What is left is only 10 percent of his body
His mummified corpse has been on public display for a century after his death, but now more than half of Russians would like Lenin’s body to be buried.
Shortly after his death on January 21, 1924, Lenin’s corpse in costume was available for viewing in Red Square. But according to a new poll by Russia’s state-run sociological center VCIOM (Russian Public Opinion Research Center), 57 percent of Russians would like to see the Bolshevik leader, whose full name is Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, buried.
“The question of the fate of Vladimir Lenin’s body divided Russians into three roughly equal groups,” VCIOM notes. “33% of our fellow citizens believe he should be left in a mausoleum, 30% be reburied in a cemetery as soon as possible… 27% support him being buried when the generation of those who still care him, gone. Thus, more than half of those polled support burying Lenin’s body (57%),” the polling company said in a statement, adding that the remaining issue was time.
The debate over what to do with Lenin’s body has hovered over Moscow since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Lenin himself wished to be buried, but he remains immortalized in architect Alexei Shchusev’s red-and-black mausoleum – opposite a large luxury shopping center.
There is also debate in Russia about how much of Lenin actually remains, given the removal of organs and the numerous treatments his mummified body underwent after his death.
In 2008, then Duma deputy Vladimir Medinsky said: “What is left is only 10 percent of his body.”
Scientists associated with the Moscow Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants are responsible for preserving the body, and their methods remain shrouded in secrecy.
Surveys in authoritarian countries like Russia are not always reliable due to inaccuracies and fear. According to the latest data from the Free Russia Foundation, many pollsters reported a record high number of refusals from people willing to answer questions.
However, a Levada survey conducted a decade ago also showed that around 53% of Russians would like Lenin’s body to be buried.
Lenin’s body attracted significant crowds of tourists before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with queues in the summer often snaking out of Red Square. However, with international tourism falling in recent years, the possibility of a Lenin burial will increase.
President Putin ambiguously stated that the Russian people will decide to bury Lenin “when the time comes.”
Illustrative Photo by Maxim Titov: https://www.pexels.com/photo/historical-building-located-under-blue-sky-3848886/
