37 thoughts to “Nearby: Lenin lit, open BAT lanes, a little devil”

  2. i agree. i'm not sure i get the kitsch factor of having a statue of a ruthless dictator in your neighborhood. he wasn't as bad as Stalin or Hitler, but he is believed to have murdered many thousands of people. Maybe he's more on par with Saddam Hussein.

  7. Is it not somewhat normnal that people die in wars and in revolutions? Did anyone die in our own revoltution? Did you support the Czar and admire his rule in Russia?

  9. Jefferson executed tens of thousands of his opponents after the Revolution? Jefferson and Paine's political beliefs led to the death of tens of millions, forced mass imprisonment of opponents, mass executions?

    That's news to me. I'd like to read your history books.

  12. So a statue of a Socialist dictator, who was an atheist, is lighted to celebrate a religious holiday. Can we get a statue of Osama bin Laden lighted to celebrate womens rights? Only in Seattle.

  17. Major changes for good or bad seldom come without pain. The serfs were 100% better off after the Czar was sent packing. Was it all perfect? Of course not.

  18. No, actually, it's the accumulation of historical research conducted over time by many different people, compiled and read with a critical eye by intelligent people…..oh, and by the people who find the graves.

  19. Lenin wasn't a ruthless dictator. Only ignorant Americans still think that this many years after the Cold war. American's have edited history in much the same way China has edited Google. You're all brainwashed – it would be funny if your foreign policy wasn't so dangerous for the rest of us.

  22. The revolution is one thing, but waging war and genocide on your neighbors to enforce your ideology and steal their resources is quite another. See Baltic history and the rest of Eastern Europe for a small taste of what happened there.

  23. How do you justify the genocide committed outside of Russia? Are the tens of thousands of Eastern Europeans who were sent off to Siberia to starve to death better off? Did they want anything to do with communism or Lenin's beliefs?

  24. I should also point out that those same changes in conditions happened throughout the west without the need for massive repression and bloodshed.

  25. yes yes… that would've been stalin and his predesesors… i'm not defending them. please go look up the difference between lenin and stalin. you might get a surprise. assuming you have access to a book not written by an american.

  27. I'm well aware who Stalin and Lenin were and who killed more. I also know that all across the former USSR people tore these statues down after living under one of the most brutal political systems ever created by Lenin and his followers.

    So answer my question, why no Hitler statue? Germany did pretty well under him until about the early 1940s.

  32. The intention of the socialist system Lenin tried to implement was not the same as the corruption Stalin used to kill thousands and garner power for himself. Stalin perverted it but continued to use the same terms, he just killed any remaining party members who disagreed wtih him including Trotsky. The fact that Lenin failed to implement Socialism (because the entire socialist revolution failed) and he also failed to recognise the threat of Stalin (who was but a bit player in the party prior to Lenin's death) before he died doesnt make him responsible for Stalin's actions. As for Hitler – I cant vouch for his intentions other than power at any cost. You can compare Hitler with Stalin, but no Hitler with Lenin.

  33. Some of us do recognize the difference between Lenin and Stalin, et all. I'm still not comfortable with having a statue of the guy who basically got the whole ball rolling. To say that Lenin is completely innocent of the results of what he set in motion is just as naive as saying that Lenin = Hitler.
    The reality is that Lenin was held up as the ideological father of the Soviet Union and much of what Stalin did was justifed by Lenin's teachings. These statues were the worship of the ideology behind the state. Though Lenin himself may not have been as bloodthirsty as Stalin outside of the revolution, he is still a major symbol for the Soviet Union and therefore a statue of him can still be offensive to all the people who suffered under the repression of the Soviets.

  34. So statutes of Wellington need to be removed less they offend the French. Statutes of Napoleon are to be removed less they offend the Spanish. Stone Mountain needs to be blown out of the ground as well as Mt Rushmore because it offends the natives.

    Beyond silly here. What are you all….Glenn Beck wannabes or Political correctness Pollys? You could be either.

  35. Ytoo asked “What religion celebrates the winter solstice?”

    Actually, all you Christians are celebrating the winter solstice. Co-opting the previously pagan holiday was the ONLY reason December 25th was chosen as the date of Christmas.

  37. Somehow I'm just not that comfortable with putting up statues celebrating people who espoused ideologies counter to our country's founding principles and actively worked for our downfall.
    BTW, do we have any statues of Napoleon in this country? Wellington? The Kaiser? Mao?

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