The Afghan "Taliban" movement is the most egregious violator of freedom of religion in the world, according to the third annual report of the USA Department of State devoted to the situation in the sphere of religious freedom in various countries from July 2000 to June 2001, which was published on Friday, ITAR-TASS reports.
The report notes that the Taliban regime has instituted in Afghanistan the strictest laws of Sharia and has introduced a prohibition on all religions except Islam under threat of the death penalty. At the same time the Taliban, who are Sunnite Muslims, persecute Hazara Shiites and in January suppressed a large group of representatives of this national minority. A month later, despite protests of the international community, they destroyed two historic statues of Buddha.
In accordance with the 1998 American "Law on freedom of religion in the world," State Department Secretary Colin Powell placed this "Taliban" movement in the list of the most persistent violators of human rights in this sphere. As before, the "black list" also includes the governments of Myanmar, China, Iran, Iraq, and Sudan. This year for the first time North Korea was added, where, according to State Department information, the persecution of unregistered religious associations is continuing.
Serious "concern" is evoked in USA by the situations in Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. Among CIS countries the most serious criticism was directed to the leadership of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The report notes that they do not fully observe their constitutional obligations and have persecuted various religious groups, including Muslims. The documents also points to "a worsening situation in the area of freedom of religion" in Belarus and Georgia, where authorities deliberately erect barriers to religious minorities.
As regards Russia, the report notes that the government of the country "on the whole observes" the right to freedom of religious confession established by the constitution, although in practice it does not always follow the statement of the fundamental law that provides for equality of various religions. The document says also that "local authorities in several regions continue to restrict the rights of a number of religious minorities."
At the same time the State Department, as in previous years, expressed the well known position of USA with regard to the Russian law "On freedom of conscience and religious associations" of 1997. The report maintains that despite a number of judicial decisions "softening its interpretation," it complicates the activity "of religious groups that are new to the country," as it did previously.
Nevertheless the document emphasizes that, in contrast to the previous leadership of the country, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his administration have decisively condemned antisemitism and openly called for respect and tolerance with regard to all religions existing in the multinational Russian society. This fact is noted in the State Department report among the chief positive events occurring in the area of freedom of religion in world in the past year. (tr. by PDS, posted 29 October 2001)
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Since the time of GPU-NKVD Russian intelligence agencies (especially those of their subdivisions that work with foreign intelligence) have dreamed of the liquidation of the emigre Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) and its reunification with the Moscow patriarchate, the Russian Orthodox church (RPTs). Today those who hope for such reunification seemed closer to their goal than ever before; the day before yesterday the council of ROCOR that was supposed to elect a new head of the church and make other organizational decisions opened in New York.
The former primate of ROCOR, Metropolitan Vitaly, was not fated, in violation of church traditions, to remain in office until natural death. He has been a clear opponent of rapprochement with Moscow and thus his retirement on 10 July can be considered an important foreign policy success not only of the Moscow patriarchate but of the whole direction of Russian foreign policy departments that are supposed to guarantee a pro-Russian mood among compatriots abroad. Unification (or more accurately, absorption) of ROCOR with the Moscow patriarchate is desirable for both ecclesiastical and imperial Moscow not only as a possible means for expanding ideological influence within the Russian diaspora but as a means for access to the great quantity of immovable property belonging to ROCOR in USA, Australia, and especially in occupied territories of Israel.
