V.I. Lenin left us on January 21, 1924. But stillThe grief of Russian politicians and all sorts of different figures does not subside over the body of the founder of the current Russian state, who took legal succession from the USSR: well, let’s bury him, as they say, “humanly” - here the stingy male tear of the Minister of Culture Medinsky:

“I still believed that the body should be buried. I would observe all the necessary rituals. Since this is the highest official, if such a decision is made, the burial must be carried out with all appropriate state rituals, honor, military salute, in a worthy place.”

That's religious justification, from him:
“What a ridiculous, pagan-necrophiliac mission we have on Red Square,” Medinsky believes."

Here are the cares of Vitaly Tretyakov (2005)
“Firstly, it is abnormal that Lenin’s body is not interred after death, as required by Russian and Orthodox tradition. "

Here, drooping with this pain, Russian nationalists created the organizing committee “For the removal of Lenin!”

It also reached the liberals - I. Begtin, a member of A. Kudrin’s “Committee of Civil Initiatives,” came up with the initiative “Take Lenin out of the Mausoleum and bury him.” This Kudrinsky “Committee” contains the entire “color” of orange anti-Sovietism: from N. Svanidze and E. Yasin to I. Yurgens and E. Gontmakher and from D. Oreshkin and L. Gozman to the governor of the Kirov region N. Belykh.

And liberals, etc. The anti-Soviet “conservatives” base their zeal on the need to bury de Lenin “humanely.”
It turns out that they can sleep peacefully - their worst fears are unjustified, as evidenced by this reference material . Which is provided below .

Based on material from the Secretary of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation S.P. Obukhov

The first lie.

The main propaganda blow is concentrated on instilling in public opinion the idea of ​​Lenin’s burial. And here the vile calculation is obvious - what normal person would object to burying the remains of a deceased person?? Although in the case of Lenin we are talking about reburial.

It seemed that the thing was obvious to everyone - Lenin was buried. As the founder of the Russian Federation and the USSR, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was buried with the highest state honors on January 27, 1924.

By the way, contemporaries had no doubt that Lenin was buried. Newspaper articles and notes from January-March 1924 were full of headlines: “Lenin’s Grave”, “At Ilyich’s Grave”, “At Lenin’s Grave”, etc.

And the form of burial was determined by the highest authority of the country - the Second All-Union Congress of Soviets - in the ground, at a depth of three meters in the crypt, above which the Mausoleum was erected. By the way, the congress delegate, Lenin’s widow Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya, also voted for this decision.

Even considering the burial of V.I. Lenin from the standpoint of modern legislation, and it also takes into account the existing Orthodox cultural traditions of the Russian people, it should be recognized the crypt and the Mausoleum above it fully comply with modern laws of the Russian Federation.Lenin’s embalmed body rests in a coffin-sarcophagus at a depth of three meters underground, which fully complies with the norms of the Federal Law “On Burial and Funeral Affairs” dated January 12, 1996. Article 3 of this law states: “Burial can be carried out by handing over the body (remains) ) deceased in the ground (burial in a grave, crypt).” And Lenin’s body, let us remind you once again, was buried in a crypt (a vaulted tomb buried in the ground).

It is difficult for an ordinary citizen to notice the substitution of the concepts of “burial” and “reburial” in the massive information flow:after all, the level of directing is very high - all state media, including television, even “independent” news agencies and liberal opposition publications write only about “burial”, carefully hiding the substitution of concepts.

It is very unprofitable for the political initiators of the reburial to appear before the public in the guise of grave diggers. Hence the lie about the need for burial, which does not exist.

The second lie.

“Lenin’s body is on display, it is not laid to rest in a Christian manner, it is not buried.”
Let us recall Met. To Illarion (Alfeev) and Medinsky, a public statement from Lenin’s own niece Olga Dmitrievna Ulyanova: “I have repeatedly stated and will repeat again that I am categorically against the reburial of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. There is no reason for this. Even religious ones. The sarcophagus in which he lies is located three meters below ground level, which corresponds to both burials according to Russian custom and the Orthodox canon.".

Olga Dmitrievna has repeatedly rebuffed grave diggers who claim that Lenin was allegedly buried not in accordance with folk traditions, outside the framework of the Orthodox cultural tradition.

Regarding the fact that the body is not interred, the answer has already been given based on the provisions of the Federal Law “On Burial and Funeral Business”: burial in a crypt is a form of burial in the ground.

And now about viewing the buried body. Is this really such an exceptional case in the practice of burying great, famous people in countries with a strong Christian cultural tradition?

The most famous example is the burial in the open sarcophagus of the great Russian surgeon Nikolai Pirogov near Vinnitsa.

The sarcophagus with the coffin of the great scientist was placed in a crypt, which is one of the forms of burial in the ground, and has been on display for almost 130 years.As it is written in the definition of the Holy Synod in St. Petersburg, “so that the disciples and continuers of the noble and godly deeds of the servant of God N.I. Pirogov could see his bright appearance.”

