Double

It was a sad day on 22nd - birthday of one of the first of the bloody dictators of the twentieth century, Vladimir Ulyanov aka Lenin. He killed mercilessly, draw the country into a civil war and terrorized the population. He broke up the Russian Empire and established communists' rule in what became the Soviet Union. He said he was ready and willing to sacrifice half the population if that helps to establish communism for the other half. Got pretty good at the former, but failed with the latter, nearly returning to pure capitalism with what was called NEP (New Economic Policy, that's right), once the country ended on a brink of the final economic collapse. Numbers died during his rule. Backbone of society, down to school teachers, craftsman and small owners, priests of all variety were killed or incarcerated and then killed anyways. Richies fled the country. It was during his rule that Stalin began to rise to power, and eventually took over from Lenin. It was his regime that spawned bloody regimes all over Asia. That Korean shorty is his distant though impotent political relative. After he died, Lenin's brain was preserved, sliced thin and carefully studied for signs of communistic greatness by the very regime that he had created. His skin was stuffed and placed for warship in a Red Square mausoleum. You can still come to Moscow visit the great leader of Russia, any day. Macabre communist motto went "Lenin lived, Lenin lives, and Lenin will live forever"

Just in that line, I was surprised to observe a couple on the bus, wearing buttons with Lenin's picture on Sunday, obviously celebrating the occasion. I also previously ran into hardcore socialists, praising Lenin as a near superhero. To them, he's just a political leader, with his own mistakes and one of the great leaders of their movement. They show no judgment or knowledge about his rule. They use the fact that this was all in some far-away country to excuse him from his doings. They use the fact that he was opposed to Stalin's becoming the ruler to whitewash his action and distance him from his own doings. Hmmm think for a moment here, one dictator not so happy with someone else taking over.

American socialists with their praise for Lenin are a grand example of people lost without the least bit of a sense for humanity or compassion for the humankind. That's what really makes them not so special, after all. There are so many politicians and their followers claiming themselves full of morale and shit, but lacking a very basic respect for their fellow human beings. It just doesn't show.

On a brighter side, Sunday was also the first month since I started my blog.