TO WHOM TO RENT THE POST OF THE SOVIET LENIN

CULTURAL LAYER

Mentality is such a set of qualities, supposedly constituting the characteristics of a particular nation, when confronted with which the representatives of the nation themselves are often surprised, not recognizing themselves. I'm talking about our nations, the Soviet ones. Because it's our...

Mentality is such a set of qualities, supposedly constituting the characteristics of a particular nation, when confronted with which the representatives of the nation themselves are often surprised, not recognizing themselves. I'm talking about our nations, the Soviet ones. Because it is ours that have such a set of features that no one can change. Even vice versa.

There is an anecdote reminiscent of a classic cycle from “Armenian radio”. Question: if our man is sent to live in Africa, will his mentality change? And the answer is: Africa will change. Indeed, our emigrants are rapidly changing the worldview of Americans, Germans, Israelis and other nations that are not strong in their way of life. And now the question is: what is the difference between the mentality of the Soviet Buryats and the mentality of the Soviet (or anti-Soviet) Estonians? Do not know? And meanwhile, he is radically different. Moreover, these differences are imprinted in bronze.

I have already written about the fact that a special commission recently came to Ulan-Ude to see with their own eyes the monument, which they intended to enter into the Guinness Book of Records. And sure enough, they saw it. On one of the squares of the city they were met by a huge bronze head of Lenin. There was no body. Only the head. But so huge that there is no such huge head in the whole world. The commission was very surprised at such Buryat postmodernism of the Soviet times, shook their heads and wondered what kind of headache such a head should have? And what would happen if this head also had a body? And in vain, by the way, I was guessing. Since she did not know the mentality of the Soviet Buryats at all. And if I knew, I understood that the body could not be. And, as already mentioned, it was not. Only the head. Well, a headache. For everyone else.

But the inhabitants of the Estonian city of Pärnu at about the same time were shocked by another story. The fact is that a monument was also discovered in the park at the entrance to the city museum of modern art. And also Lenin. But without a head. That is, one body - like that of Bulgakov's entertainer Georges Bengalsky, who was cruelly played a joke on by the Woland gang. Ilyich's head was torn off during the days of the struggle for independence. They began to drag it from place to place, dragged it, looked - and the head had already disappeared. So the monument stood for about twelve years - with a body, but without a head. Until the city fathers decided that it was still indecent. It is indecent not that he is without a head, but that he is Lenin. Lenin, after all, he is Lenin without a head.

This is first. And secondly, they decided to erect another monument in its place - to the Estonian legionnaires of the Second World War. In SS uniform, of course. Once, by the way, such a monument in the city already stood. He also pretended to be an SS man with a machine gun on his chest, the barrel of which, quite naturally, was pointed to the east. That is, on us. But the most curious was the inscription on it: "To all Estonian soldiers who fell in the second liberation war for the motherland and freedom of Europe." What Europe went to "liberate" soldiers in SS uniforms is another question. But that's not the point.

The fact is that that monument caused a natural indignation of non-indigenous peoples (with a different mentality) and was demolished. Therefore, they decided to put a new one - in the place of Lenin.

But then museum workers were outraged. They thought that a headless Lenin was just what the city needed. And even sued the mayor's office. But the administrative court of Pärnu did not satisfy the protest of the employees of the city museum, considering that the monument to the SS man would be much more aesthetic. And what is the result? As a result, in the post-Soviet space, we lost a masterpiece of postmodernism, and even had a characteristic sign with the name: "Farewell, XX century!".

Yes, farewell to the twentieth century. It's a pity. After all, how great it would be if a torso from Pärnu were attached to the head from Ulan-Ude! But the past, as they say, cannot be returned. Yes, and the difference in mentalities is obvious: some respect the upper part of a person, while others, one might say, everything else. It is unthinkable to live together with such contradictions.

For the Americans, everything is the same. That is why they are so strong and rich. There, somehow, the VH 1 channel conducted an interesting survey among its employees on the topic “The main character of modern mass culture.” The results exceeded all expectations. In the first place was a certain TV presenter named Oprah Winfrey, in the second - someone called Superman, and in one hundred and eighth (!) - Albert Einstein. Einstein, by the way, was not much ahead of Monica Lewinsky. But Lenin was not on this list at all. And this despite the fact that the survey was conducted in April, in the most, one might say, Lenin's days.

Under the text

In a village near Moscow, near the airport, there is a monument to the four-armed Ilyich. And it's not that the sculptor wanted to liken the leader to Shiva. It's just that the sculptor turned out to be politically illiterate and made Lenin with his hands clasped in a castle behind his back. A kind of prisoner on a walk. While the leader should naturally and clearly (with a gesture) call to follow him somewhere.

The savvy local authorities ordered the sculptor to attach other, politically correct hands to Ilyich, and to amputate the already existing ones.

The solution was found creatively original. Since Lenin was in an unbuttoned coat, the arms were amputated only up to the sleeves, and the new ones were stuck out from under the coat forward, into a brighter future. The fact that the laws of physics were violated in this case (in particular, it is not clear what force brings two supposedly empty sleeves behind Lenin's back) does not matter - there is no such strength of law that the Bolsheviks would not violate.

And no one is going to demolish this monument - let it stand, do not ask for food or drink. This is Russian, not some kind of Estonian mentality. And no one claims the Guinness Book - we are still a modest people, not like the Buryats.

True, at one time, Ilyich, near Moscow, looked somehow neglected, peeling. Now it's a different matter: the monument is regularly painted with either bronze or silver paint. Some suspicious bespectacled in this change of colors are trying to discern political overtones - such as a change of course. But they don't get anything. We have one course, the most stable one: we walk in a circle. No wonder the round dance is a popular Russian folk dance…

But let's look wider. In all the cities of our vast Motherland, there are various Lenins: from curly cherubs in the center of the flower bed (as if Volodya Ulyanov died young and was buried here) to bald and gloomy uncles in the central square. And there are quite a few peripheral towns and villages where, except for Lenin, no one else has been honored with a monument (except perhaps in a cemetery). So they cannot be demolished - otherwise the younger generation will not know at all what monumental art is. And you have to paint. And hands - to point forward.

But there is a suggestion: check the direction of Lenin's pointing hands. So that if you follow it (the direction), it would be possible - from city to city - as many times as you want to go around the whole country.

Round.

Oleg KHLEBNIKOV