And here is an excerpt from the conclusion of the Chairman of the Commission of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR on the funeral of V.I. Ulyanov (Lenin) F. Dzerzhinsky: “ Meeting the wishes of the broad masses of the USSR and other countries - to see the appearance of the late leader, the funeral commission of V.I. Ulyanov (Lenin) decided to take measures available to modern science for the possible long-term preservation of the body.”

In this case, what is the decision of the state body of the Russian Empire, which was Holy Synod, which allowed his students and admirers to “behold the bright appearance” of the deceased scientist Pirogov, differs from the same decision of the highest body of state power represented by the Congress of Soviets and the Central Executive Committee of the USSR? Nothing? Then why is everything calm for the first reason, but for the second there is a universal uproar?

As we see, in the case of the noise around the form of Lenin’s burial, there is political deceit, covered up by some pseudo-religious spells.

no one, neither in the case of Pirogov, nor even more so in the case of Lenin, raises the question of copying the practice of treating the relics of saints canonized by the Church.Nobody transports the bodies of Pirogov or Lenin around the country for veneration by believers, as the Church does with the relics of saints. No one touches the embalmed bodies of deceased great people. Everyone understands that their incorruptibility is recognition of their services to people (the state, society, various communities, etc.). Only citizens who revere such great statesmen and scientists, entering the crypt, get the opportunity to “behold the bright appearance.”

By the way, in such an ardently Catholic country, a similar approach was taken when burying the “chief of state”, the founding father of the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Marshal Pilsudski, whose relationship with the official church was also far from rosy

. He switched from Catholicism to Protestantism, then back to Catholicism. And the May 1926 coup, organized by the founder of the state, was very bloody. And Pilsudski distinguished himself very well in creating concentration camps. But... the founder of the state. Although the Catholic Church even engaged in dragging his remains through the Wawel crypts after burial, which provoked a conflict between the episcopate and President Mosticki.

Let us remember that Pilsudski was buried in 1935 at Wawel Castle, in a crypt in a glass coffin. But embalming turned out to be ineffective. As a result, only a small window was left, which is currently closed.

The third lie.

Attempts continue to be made to convince society that

"Lenin's last wish must be fulfilled", supposedly" who bequeathed to bury himself next to his mother at the Volkov cemetery"in Leningrad. This lie has been circulating around the world since it was first voiced at one of the meetings of the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, broadcast live, by a certain Karyakin. Then the fable was picked up by a certain Anatoly Sobchak.

From statements Olga Dmitrievna Ulyanova it is definitely clear:
“Attempts to prove that there was a will that he should be buried in the Volkov cemetery are untenable. There is no such document and there could not be; our family also never had any conversations on this topic. Vladimir Ilyich died at a fairly young age - at 53 years old, and naturally, he thought more about life than about death. Moreover, given the historical era in which Lenin lived, his nature, the character of a true revolutionary, I am sure that he would not have written a will on this topic. Vladimir Ilyich was a very modest man who cared least about himself. Most likely, he would have left a will to the country, to the people - how to build a perfect state.”

Scientist and publicist A.S. Abramov, The Chairman of the Board of the Charitable Public Organization (Foundation) for the Preservation of the Mausoleum of V.I. Lenin cited more than once in the media the response of the Russian Center for Christian Arts and Culture (this is the former Central Party Archive) to the administration’s request Yeltsin regarding Lenin's will.

The official response to President Yeltsin stated that “there is not a single document from Lenin, his loved ones or relatives regarding Lenin’s last wish to be buried in a specific Russian cemetery.”.

A.S. Abramov is right when he claims that even from an everyday point of view, the arguments about the Volkov cemetery are completely false. After all, Lenin already rests next to his widow, Nadezhda Krupskaya, and sister Maria Ulyanova, whose ashes are in the necropolis near the Kremlin wall.

The fourth lie.

"We need to remove the Mausoleum and Necropolis of Soviet-era heroes, because"You can't turn Red Square into a cemetery."The historical ignorance of the authors of this argument is obvious. The territory of St. Basil's Cathedral or “Cathedral of the Intercession on the Moat” is also an ancient cemetery.

Red Square in its current form is a seat of power formed in the RSFSR and the USSR. Here is a concentration of symbols of all historical eras - from Muscovite Rus' (the role of the seat of power here was played by the Place of Execution) to the USSR (the state tribune and the burial places of the founding father of the current Russian Federation and heroes of the Soviet era). And the current rulers of the Russian Federation, organizing parades in honor of the USSR Victory Day in World War II, de facto recognize this highest status of Red Square.

* * *
Where else do people honor their great statesmen in a similar way?

Burials of Moscow sovereigns in the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin

This is what the tomb of Kozma Minin originally looked like in Nizhny Novgorod

Tomb of Emperor Napoleon in Republican France

Pantheon in Rome. Since the Renaissance it has been used as a tomb. Among those who were buried here are such great people as Raphael and Carracci, composer Corelli, architect Peruzzi and two kings of Italy - Victor Emmanuel II and Umberto I

New York. USA. Triumph of the North over the South. Mausoleum of American President Ulysses Grant (1897) in Manhattan's Riverside Park. World War I photo of warships sailing past Grant's Mausoleum.