As is known, ROCOR arose in 1922 when bishops, priests, and laity who were in emigration formed their own structure independent of "red Moscow." After perestroika, RPTs declared itself free from state influence, but the "foreigners" did not trust it and even began opening their own parishes in Russia, which greatly troubled the Moscow patriarchate. In response RPTs and civil administrations began promoting by all possible means within the depths of ROCOR attempts at self-liquidation and reunification with the "continental" RPTs. A very great advocate for unification with Moscow within ROCOR is the current Archbishop Mark of Berlin and Germany. However, he could not be elected the new primate of the church; he is a pure-blooded German, a former Lutheran, and besides, as elderly parishioners say, "he will always be trailed by the uniform of a Bundeswehr officer," which he served as. His associate in the pro-Moscow line, Archbishop Antony of San Francisco and western America, recently died and the current acting head of ROCOR, Archbishop Laurus of Syracuse and Trinity, is, on the contrary, an extremely moderate and cautious person. He cannot fail to understand that he is not likely to be able to unite all foreign priests and parishioners with Moscow. More likely, the ultrafundamentalist wing will remove itself from the "foreigners." It is possible that they will be led by Bishop Varnava, whom pro-Moscow oriented leaders of ROCOR accuse of ties with the "Pamiat" society.
It is a different story regarding ROCOR parishes on Russian territory. If there were a merger of ROCOR and RPTs they would face the fate, figuratively speaking, of the cossacks surrendered by Americans to Stalin. There would be nowhere for them to go and they most likely would join the jurisdiction of the so-called Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church, headed by the former head of the Vladimir-Suzdal diocese, Archimandrite (now Metropolitan) Valentin Rusantsov, who even canonized the former primate of ROCOR, Metropolitan Filaret.
Thus, if Moscow even gains a victory, it would not be total. Nevertheless it is trying to put all kinds of pressure on the ROCOR council to get it to make an immediate decision about reunification. Among the public steps it is possible to note the letter from Patriarch Alexis of Moscow and all-Rus to ROCOR of 6 October. The autocephalous Orthodox Church of America also decided to help the Moscow patriarchate and it sent a letter to its neighbors on the American continent on 18 October. In it it supported completely Patriarch Alexis' appeal and called for unification. But analysts have evaluated the autocephalous church's step in sending the letter as mistaken. Most likely the supporters of ROCOR will take the "autocephalists'" appeal in just the opposite way; "foreigners" always have considered their neighbors "autocephalists," "schismatics," "modernists," and "ecumenists," (for which there is some basis). Besides, the autocephalist Orthodox church is a direct competitor of ROCOR in USA and Canada, and moreover it got its autonomy from RPTs in 1970, that is, "from the hand of KGB." (This autocephaly has still not been recognized by the senior person among Orthodox, the patriarch of Constantinople.) "Foreigners" have more or less good relations with the Serbian and Jerusalem patriarchs and would perhaps heed them, though so far they are silent.
Although he is in voluntary forced retirement, the former head of ROCOR, Metropolitan Vitaly, yesterday delivered a sharp criticism of the possible merger of ROCOR with the Moscow patriarchate. He called the council that began on Tuesday an "assembly of irresponsible individuals" and the Moscow patriarchate a "false church." Confirming his wish to go into retirement so as "not to bear responsibility for the final ruin" of his church, Vitaly again completely denounced "any rapprochement" with RPTs and even called all "Orthodox archpastors, pastors, monastics, and faithful children of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad to close ranks in a single host to combat all the sinful acts of both the present Council and the Moscow Patriarchate." (tr. by PDS, posted 26 October 2001)
"VOICE OF THE PEOPLE" SPEAKS ON CHURCH SCHISM
Mir religii, 26
October 2001
The prospects for overcoming the schism in the Russian church that appeared after the election of a new first hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia were discussed on 25 October in a live broadcast on TV-6 by participants in the "Voice of the People" talk show, "Blagovest-info" reports.
Opening the program, announcer Svetlana Sorokina explained that the bishops' council of ROCOR that took place in New York has opened a new epoch in relations between this church and RPTs. The newly elected head of ROCOR, Archbishop Laurus, is known as a proponent of a merger of the churches and an ending of the schism.
