in a fist (hammer), the other making an arc (like a sicle). He looked "intact" then. I thought it was amazing. Brides would come by to leave flowers on his tomb.

I wonder if many were made to go to make it look like people really wanted to see him.

It's Graceland for the Fatherland, Pyramids for the Reds... the opiate of the masses.

Igor, The man has been there for 85 years. If it truely bothered the majority of the people that much, they would have buried him by now.

When I die I want to be stuffed and placed in the Captain Morgan stance.

I see Red people!

Agreed, Igor. Lenin was a humble man and only wanted a simple buriel. His wife, Krupskaya, made this clear to Stalin and the Politburo but they had other ideas, and for political reasons decided to mumify Lenin and put him on display in Red Square.

He didn't have time for that, he died. Stalin did that. Not saying he is not responsible for many thousands of lives, but not in the million range.

romilio,

You got your facts all wrong again. VChK (the NKVD-KGB precursor), camps for "enemies of the people" - the very GULAG, repressions against former ruling classes (who were defined as everyone except for manufacturing workers and the poorest of farmers) - it all began when Lenin was in charge. Stalin was only, as claimed by Stalin himself and the Soviet propaganda of those days, "the faithful Lenin's apprentice and the steadfast follower of Lenin's cause".

Official estimates by the Russian Federation government in 1992 put the number executed on orders from Lenin at 27,000. Many who were killed were part of the Czarist government. Many more were anti-communist Cossacks and their sympathizers shot during the "Dirty War".

Many estimates put Stalin's victims at 20-30 million. Most of them were killed for nothing.

I concur with Romilio, the likelihood is that people are conflating Lenin with Stalin. The average results of the American education system is not exactly stellar; the results of which is on daily display here, and in our society at large.

Wow... you are really truly ignorant.

If no one thought there were any good communists on planet Earth there would not be a Communist Party in any country. Who would make the effort to support a party they think stinks? True, communism has produced bullies that thoughtlessly dominated their nations into poverty. Unfortunately, Bella, your post sounds about the same. I wouldn't want you leading the country I live in either.

Ironically, if any of this stuff about the commies would be true, you sound like one of them. Better yet, you sound like a N@zi.

I'm not so sure of Lennin's authority for judging us, and I doubt that his atheism assures his place with Jesus, but I'm sure Lennin would be thrilled if you were right.

Toby,

What kind of drugs are you on? Lenin is 180 degrees south of Jesus Christ. No one from Hell will judge anyone on this earth.

Ironic that you would suggest that I was on drugs for my remark when you make such outrageous claims as you do. So you know that (not only) there is a heaven and hell-but who exactly will be in each place? Talk about your delusional arrogance. I was only being facetious, but you've taken the bait. Peace.

The remains of the cities or the remains of Vladimir Ilyich?

The U.N. isn't a city.

A mammy? The "a" and the "u" are not even close to each other on the keyboard, how did you manage that one?

Egyptian mammies are lot more interesting.

That's so racist. You should say 'slave' not mammy so the gansta (c)rappers won't be offended.

Sociopaths get all the girls.

jammatmil:

As he stated, he was born and raised in USSR. His English is pretty good. You should not knock his effort to convey his personal experiences in this matter. He is in fact a subject matter expert. You are not!! He is also very correct that Lenin had put it in writing that Stalin should be "removed". This did not happen and history turned even uglier for this country.

Because Lenin was supposibly a very important historical figure for some Russians. That is why they keep him well preserved.

Plus, it is odd how they can do that to a dinosuar (no offense meant to the Lenin supporters, Lenin himself) and not people that have died recently.

The primary effect that Lenin had on the slavic societies he enslaved was hysterical not historical.

I think that is a great idea except the burying the body thing. Turn the mausoleum into a museum of suffering with him as the centerpiece. Make Putin clean the spit off the glass casket lid.

Get rid of the body and then turn the mausoleum into the word's largest Mickey D's. Bet a lot more Russians would come there. Maybe they could prop him up in a corner booth next to Ronald.