LLL Tradition.. Lighting Of Lenin
Posted on 11/26/2004 11:23:48 AM PST by Publius
In downtown Seattle, they light a big Christmas tree for the holidays.
But in Fremont, they're going to light up -- what else? -- the big statue of Vladimir Lenin.
Lenin will be lighted at 5 p.m. Dec. 3 at the corner of Fremont Place North and North 36th Street. (It's the intersection with the big statue of Lenin.) The monument will be bedecked with garland and lights -- and probably not just red ones.
It will be the first time the 18-foot bronze statue has been lighted since it came to the Center of the Universe in 1995 by way of Slovakia and Issaquah.
As the story goes, a sculptor named Emil Venkov was commissioned to build the statue by the Czech Communist Party. But when the regime fell, so did the statue. It lay in a dump until an Issaquah man teaching in Poland happened upon it. Struck by it, he mortgaged his home in Issaquah and had the statue shipped from the East Bloc to the Eastside. It sat in a pasture behind his house until the Fremont Chamber of Commerce agreed to take it.
This week the Seattle Post-Intelligencer spoke with Corky Merwin, 48, one of the Fremont chamber members who came up with the idea to light up the old Bolshevik.
Merwin recently opened the Postmark Gelato shop behind the statue in "Lenin Square," but she already seems like a native in this eccentric neighborhood. The walls of her shop are filled with her collection of postcards and a bronze-colored ice cream cone more than a foot long.
"We put it out there in Lenin's hand sometimes," she said.
Merwin, who moved here from Vashon Island (which has its own share of characters), said her friends worried about her living in the big city. "But then when they heard I was going to Fremont, they said, 'Oh, she'll fit right in there.'"
How did the Lenin-lighting idea come up?
A bunch of us were sitting around talking at the Fremont Chamber (of Commerce) about what we could do to celebrate all the things that have happened at Lenin Square. Not only did our store move in, but we redid the tiling around the edges of the plaza (where the Lenin statue stands). No one used it as a plaza before. I also think it's an interesting time to honor a controversial head of state.
Does Lenin get any visitors?
People from all around the world, from Russia and England, come by. They're aghast to see it here.
Some people complained about the statue when it went up because they thought it took his regime's repression lightly. Do you still get complaints?
One guy came in and started yelling at my people, like it was their fault.
Do you think using him in a lighting ceremony makes more light of Lenin and his regime?
I don't think putting lights and garland on him is honoring him.
What's with all these postcards in your store?
It's been a passion of mine since I was a child. I love to travel and I love to write. ... We got this postcard someone sent us. They were traveling in Russia and somehow she heard about us and sent us this postcard.
How else have you used the Lenin in front of your store?
I wanted to watch the (presidential) debate, so I brought a little television to the store and I put a notice on craigslist.com, "Come watch the debate in the shadow of Lenin." It was great. About 40 people showed up. Where else in the United States could you do that?
How do you think Lenin would feel about being all lit up?
I don't know. He didn't sound like a guy with a great sense of humor. I think Trotsky probably would have had more fun with it.
What do you think of Lenin?
I studied him in college and so my feelings are mixed. ... This is embarrassing. Maybe I used to drive too fast through Fremont. But for as political as I am, I'm embarrassed to say that I always thought it was a statue of Ivar (as in clam chowder). He has this cap on and he's looking toward Ballard. If you think about it, that makes so much more sense than (there being a statue for) a Russian dictator in Fremont.
Fremont has some fine ethnic restaurants, excellent brewpubs and some interesting statuary, of which the Lenin statue is but one example. I find it more interesting than the U-District and about as interesting as Ballard, which has its own fine restaurants and brewpubs.
"I've always viewed the Lenin statue as trophy of our victory in the Cold War."
I seem to recall that the original guy up in Issaquah had that in mind when he boiught it. I still get a kick out of seeing Lenin in front of shops where people make money selling whatever they want, and people passing out fliers denouncing the "regime" of President Bush. Capitalism and Free Speech. In your face Vladimar. I like driving by there better now after the election and seeing all the Kerry stickers and beret-headed liberals!
Lenin Ping
WHAT IS THIS PERSON SMOKING, CRACK???!!!???
HOW CAN YOU HAVE MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT ON OF THE WORLD GREATEST MASS-MURDERS??!!!
Some people complained about the statue when it went up because they thought it took his regime's repression lightly. Do you still get complaints?One guy came in and started yelling at my people, like it was their fault.
Just wait until they put up their statue of Adolph Hitler. Communism has been soft sold by American socialists still intent on getting their way.
Red dupes are useful idiots and still serving the Evil Empire.
No, but we have Eleanor Roosevelt.
I also think it's an interesting time to honor a controversial head of state.
Protest President Bush and honor Vladmir Lenin.
Exactly! WE HAVE A WINNER!
Why don't they just put up a statue of Hitler or Satan.
Left coast idiots.
Since today's Russia is in some ways more free than America (a low flat tax), and since the Stalinist Michael Moore earns himself a seat at the DNC next to President Jimmy Carter, why not maintain the dictator's statue as a talisman for collectivists to bow down before?
You'd think there'd be at least one brave soul who would at the very least put panties on his head.
a photo of a nausea-inducing visage of socialist tyranny.
(in other words, the sight of it makes me sick to my stomache)
They want their kids to grow up to be another Lenin.
Do you recall Billy Crystal's "Midnight Train from Moscow" HBO special in the Nineties where he suggested turning Lenin's tomb into an amusement park? Leninland?
Me either....that statue should be melted down and used as bullets to shoot Hollywood Liberal Types (After the Conservative Revolution of course:0) )
Where did you get that photo? Was it something that somebody did with Photoshop?
I also love the irony of it. The Fremont Chamber of Commerce views the statue as a conversation piece and a trophy of our victory. But the inhabitants of Fremont look at it completely without irony and with a sense of genuine devotion. They don't know that those of us who appreciate commerce and respect a dollar are pulling their little red legs. At least we understand that they're being ridiculous, and we're making capitalistic bucks off their silliness.
They done worse. This used to stand in front of City Hall until Mayor Laguardia banished it to the Queens County Courthouse.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.