Lenin was loved because
>unlike many of his party comrades he was perceived as a
>pure Russian. Above all, he was not a Jew! Historians
>who later discovered that Lenin was not in fact a pure
>Russian -- one of his grandparents had been Jewish,
>another Kalmyk -- were told in no uncertain terms to
>keep quiet.
>
Babel somewhere tells a story about the time when he was riding with the Red Cossacks, and one of them expressed great admiration for Trotsky, then commander of the Red Army, because of his courage at the front. "A real Russian!" the Cossack said, "not like that Jew Lenin lurking back there in the Kremlin." Babel was of course a Zhid also. Ahh, Russia. And people wonder why we (Jews of Russian decent) were happy to leave . . . .
I was in the Lenin museum in, it must have been '93--can it be that long ago? Shortly before it was closed. Already they were renting out the bottom floor areas to shops. The collection was quite remarkable. His chess set. His office furnaiture from the Kremlin. His armored Rolls. His underwear! All kinds of cool and silly stuff given to him or honoring him. They should have kept it open as a sort of monument to something or other.
jks
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