RUSSIA’S NATIONAL HERO

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 13, 2 April 1947, Page 6

RUSSIA’S NATIONAL HERO

PILGRIMAGE TO TOMB LEADER OF REVOLUTION Impressive evidence of the current Soviet regime’s influence on the populace was the recent pilgrimage of Russian citizens to the memoi’ial monument of Nikolai Lenin, leader of the Russian Revolution of 1917. . For several days during the observation of the 23rd anniversary of the pasing of Lenin, his mausoleum was open to the public. Several hundred - thousand persons, must have passed through the portals of the red and black stone monument. How many came out of sheer devotion to the founder of the Soviet state and how many in response to the suggestions of the Russian authorities is hard to determine. However on January 22, a slow-moving queue five persons deep extended for the better part of a. mile around the Ki’emlin outer wall. Crowd Defies Cold It wound from the Moscow River embankment along the Alexandrovsky Garden, then up the cobbled .slope leading into Red Square. Upturned coat collars afforded but slight protection against the powdery snow that swirled in the rawgusty, winter wind. Those in line stamped their feet to keep warm. The crowd seemed to include an almost equal number of men and women. They ranged in attire all the way from expensive fur coats and hats to the padded jackets, shawls, and coai’se felt boots of the workers and peasants. As on most outdoor occasions in Russia, there also were many children. A goodly portion of the men wore army greatcoats and caps, with epaulettes and all other military insignia and badges of rank removed. These demobilised soldiers are a large constituent element of any Russian, crowd these days, and by now far outnumber the proportion one sees of those still in the armed forces.

The latter, still much in evidence a year ago, have as a result of successful demobilisation dwindled to the point where they now seem less numerous and less conspicuous than in prewar times.

Judging by the length of the line an the rate at which it crept forward, it must have taken each visitor an average of an hour and a half till his turn came to funnel through the portal, descend into the vault, and in a few moments emerge through the exit on the far side. Another Line Moves A goodly portion of the visitors to the mausoleum then headed back across Red Square to join another line, this time outside the entrance to the big red brick building that once was the Moscow City Duma and now houses the Lenin Museum. Headed in the same direction were groups of school pupils accompanied by their taechers and also travelstained soldiers with their own guides. Parties of Army men posted for demobilisation daily arrive in the capital en route to the staging point where they are mustered out and sent home. For many, it is their first visit to Moscow and the Army organises an excursion for their benefit. In the Lenin Museum in addition to materials, documents, pictures, and other exhibits dealing with Lenin’s life and the history of the Russian Revolution, one hall contains presents to Generalissimo Joseph Stalin from admirers and wellwishers in all parts of the Soviet Union and from abroad as well.

Here, too, the continuity of revolutions past and present is emphasised.