During the Soviet era, many thousands of statues and monuments commemorating the Communist revolutionary and founder of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin, were erected throughout the region and beyond. Lenin statues could be found prominently displayed in many cities in the former Soviet republics, as well as those in satellite states and Soviet-aligned states like Mongolia, Vietnam and Ethiopia.
The Soviet Union's inevitable weakening toward the end of the Cold War prompted the removal of many of Lenin's effigies by their host governments. Nearly all of the Lenin monuments in the Soviet satellite states in Central Europe were dropped in the wave of revolutions that began in 1989. Following the disintegration of the Soviet Union itself in 1991, Lenin statues began to fall within many of the former Soviet republics as well.
Not all monuments were taken down after the fall of the Soviet Union, though. In Russia, from St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) to Vladivostok, most went untouched. Other former Soviet republics opted to keep their Lenin monuments intact, albeit moving them to less prominent locations. When it comes to the dismantlement of Lenin statues — or indeed their persistence — the nature and timing has varied throughout the former Soviet Union. This variation can in fact reveal a lot about the current state of the former Soviet Union.
A Display of Public Opinion
In Belarus, just as in Russia, Lenin statues throughout the country have gone virtually untouched. A large monument of Lenin stands in the central square of the Belarusian capital city, Minsk, near the parliament building. The presence of the statue is no coincidence: Belarus has one of the closest relationships with Russia of any of the former Soviet states. The country is a member of Russia's Customs Union, an enthusiastic participant in Moscow's Collective Security Treaty Organization, and it will host a Russian airbase come 2015. The government of Belarus, directed by long-serving leader Aleksandr Lukashenko, is also largely unchanged from its Soviet past. It still has a centralized, authoritarian political system and what it calls a market-socialist economy. The presence of Lenin statues in Belarus is simply reflective of the country's strong alliance with Russia.
The opposite is the case in the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. These former Soviet republics were the first to call for independence from the Soviet Union, likening their very inclusion in the Soviet Union to an unwelcome occupation. It therefore stands to reason that each of the Baltic states removed all of their Lenin statues shortly after the Soviet Union collapsed — in some pre-emptive cases, even before. The Baltics sought to break their Soviet ties, immediately embarking on a path to closer integration with the West. The Baltics are currently the only former Soviet republics in the Western alliance system, joining the EU and NATO in 2004. Their relationship with Russia is marked by tension and confrontation, as well as a profound fear of Russian influence and power projection.
In some former Soviet states Lenin statues reveal the political divisions within the countries themselves. For example, in the Moldovan capital of Chisinau, a statue of Lenin was moved from the city center to a slightly less auspicious location in 2008, namely the parking lot of an expo center. But in Moldova's breakaway province of Transdniestria, a large Lenin monument still stands in Tiraspol's central square, unseeing eyes fixed upon the local parliament building. In Gagauzia, a pro-Russian region in southern Moldova, a Lenin statue was even recently restored and coated with gold paint. These varying approaches are reflective of ongoing affiliations and divisions: As much as the government in Chisinau seeks to establish closer ties with the European Union, Transdniestria, which still retains a Russian military presence, is aligned with Moscow and opposes Moldova's EU integration efforts.
Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have similar political situations; both countries are close allies of Russia and strongly integrated with Moscow on economic and security matters. As a result, they still have many of their Lenin statues intact. Georgia, which is at odds with Russia because of its Western orientation, no longer has any Lenin monuments — though the pro-Russian breakaway territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia still do. Georgia does, however, have a statue of Josef Stalin, located in the former Soviet leader's birthplace of Gori. Most neutral former Soviet countries, including Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, chose to take down their Lenin statues in favor of monuments to local significant and political figures.
An Internal Measure of Discontent
Perhaps no other country exemplifies the lingering importance and symbolism of Lenin statues better than Ukraine. The country, which is politically and culturally divided along geographical lines into a West-leaning center and a Russia-oriented east and south, experienced much statue-related activity after large-scale demonstrations broke out in November 2013. Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich's decision to abandon a key agreement with the European Union, instead establishing closer ties with Russia, made average Ukrainians question their core allegiance. The demonstrations centered around Maidan Square in Kiev culminated in Yanukovich fleeing the country, which led to the destruction of hundreds of Lenin statues across Ukraine. On Feb. 22 alone, the day of Yanukovich's ousting, demonstrators reportedly toppled more than 90 Lenin statues, primarily in the western and central regions of Ukraine.
Many Lenin statues do still stand tall in the southern and eastern regions of the country, where pro-Russia sentiment runs high. A large Lenin monument remains in the central squares of the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, located in Ukraine's easternmost regions. These rebel bastions serve as key locations in the contentious military rift between pro-Russia separatists and Ukrainian security forces. Furthermore, many Lenin statues can be found throughout Crimea, the historically pro-Russia region that was recently annexed by Moscow. In Kharkiv, which is populated by a more balanced mix of pro-Ukraine and pro-Russia residents, a conflict between demonstrators from opposing sides led to the dismantling of a Lenin statue Sept. 28. The treatment of Soviet relics show that feelings toward Russia are still varied and dynamic, even in a country that shares a long land border with it.
The size, location and quantity (or for that matter, absence) of Lenin monuments serve as a practical gauge of the current relationship between each country — or region — and Russia. Nearly a century after his death, Lenin remains a significant and polarizing figure within the former Soviet space.