Mausoleum of the founding father of the modern Turkish Republic, Ataturk
* * *

For more than 90 years, the embalmed body of the founder of the Soviet Union has been on public display in the Mausoleum on Red Square. Most Russians are in favor of his burial. For Putin, the centenary of the revolution provides the perfect opportunity to bury the last symbol of the communist era.

There is intense debate in Russia, but the result remains the same: more than 90 years after Lenin's death, his embalmed body remains in the Mausoleum on Red Square in Moscow, open to the public, right next to the Kremlin wall. In the year when the centenary of the October Revolution is celebrated, disputes about the fate of the body of the founder of the Soviet Union flare up with renewed vigor. And with them, ghosts come to the surface, the return of which the Russian rulers clearly do not like.

Every time one or another anniversary related to the history of the Soviet Union approaches, the question of removing Lenin’s body from Red Square and burying it in a cemetery is raised again. This time, taking advantage of the anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) made such a call. “One of the symbols of the reconciliation of the Russian people with the Lord could be the liberation of Red Square from the remains of the main persecutor and tormentor of the 20th century and the destruction of the monuments erected to him,” the religious organization said in a statement released last week.

According to the RT television channel, this request was announced during services in all parishes of this Church. It is not surprising that this call came from the ROCOR, which was founded abroad just after the 1917 revolution by priests who escaped the repressions unleashed by the Bolsheviks. The renewal of relations between the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and the Russian Orthodox Church occurred only in 2007.

The question of how to celebrate the centenary of the October Revolution has become the main topic of discussion in most Russian independent publications. One way to fit the inconvenient anniversary for the Kremlin into the current context is to present it as an opportunity to “reconcile” with the past. This is what the Orthodox Church essentially refers to in its appeal, demonstrating its readiness to support this initiative. But this requires that the man who led the revolution that gave birth to the Soviet Union leave his current almost sacred place.

Context

Lenin and revolution - an unpleasant question

L"Humanité 03/09/2017

The end of the war, or Savchenko and Lenin

Day 02/13/2017

New York Lenin overthrown

Bloomberg 09/24/2016 In turn, President Vladimir Putin, responding to the request of the church and choosing this particular year to remove Lenin from Red Square, could once and for all close the topic that he regularly has to deal with.

The public became involved in the controversy surrounding the transfer of Lenin's body from the Mausoleum on Red Square to another location back in the late 1980s, during the reformist period of perestroika. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent debunking of the Communist Party only intensified the debate. Gavriil Popov, the first mayor of Moscow in the post-Soviet era, was one of the most ardent supporters of the closure of the Mausoleum, as was the first leader of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin.

However, unlike Stalin, who became the personification of the violence of the Soviet regime, which was recognized by the Communist Party itself, Lenin managed to maintain popularity in Russian society. Amsterdam University historian Mark Jansen told Público in an email about a poll indicating that 44% of Russians have a positive view of Lenin. “Putin most likely does not want to lose [the support of] these people,” he adds.

Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky is one of the supporters of Lenin’s “departure” from Red Square. “Perhaps, indeed, many things will symbolically change for the better in our lives after this,” he said in 2012, shortly after taking up his new position. Most Russians seem to agree with him. A 2013 poll showed that more than 60% of the population supported the idea of ​​burying the body in an appropriate place.

Nevertheless, the Mausoleum on Red Square continues to attract Russian and foreign tourists, who stand in long lines every day to see Lenin's embalmed body with their own eyes. Last year, the Russian government released information about the cost of preserving the body, which amounted to 13 million rubles (183 thousand euros).

Meanwhile, Putin never openly supported the removal of Lenin's body from Red Square; rather, he always rejected this idea. According to Jansen, the Russian president fears the reaction of those sectors of society that still feel nostalgia for Soviet times and for Lenin and whose votes he “can no longer count on if he wants to be re-elected next year with an overwhelming majority.”

Fear of revolutionaries

Since coming to power in 2000, Putin has been rather careful in choosing historical events to instill patriotism in Russian society. The 1990s are now perceived as a period of humiliation, when Russia turned from a superpower into a country in permanent crisis and dependent on the goodwill of its former rivals. To instill in people a new pride in their fatherland—accompanied in the first decade of this century by an economic boom fueled by oil and natural gas exports—Putin has revived in the popular consciousness some of the most significant symbols of the Soviet past, most notably the victory in World War II, known as the “Great War.” Patriotic War." With Putin's arrival in the Kremlin, celebrations of Victory Day (May 9) have gained new strength.

© RIA Novosti, Vladimir Fedorenko

At the same time, the Russian leader has never hidden his admiration for the imperial period, in which lie the ideological origins of the nationalist sectors that support him. “Putin’s hero is [Peter] Stolypin, prime minister during the reign of Nicholas II, much more so than the protagonists of the 1917 revolution,” Jansen says.

In his attempt to appeal to the entire society, Putin brings together pride in the victory over Nazi Germany and the historical legacy of the tsarist era. “Putin hopes that by marrying the Soviet and imperial pasts, the core of the Russian empire can be preserved and the fate of the monarchy avoided,” writes The Economist editor Arkady Ostrovsky.

