Lenin’s haunted house

Lenin’s Mausoleum, situated near the Kremlin and Red Square, serves as a symbol of post-Soviet Russia's struggle with its communist past. The study reveals that the preservation of Lenin’s embalmed body represents an attempt to halt or slow time, while also obscuring the violent legacy of his regime. This research identifies three interconnected patterns of post-Soviet memory: warped mourning for communism’s victims, the mausoleum as a sacred and haunted site, and the political theology underpinning Soviet and post-Soviet states. Unlike Stalin’s remains, which were buried in 1961, Lenin’s continued display complicates the re-evaluation of the October Revolution, Leninism, and the Soviet Union's creation, highlighting the difficulty of confronting this history.

Kattago, S. (2019). Lenin’s haunted house. Encountering the Past within the Present, 127–144. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429024825-9