Last week, few people remembered Vladimir Ulyanov’s (Lenin’s) birthday. Among those who did mark the date was the Turgenev Library in Paris: on April 22, the complete 55-volume collected works of the leader of the Russian Revolution were ceremoniously carried out from its shelves. In the past 30 years, not a single reader of the Turgenev Library had requested Lenin’s works—so the staff of the oldest Russian émigré library decided to bid a cheerful farewell to the Soviet past, making room for new books. Parisian supporters of Lenin tried to intervene in the process.

#Twoleggedbelt #europe #historicalmemory #lenin #society #Paris #aftertheUSSR #protests #reportage #Russia #TheTurgenevLibraryinParis #Emigration

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The story of how the Soviet Grinch stole Christmas is telling in many ways. At first, the totalitarian regime shamelessly declared established family traditions to be barbaric. Then, after failing, Stalinism retreated a bit and, as a compromise, offered Soviet citizens a new holiday—with recognizable trappings, but stripped of its original meaning. Soon, the next generation came to perceive the Soviet New Year as an unshakable custom from time immemorial.

#householdandchildren #state #ideology #History #everydayculture #lenin #newYear #society #holidays #religion #theUSSR #Stalin #traditions

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