It seems that the Bolshevik revolution is out of work here, and the Kremlin with its national narrative faces another dilemma. Putin's power is based on stability, as opposed to the instability that comes with popular uprisings. Putin's biographers say revolutions in various capitals of the former Soviet Union have made him a bitter opponent of insurgency. On a more personal level, the sight of the crowds gathered in front of the KGB headquarters in Dresden, where Putin worked in 1989, weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall, left a deep mark on the future Russian leader.

“The Putin regime doesn’t like to remember revolutions,” Jansen notes. The Kremlin is well known for its opposition to so-called “color revolutions” in the countries of the former Soviet Union, the last of which, held in 2014 on Independence Square in Kyiv, led to the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych. Meanwhile, this hostility also extends to the uprising organized by Lenin in October 1917 against the Provisional Government. In a September 2014 speech, Putin described the Bolsheviks' peace treaty with Germany as a "complete betrayal of national interests" and accused them of "rocking" the country "to the point where Russia as a state collapsed and declared itself a loser."

The centenary of October is taking place at an inconvenient time for the Kremlin. The ideal solution would be to completely ignore the anniversary of one of the first “color revolutions” in history, but a year before the presidential election, Putin does not want to alienate voters whose votes could bring him the result he needs.

Would burying Lenin be an appropriate way out of this situation? “You can never be sure here,” concludes Mark Jansen. But one thing is certain: by removing the former Soviet leader's body, Putin will at least fulfill a wish that some historians say Lenin expressed during his lifetime: to be buried next to his mother in St. Petersburg.

InoSMI materials contain assessments exclusively from foreign media and do not reflect the position of the InoSMI editorial staff.

Lenin's funeral took place on January 27, 1924. Was Ilyich's last wish fulfilled? Why was the funeral date repeatedly postponed? Who initiated the idea of ​​embalming? Ilyich’s final journey is still surrounded by an aura of mystery.

Last will

At the end of the 80s of the last century, a version appeared that Lenin left a written will in which he asked to be buried at the Volkovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg, next to his mother. The author of the version is considered to be the historian Akim Arutyunov, who, according to the owner of Lenin’s Petrograd safe house, stated that the leader asked Krupskaya “to try to do everything so that he is buried next to his mother.” However, no documentary evidence of Lenin’s will was found. In 1997, the Russian Center for the Storage and Study of Documents of Contemporary History, when asked whether a will existed, gave an exhaustive answer: “We do not have a single document from Lenin or his relatives regarding Lenin’s “last will” to be buried in a specific Russian ( Moscow or St. Petersburg) cemetery."

Change date

Vladimir Lenin died on January 21, 1924. The organization of the funeral was carried out by a specially created commission under the leadership of Dzerzhinsky. Initially, the ceremony was scheduled for January 24 - the funeral was probably supposed to be held according to a “modest scenario”: the removal of the body from the House of Unions, a rally on Red Square and a burial procedure at the Kremlin wall, in front of Sverdlov’s grave. But this option was rejected, most likely due to the fact that delegates from distant regions and most republics did not have time to “catch up” by this date. At the same time, a new proposal appeared: to schedule the funeral for Saturday, January 26. On the evening of January 21, telegrams were sent out announcing Lenin’s death and the funeral date set for the 26th. But on January 24, it became clear that the burial site would not be prepared by this date: the work was hampered not only by the frozen ground, but also by communications, including the allegedly discovered underground rooms and passages that had to be sealed. A new deadline was set for the arrangement of the crypt - no later than 18.00 on January 26, and the new date of the funeral was postponed to 27.

Trotsky's absence

There could well be other reasons for the date change. For example, the so-called “Trotsky factor” is widely known - allegedly Stalin, fearing a strong rival, deliberately “tricked up” with the date and forbade (!) Trotsky to return from Tiflis, where he was undergoing treatment. However, it was Trotsky who was one of the first to receive a telegram about Lenin’s death. At first he expressed his readiness to return to Moscow, and then, for some reason, changed his mind. The change in his decision, however, can only be judged by Stalin’s response telegram, in which he regrets “the technical impossibility of arriving at the funeral” and gives Trotsky the right to decide for himself whether to come or not. Trotsky’s memoirs record a telephone conversation with Stalin, when he allegedly said: “The funeral is on Saturday, you still won’t make it, we advise you to continue treatment.” As you can see, there is no prohibition, only advice. Trotsky could have easily made it to the funeral if, for example, he had used a military plane, and also if he really wanted to. But Trotsky had reasons not to return. He could well believe that Lenin was poisoned by the conspirators led by Stalin, and he, Trotsky, was next.

