This particular post covers the information from Chapter 2: Lenin’s Cake. The major takeaway that I garnished from this reading was the fondness that Soviets and Russians alike had for their leader, Lenin. The reader was implanted with this image that the people loved Lenin from the beginning of the chapter. The author describes a fable very similar to that of George Washington cutting down the cherry tree, where a morally sound Lenin eats his mother’s apple cake, but owns up to his crime. The moral from this story was honesty, and serves as an example of the way people thought Lenin conducted his life.

Flash forward to the year 1924. Lenin is dead and his magnificent mausoleum is being constructed. The author describes the long lines at his tomb, once it is finished being built. “But here you encountered the mausoleum line. It was longer than the lines at GUM for Polish pantyhose and Rumanian ski boots combined. No matter how early I’d trudge over, thousands would already be there in a mile-long orderly file” (Bremzen, 34). This quote describes how busy the tomb was with spectators, several decades ago. In all actuality, the tomb today is far from one of Russia’s top attractions. We learned in class that Lenin’s tomb is not even in the top 100 places to visit, according to trip advisor.

Interesting enough, Lenin’s Mausoleum also serves as a stage for contemporary artists to protest various aspects of Russian politics or the government. The link embedded below shows a video of one of Russia’s most famous contemporary artists nailing his genitalia to the cobblestones outside Lenin’s tomb. The man’s name is Peter Pavlensky.

In an interview, he says the reason behind his stunt is that “A man sitting on Red Square and staring at his balls nailed to the cobblestone is a metaphor of fixating on one’s helplessness. It’s about political indifference that is very dangerous and accelerates the transformation of the country into a police state. The idea came to me when I was taking a stroll in Red Square and saw a huge number of snoops from the Federal Security Service (FSO). This is the very heart of Moscow, people come there from all over the world, but it’s always under surveillance from the snoops, security cameras, snipers and policemen. If the country turns into a police state, it will be filled with snoops, policemen and security cameras. And the permanent Police Day will come. The only thing left would be to stay nailed to the cobblestones by your balls, infinitely fixating on your helplessness” (http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/17937/1/meet-the-artist-who-nailed-his-testicles-to-the-red-square).

I thought this stunt to be very interesting, as it shows that there in fact Russian citizens who are unhappy with the government. I also believe that his stunt could serve as an example for other people to speak out against the government, and not to be afraid of the punishment.

The video is posted below. Just a warning, it is very graphic and the man’s private parts are not blurred out.

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=84503534&v=BpLYl9osjMc&x-yt-ts=1421914688