Posted on 12/12/2002 11:48:49 PM PST by FairOpinion
Calm down everybody, this is almost over.
Like all middle-class Russians under the Czars, those aspiring to betterment in life were baptized into the Russian Orthodox faith. Vladimir Il'yich Ulyanov was likewise baptized in the Orthodox church.
In fact, the Ulyanovs were apparently of at least partial Jewish origin as well, at least according to Lenin's sister:
In a letter to Stalin, Anna, Lenin's elder sister, wrote: "It is probably no secret for you that the research on our grandfather shows that he came from a poor Jewish family, that he was, as his baptismal certificate says, the son of a 'Zhitomir burgher, Moishe Blank' and this fact could serve in combating anti-Semitism."
I never said he was a "practicing Christian" nor did I claim he was an active Christian. But he was, ostensibly and in the idiom of Russian society of the time, a Christian. And I only made this point in regard to Pat Buchanan's blatant anti-semitism, in which all communism and socialism is part of some nefarious Jewish world conspiracy.
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.