Causes of death

Throughout 1923, newspapers reported on Lenin's state of health, creating a new myth about the leader who steadfastly fought the disease: reads newspapers, is interested in politics, and hunts. It is known that Lenin suffered a series of strokes: the first turned 52-year-old Ilyich into an invalid, the third killed him. In the last months of his life, Lenin hardly spoke, could not read, and his “hunting” looked like walking in a wheelchair. Almost immediately after his death, Lenin's body was opened to determine the cause of death. After a thorough examination of the brain, it was determined that there was a hemorrhage. They announced to the workers: “the dear leader died because he did not spare his strength and did not know rest in his work.” During the days of mourning, the press strongly emphasized the sacrifice of Lenin, the “great sufferer.” This was another component of the myth: Lenin, indeed, worked a lot, but he was also quite attentive to himself and his health, did not smoke, and, as they say, did not abuse. Almost immediately after Lenin’s death, a version appeared that the leader was poisoned on Stalin’s orders, especially since no tests were done that would have detected traces of poison in his body. It was assumed that another cause of death could be syphilis - the drugs at that time were primitive and sometimes dangerous, and venereal diseases in some cases can indeed provoke a stroke, but the leader’s symptoms, as well as the post-mortem autopsy, refuted these speculations.

Detailed report

The first public bulletin, which was released immediately after the autopsy, contained only a summary of the causes of death. But already on January 25, “official autopsy results” appeared with numerous details. In addition to a detailed description of the brain, the results of a skin examination were given, down to the indication of each scar and injury, the heart was described and its exact size, the condition of the stomach, kidneys and other organs were indicated. British journalist, head of the Moscow branch of the New York Times, Walter Duranty, was surprised that such detail did not make a depressing impression on the Russians; on the contrary, “the deceased leader was the object of such intense interest that the public wanted to know everything about him.” However, there is information that the report caused “shocked bewilderment” among the non-party Moscow intelligentsia and they saw in it a purely materialistic approach to human nature characteristic of the Bolsheviks. Such detailed anatomy and emphasis shifted to the inevitability of death could have another reason - the doctors, who “failed” to save the patient, were simply trying to protect themselves.

Comrades from the provinces

The first embalming was performed on January 22, almost immediately after the autopsy, which was carried out by a group of doctors led by Dr. Abrikosov. At first, the body was supposed to be preserved until the funeral, then they “outplayed” it by carrying out a new procedure, the effect of which was designed to last for forty days. The idea of ​​embalming was first proposed back in 1923, but no documents were found that would specify how the decision was made. To turn Lenin's burial place into the main shrine is a completely understandable desire: the country needed a “new religion” and “the incorruptible relics of a new saint.” It is interesting that Gorky compared Lenin to Christ, who “took upon himself the heavy burden of saving Russia.” Similar parallels were visible in newspaper articles and statements of many authoritative people of that time.
Perhaps, when Stalin expressed a desire to bury Lenin “in Russian,” he had in mind precisely the Orthodox church custom of putting the relics of a saint on public display, which can be explained - Stalin studied at a theological seminary and, perhaps, this idea was not for him random. Trotsky objected irritably: it was not proper for the party of revolutionary Marxism to go down such a road, “to replace the relics of Sergei of Radonezh and Seraphim of Sarov with the relics of Vladimir Ilyich.” Stalin referred to mysterious comrades from the provinces who opposed cremation, which contradicts Russian understanding: “Some comrades believe that modern science has the ability to preserve the body of the deceased for a long time with the help of embalming.” Who these “comrades from the provinces” were remains a mystery. On January 25, Rabochaya Moskva published three letters from “representatives of the people” under the heading “Lenin’s body must be preserved!” In the summer of 1924, despite the protests of Krupskaya and Lenin’s closest relatives, a message was published in the press about the decision “not to bury the body of Vladimir Ilyich, but to place it in the Mausoleum and extend access to those who wish.”

More alive than all the living!

Even after the assassination attempt on Lenin in 1918, a dualism in his image arose: a mortal man and an immortal leader. Grief for the deceased Ilyich was to be replaced by an inspired struggle, headed by the immortal Lenin as before. The newspapers wrote: “Lenin has died. But Lenin is alive in millions of hearts... And even with his very physical death, Lenin gives his last order: “Workers of all countries, unite!” Funeral processions, wailing sirens and five-minute work stoppages - all these actions during Lenin's funeral became important links in the creation of his cult. Millions of workers from all over Russia came to say goodbye to Lenin. In 35-degree frost, people warmed themselves by the fires, waiting for their turn, and then, in complete silence, occasionally broken by uncontrollable sobs, they passed by the coffin. They were united by one thing: grief and ardent faith in the promised bright future. Whether it will end and with whose “victory” is for now the main mystery of Ilyich’s funeral.

Lenin's funeral took place on January 27, 1924. Was Ilyich's last wish fulfilled? Why was the funeral date repeatedly postponed? Who initiated the idea of ​​embalming? Ilyich’s final journey is still surrounded by an aura of mystery.

Last will

At the end of the 80s of the last century, a version appeared that Lenin left a written will in which he asked to be buried at the Volkovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg, next to his mother. The author of the version is considered to be the historian Akim Arutyunov, who, according to the owner of Lenin’s Petrograd safe house, stated that the leader asked Krupskaya “to try to do everything so that he is buried next to his mother.” However, no documentary evidence of Lenin’s will was found. In 1997, the Russian Center for the Storage and Study of Documents of Contemporary History, when asked whether a will existed, gave an exhaustive answer: “We do not have a single document from Lenin or his relatives regarding Lenin’s “last will” to be buried in a specific Russian ( Moscow or St. Petersburg) cemetery."

