Posted on 11/27/2004 7:33:42 AM PST by NavyCanDo
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.
You just gotta love the Peoples Republic of Seattle and it's socialist communities of Freemont, Ballard, and The University Disctrict. They never cease to amaze me.
wouldnt that statue be better suited in a mueseum?
Melt it down and commission a sculptor to create a new work that honors the suffering of the Russian people under the communist elites.
I heard about this on Dan Sitman's show this morning.....it's just another thing that makes me terribly ashamed to be a Seattleite. To display a huge statue of Lenin like this, even if it is meant in 'fun' , trivializes the millions of people who died under the brutal bootheel of Communism. To cover the statue in Christmas lights trivializes it further and also insults Christianity. They are doing this as an 'up yours' statement to those of us who are at all to the right of Karl Marx, and believe me, that message is heard loud and clear. I feel the most sorry for the children who will see this and not understand...they will think that Lenin was some sort of fun, happy guy who likes to party. It's a complete disgrace, but then again, that's Fremont.
but why would anybody want to do a simple search on Stalin in this context????
In any event, my jaw is absolutely on the floor over this one; I am nauseated that any statue of Lenin is standing anywhere; much less here in the USA...
I dont know, if given the choice between Clintons Library and Lenins statue it would be hard to decide, Both are monstrocities.
Turn a couple of flocks of well-fed pidgeons loose on the statue. You should see what their poop looks like on all the NYC statues!
Well, it's there and they do nothing to remove it. What does that tell ya?
Agreed.
A statue of Lenin is no different than a statue of Hitler.
What caused his mouth and crotch to turn green?
(Yeah, this was posted before..)
I have to know-do grown ups live in these places? Does anyone actually stand up and say "Hey, maybe this is not such a good idea?" Are there entire communities who think Lenin was a good fellow and his plan just went a little askew?
My word-these people need to be deported.
It's a liberal town. I don't even want to guess...
Lenin + Stalin = directly caused the largest mass murder/genocide/slaughter in the world's history. The liberals in Fremont, Seattle, USA seem to have forgotten the torture upon the millions of people and total lack of freedom in the old Soviet Union. This statue should be melted into plowshares -- at the least. At the most it should be desecrated until it is unable to be recognized. Frankly, it is surprising that recent Russian immigrants haven't dealt with this replica of torture already...
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