In Post-Soviet World, Town Pisses on Lenin with Irreverent Statue

Mediaite‘s
Tina Nguyen reports on a district in Krakow, Poland that is
celebrating the death of communism with an irreverent, neon-green
statue of Lenin entitled “Fountain of the Future.”

There’s a little bit of backstory to why this district is so
happy that communism is over: Nowa Huta, an industrial community,
was built by the Polish post-war government specifically to “combat
the influence of what authorities deemed to be ‘bourgeois’
Krakow,” according
to the Independent. (The town was such a
propaganda village that a popular song was written extolling its
Socialist virtues, and was literally titled “This
Song Is About Nowa Hute”.) However, the plan backfired and Nowa
Huta instead became a hotbed of dissent, with protestors attempting
to blow up the bronze Lenin statue at least twice.

And now that Socialist Realism is dead, everyone in Nowa Hute
wants to keep it that way. Artist Bartosz Szydlowski told
the Telegraph that he wanted the world to see the town’s sense of
humor, and also wanted to stir debate over what should take the
place of the statue.

More here.

How do irreverent American leftists remember Lenin, the
architect of one of the most oppressive regimes in human history?
The folks at Mother Jones used
to sell ha-ha funny “Bowlshevik” bowling shirts featuring Lenin
dishing out a strike. Because nothing is hipper than a guy who knew
how to pull off Red Terror and
worse like a real pro.