Change date

Vladimir Lenin died on January 21, 1924. The organization of the funeral was carried out by a specially created commission under the leadership of Dzerzhinsky. Initially, the ceremony was scheduled for January 24 - the funeral was probably supposed to be held according to a “modest scenario”: the removal of the body from the House of Unions, a rally on Red Square and a burial procedure at the Kremlin wall, in front of Sverdlov’s grave. But this option was rejected, most likely due to the fact that delegates from distant regions and most republics did not have time to “catch up” by this date. At the same time, a new proposal appeared: to schedule the funeral for Saturday, January 26. On the evening of January 21, telegrams were sent out announcing Lenin’s death and the funeral date set for the 26th. But on January 24, it became clear that the burial site would not be prepared by this date: the work was hampered not only by the frozen ground, but also by communications, including the allegedly discovered underground rooms and passages that had to be sealed. A new deadline was set for the arrangement of the crypt - no later than 18.00 on January 26, and the new date of the funeral was postponed to 27.

Trotsky's absence

There could well be other reasons for the date change. For example, the so-called “Trotsky factor” is widely known - allegedly Stalin, fearing a strong rival, deliberately “tricked up” with the date and forbade (!) Trotsky to return from Tiflis, where he was undergoing treatment. However, it was Trotsky who was one of the first to receive a telegram about Lenin’s death. At first he expressed his readiness to return to Moscow, and then, for some reason, changed his mind. The change in his decision, however, can only be judged by Stalin’s response telegram, in which he regrets “the technical impossibility of arriving at the funeral” and gives Trotsky the right to decide for himself whether to come or not. Trotsky’s memoirs record a telephone conversation with Stalin, when he allegedly said: “The funeral is on Saturday, you still won’t make it, we advise you to continue treatment.” As you can see, there is no prohibition, only advice. Trotsky could have easily made it to the funeral if, for example, he had used a military plane, and also if he really wanted to. But Trotsky had reasons not to return. He could well believe that Lenin was poisoned by the conspirators led by Stalin, and he, Trotsky, was next.

Causes of death

Throughout 1923, newspapers reported on Lenin's state of health, creating a new myth about the leader who steadfastly fought the disease: reads newspapers, is interested in politics, and hunts. It is known that Lenin suffered a series of strokes: the first turned 52-year-old Ilyich into an invalid, the third killed him. In the last months of his life, Lenin hardly spoke, could not read, and his “hunting” looked like walking in a wheelchair. Almost immediately after his death, Lenin's body was opened to determine the cause of death. After a thorough examination of the brain, it was determined that there was a hemorrhage. They announced to the workers: “the dear leader died because he did not spare his strength and did not know rest in his work.” During the days of mourning, the press strongly emphasized the sacrifice of Lenin, the “great sufferer.” This was another component of the myth: Lenin, indeed, worked a lot, but he was also quite attentive to himself and his health, did not smoke, and, as they say, did not abuse. Almost immediately after Lenin’s death, a version appeared that the leader was poisoned on Stalin’s orders, especially since no tests were done that would have detected traces of poison in his body. It was assumed that another cause of death could be syphilis - the drugs at that time were primitive and sometimes dangerous, and venereal diseases in some cases can indeed provoke a stroke, but the leader’s symptoms, as well as the post-mortem autopsy, refuted these speculations.

Detailed report

The first public bulletin, which was released immediately after the autopsy, contained only a summary of the causes of death. But already on January 25, “official autopsy results” appeared with numerous details. In addition to a detailed description of the brain, the results of a skin examination were given, down to the indication of each scar and injury, the heart was described and its exact size, the condition of the stomach, kidneys and other organs were indicated. British journalist, head of the Moscow branch of the New York Times, Walter Duranty, was surprised that such detail did not make a depressing impression on the Russians; on the contrary, “the deceased leader was the object of such intense interest that the public wanted to know everything about him.” However, there is information that the report caused “shocked bewilderment” among the non-party Moscow intelligentsia and they saw in it a purely materialistic approach to human nature characteristic of the Bolsheviks. Such detailed anatomy and emphasis shifted to the inevitability of death could have another reason - the doctors, who “failed” to save the patient, were simply trying to protect themselves.

