Posted on 10/11/2005 5:46:41 AM PDT by Pharmboy
MOSCOW (AP) - Former President Mikhail Gorbachev warned the Kremlin against quickly burying the embalmed body of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin, saying the nation isn't ready yet such a move, a news agency reported Tuesday.
Gorbachev, the last president of the Soviet Union before its 1991 collapse, said that Lenin's body eventually should be laid to rest at a proper moment in line with his own will, but added that "this moment has not come yet," the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
In what appeared to be the Kremlin's attempt to gauge public reaction to the divisive issue, Georgy Poltavchenko, a regional envoy of President Vladimir Putin, said last month the body should be taken out of its Red Square mausoleum and buried in a cemetery along with the remains of other Bolshevik dignitaries.
Several senior lawmakers in the Kremlin-controlled parliament followed up on his call, proposing to quickly bury Lenin's body.
Russian Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov warned last week that his party would stage a massive civil disobedience action if authorities try to bury Lenin's body.
Putin said in 2001 that he opposed the removal of the body so as not to disturb civil peace in the country. His predecessor as president, Boris Yeltsin, strongly pushed for removing it, but was stopped by vigorous opposition from the Communist Party and others.
Gorbachev said Tuesday the issue could be resolved only on the basis of public accord, but "a great deal is still to be done before stability develops into national accord."
"This will happen in due time," he said, according to the ITAR-Tass. "Haste is unnecessary."
Whoops...he's been dead since 1924.
I think he died in 1923. 1924 at the latest. By 1929, Stalin was already whacking other people.
The only Russians likely to care are old timers and folks who want a return to communism and there ain't a lot of those folks. Many don't know why Lenin was important, and aside from a creepy exhibit in Red Square know little of him.
Here's to hoping they remove the giant Lenin moniker and the chamber it labels from Red Square.
Interestingly Prague has a small 'museum to communism' maybe they could send Lenin there.
You were still right the first time
Put a viking helmet on him, put him on a boat and burn him at sea. Attach a copy of the LOST treaty to his lapels.
Just throw the stinking rat carcass into the nearest sewer.
Next time someone suggests that Gorby was not a communist, we should remember this fiasco as proof that fully sixteen years after the USSR fell, Gorby is still pining away for the lost cause of enslaving the world.
I second that motion.
Gorby's or Lenin's?
Weekend at Gorby's.
They should box him up and mail him to the DNC, they have more use for him than the Russians do now.
Lenin's
Yeah good point.
You disappoint me. I would have said "both." :)
Yeah, he'll be a reliable voter.
LOL I don't know much about Gorby. But what the heck. BOTH of them! :)
Sorry, Gorbo. The two of you cannot be buried quickly enough.
The Trouble With Gorby.
For all we know, he's already registered to vote in Washington.
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.