Comrades from the provinces

The first embalming was performed on January 22, almost immediately after the autopsy, which was carried out by a group of doctors led by Dr. Abrikosov. At first, the body was supposed to be preserved until the funeral, then they “outplayed” it by carrying out a new procedure, the effect of which was designed to last for forty days. The idea of ​​embalming was first proposed back in 1923, but no documents were found that would specify how the decision was made. To turn Lenin's burial place into the main shrine is a completely understandable desire: the country needed a “new religion” and “the incorruptible relics of a new saint.” It is interesting that Gorky compared Lenin to Christ, who “took upon himself the heavy burden of saving Russia.” Similar parallels were visible in newspaper articles and statements of many authoritative people of that time.
Perhaps, when Stalin expressed a desire to bury Lenin “in Russian,” he had in mind precisely the Orthodox church custom of putting the relics of a saint on public display, which can be explained - Stalin studied at a theological seminary and, perhaps, this idea was not for him random. Trotsky objected irritably: it was not proper for the party of revolutionary Marxism to go down such a road, “to replace the relics of Sergei of Radonezh and Seraphim of Sarov with the relics of Vladimir Ilyich.” Stalin referred to mysterious comrades from the provinces who opposed cremation, which contradicts Russian understanding: “Some comrades believe that modern science has the ability to preserve the body of the deceased for a long time with the help of embalming.” Who these “comrades from the provinces” were remains a mystery. On January 25, Rabochaya Moskva published three letters from “representatives of the people” under the heading “Lenin’s body must be preserved!” In the summer of 1924, despite the protests of Krupskaya and Lenin’s closest relatives, a message was published in the press about the decision “not to bury the body of Vladimir Ilyich, but to place it in the Mausoleum and extend access to those who wish.”

More alive than all the living!

Even after the assassination attempt on Lenin in 1918, a dualism in his image arose: a mortal man and an immortal leader. Grief for the deceased Ilyich was to be replaced by an inspired struggle, headed by the immortal Lenin as before. The newspapers wrote: “Lenin has died. But Lenin is alive in millions of hearts... And even with his very physical death, Lenin gives his last order: “Workers of all countries, unite!” Funeral processions, wailing sirens and five-minute work stoppages - all these actions during Lenin's funeral became important links in the creation of his cult. Millions of workers from all over Russia came to say goodbye to Lenin. In 35-degree frost, people warmed themselves by the fires, waiting for their turn, and then, in complete silence, occasionally broken by uncontrollable sobs, they passed by the coffin. They were united by one thing: grief and ardent faith in the promised bright future. Whether it will end and with whose “victory” is for now the main mystery of Ilyich’s funeral.

Right in the middle of Red Square, propping up one of the Kremlin walls, there is a crypt in which the body of Vladimir Ilyich is located. The key figure of the Great October Revolution, which turned everything upside down, now lies in a glass bulletproof sarcophagus, illuminated by a mysterious reddish glow.

Joseph Vissarionovich tried very hard to make a cult out of him. In the new world, communism was supposed to reign supreme, which means a symbol was needed - imperishable, immortal, eternal. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Lenin is not buried, which, by the way, is what the authorities adhere to today.

Vladimir Ilyich died on January 21, 1924 in Gorki, near Moscow. From there to Moscow, piercing the frosty air with a whistle full of sadness, he was taken away by a funeral train. The air temperature reached -40 Celsius, and tears froze on the cheeks of the citizens who saw him off.

In the House of Unions, where the farewell to the leader took place, the temperature was slightly higher - up to -20’C. In such conditions, the body froze completely, and people continued to arrive to see off their idol on his last journey. In 1924, no one knew that he would later become a mummy, indisputable proof of his own existence.

Why wasn’t V.I. Lenin’s body buried right away?

In 1924, on January 23, at a meeting of the commission for organizing the funeral of V.I. Lenin, the acute question was whether it was possible to somehow extend the farewell to him for at least two months. Architect Shchusev said it was possible. We were talking about a structure, covered with fabric inside, and outside representing a wooden booth, erected as a temporary crypt until the end of winter. In fact, the creation of a crypt was part of the funeral. Over time, the body would be buried, the booth would be removed, and the first grave-tribune of its kind would become the last bastion of peace and quiet for the untimely deceased speaker. But the country's leadership retreated from the planned plan.

The mausoleum is a classic example of avant-garde architectural art. In general, in 1924 only the avant-garde was talked about. Subjugate nature, challenge the laws of physics, or do the impossible - learn to revive the dead? Such ideas also appeared, and perhaps it was good that they were not implemented.

Joseph Vissarionovich first raised the question of the fate of Ilyich’s body even before his death. Imagining that communism will overwhelm all of humanity, that hands will reach out from all corners of the planet, eager to touch the idol, the symbol, the great folk deity. But at that meeting no one supported the idea, quite the contrary. The entire top of the Politburo was sharply against it, especially Zinoviev and Trotsky, who called the proposal “priestly ideas to resurrect the ashes.” This is understandable - it somehow contradicted the emerging proletarian atheism, the overthrow of idolatry, and Vladimir Ilyich himself would not have been delighted with such decisions.

Attempts to preserve Lenin's body

After Lenin's death they started talking about this again. Nadezhda Krupskaya repeatedly asked the “top” why they don’t bury V.I. Lenin? The hope was against the husband’s body being in full view of everyone, and against making such a cult out of his body. But she was assured that this was temporary - just until the first thaw. However, the first embalming was carried out by Abrikosov; its composition helped preserve the appearance of the body until spring.

Along with warming, the first signs of decomposition appeared. It was urgently necessary to decide on radical actions - to freeze the body or embalm it. Engineer Krasin proposed freezing - he did not yet know what he meant by cryogenic freezing, but was already hoping for a successful outcome, and Zbarsky, an honored Soviet anatomist, suggested embalming, which in his opinion was a less risky undertaking. But both were unheard of, especially for the still believing population.

By the way, Stalin later stated that further manipulations with Lenin were carried out at the request of the workers. Of course, this was not the case, because at that time society was hostile to even the cremation procedure, not to mention the idea of ​​human preservation.

The party leadership was inclined towards the freezing option, Krasin insisted. He was confident that in the future Soviet science would reach a level that would make it possible to resurrect the great leader. For this purpose, special freezers were even ordered from Germany, quite expensive and bulky. At the same time, experiments were carried out with freezing dead bodies in order to prevent all possible troubles with the body of Vladimir Ilyich.

Zbarsky tried in every possible way to convince the commission that decomposition would inevitably begin even in the freezer. In the event of interruptions in electricity, transportation, defrosting, the body will change, the skin will darken and there will be no question of showing it to the masses, and that in the end Lenin will have to be buried. And as if to confirm his words, March came, the body thawed and became covered with stains that could not be washed away.

The commission summoned Professor Vorobyov from Kharkov, who had been involved in embalming and conservation under Tsar Nicholas II. Vorobyov stated before the commission that the body could be preserved, although some changes, noticeable only to those close to them, would still occur. However, he did not want to take on this matter. Firstly, he did not sympathize with the Bolsheviks, he supported the White Army, and secondly, the risk of failure was too great, which means there was a great chance of being wasted. But somehow Zbarsky nevertheless persuaded him to write a letter to the commission with assurances that embalming was much preferable to freezing. And at the end of March they started work.

No matter how tearfully the widow Krupskaya asked to stop all manipulations with her husband’s body, no matter how angry letters she wrote, they did not plan to bury Lenin’s body, the matter continued. Vorobyov and Zbarsky did a colossal job: for three months they kept Lenin in various compounds - first formaldehyde, then an alcohol solution, then glycerin and, finally, potassium acetate. In total, about 20 incisions were made in his body so that the composition would permeate all the tissues, 5 holes were drilled in the skull, the eyes were replaced with glass balls, and the lips were sewn together.

In July, the commission demanded to see the results of the work. Despite Vorobyov’s panic attacks, Ilyich’s condition completely satisfied her. Lenin found himself outside the bath on August 1, 1924, when the doors of the new mausoleum, also wooden, were solemnly opened to citizens. Vorobyov and Zbarsky were paid 30 and 40 thousand chervonets, after which the first returned to Kharkov, and the second remained with Vladimir Ilyich as his custodian.

The stone mausoleum was built in 1930. A research institute was also created here, all of whose work was aimed at preserving the body as well as possible.

At the beginning of the war, Lenin and Zbarsky were evacuated to Tyumen on a special train. The matter was kept in the strictest confidence, and a camouflage false mansion was built over the mausoleum. The hospitable walls of the Agricultural College in Tyumen were renamed the NKVD house, surrounded by a three-meter fence and surrounded by Kremlin guards. Reagents were regularly delivered there until the end of the war. One can imagine what enormous resources were spent to ensure that Lenin remained “in good shape” even when the entire country was drowning in the fire of the Great Patriotic War.

In 1945, a terrible thing happened: during water procedures, a piece of skin on Lenin’s leg was damaged. After this incident, all experiments with embalming were carried out exclusively on random corpses.

In 1992, V. Yeltsin canceled the guard of honor at the entrance to the Mausoleum. The research institute also experienced a crisis; its traditional activities were no longer funded. By the way, according to some estimates, about $1.5 million a year was spent on keeping the body of the late Bolshevik in uniform, as well as on the work of scientists, reagents, and cooling devices.

People's opinions on whether V.I. Lenin should be buried today

In recent years, there has been sluggish but frequent debate about the funeral of Vladimir Ilyich. The more stable the position the church takes in Russia, the more arguments there are in favor of burial, as required by the Christian rite. But such a decision can hardly be called wise. Even armed with healthy cynicism, one can imagine how handsome a sum some crazy collector could pay for a body that is a symbol of a once powerful and great state. Although the authorities will never dare to do this. Local historians in Ulyanovsk hope that Lenin will be sent to them, to his hometown - and this will be very useful in the context of the place where he lived in recent years.

Today, as in July 1924, in the Mausoleum there is still the same coolness of a May morning, Vladimir Ilyich still lies in a glass sarcophagus, and 15 pink light bulbs create the illusion of a healthy complexion.

For what? Perhaps so that the long-fallen borders of the Soviet Union would look more unshakable. Or maybe for the world to look at us and be afraid - what to expect from the people who have been jealously guarding the corpse of their leader for 100 years, and not just guarding - charging a fee from those who want to see the imperishable socialist idea in the flesh?

Only now queues of mostly Chinese tourists, and even schoolchildren, are stretching there. Our compatriots are in no hurry to embrace it - they are already used to it and are not surprised. Our souls are even calmer from the fact that he lies there - and let him lie under the sensitive eyes of video cameras. According to the survey results, about a third of Muscovites are in favor of sending the great revolutionary to a well-deserved retirement. But no one is in a hurry to bury Lenin’s grandfather, because the revolution is immortal.

Video why V.I. Lenin cannot be buried