The spiritual director of the Union of Orthodox Citizens, Archpriest Vladislav Tsypin, and an historian from Nizhny Novgorod, Alexander Zhuravsky, described the history of the emergence of the schism in the Russian church, linking it with the declaration of loyalty to the soviet regime signed in the name of the Russian Orthodox church (RPTs) by Metropolitan Sergius and condemned by ROCOR. According to a cleric of the St. Petersburg diocese of ROCOR, Deacon Nikolai Savchenko, the disease that this declaration provoked has still not been obliterated and thus the schism has not been overcome.
Archpriests Viktor Potapov and Nikolai Artemov of ROCOR answered questions of announcers on the telebridges from Washington and Munich. The rector of the ROCOR cathedral in Washington and the announcer for religious programs of Voice of America [Potapov] suggested that the consequences of sergianism (the course proclaimed by Metropolitan Sergius' declaration) have almost been overcome within RPTs and unification "of the two parts of the Russian church" is a matter of time.
Archpriest Nikolai Artemov also agreed that there are no barriers in principle for the unification of RPTs and ROCOR and he expressed the hope that existing disputes could be resolved in the process of creating the administrative canonical structure of a united Russian church.
The secretary of the representation of the ROCOR bishops' council in Podolsk (Moscow province), Deacon Aleksii, reported the disagreement of the majority of Russian ROCOR parishes with the policy of unconditional unification with RPTs. He compared the foreign clerics of ROCOR to "staff officers" and the representatives of this church within Russia to "soldiers in the trenches," whose differing psychology prevents mutual understanding in the matter of unification of the Russian church.
Talk show participants also mentioned the growth of alternative Orthodoxy in Russia, which can only intensify after unification of RPTs and ROCOR. However according to the secretary of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate for inter-Orthodox relations and foreign institutions of RPTs, Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, and the executive editor of "Moskovskii tserkovnii vestnik," Sergei Chapnin, Orthodox societies that are not subordinate to RPTs in Russia are extremely few and comprise, in the main, "seekers after truth" who would be uncomfortable under any jurisdiction. (tr. by PDS, posted 26 October 2001)
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In the summer of 2001 the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate (OVTsSMP), Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, sent a letter to the commissioner of the Council of Europe for human rights, Alvaro Gil-Robles, in which he described the situation of Orthodox believers in Estonia.
In his return letter, Alvaro Gil-Robles noted that he had often received reports from various sources about instances of violation of believers' rights in this country and he expressed his concern about this problem. The Council of Europe commissioner informed Metropolitan Kirill about planned steps and assured him that he will follow carefully the development of the situation. (tr. by PDS, posted 26 October 2001)
SITUATION OF ESTONIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE REVIEWED
BY COUNCIL OF EUROPE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS
Sluzhba
kommunikatsii OVTsSMP, 26 October 2001
On 17 October 2001 the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers reviewed the deputy's inquiry about the situation of the Orthodox believers in Estonia, sent by the chairman of the Committee on Internal Affairs of the State Duma of the Russian federation and head of the Russian delegations to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, D.O. Rogozin. The inquiry contained a request to the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers to take action toward the governmental leadership of Estonia for "correction of the matter regarding the registration of the Estonian Orthodox church of the Moscow patriarchate in order to secure believers' rights."
The session of the Committee of Ministers was the first exchange of opinions on this matter. They heard information from the permanent representative of Russia to the Council of Europe, A.K. Orlov and explanations from the Estonian side. The secretariat of the organization was instructed to prepare the text of an official response from the Committee of Ministers to the Parliamentary Assembly. After pertinent discussion the text will be approved at one of the session of the Committee of Ministers. (tr. by PDS, posted 26 October 2001)
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"Moral regulation of the activity of foreign missionaries could facilitate the stabilization of interconfessional relations in Russia," the chairman of OVTsS MP, Metropolitan Kirill, declared in response to a letter from Lawrence Uzzell, director of the Keston Institute, "Blagovest-info" reports. Keston Institute is one of the most authoritative centers in the West for monitoring religious freedoms and the study of the religious situation in the communist and postcommunist countries.
In his letter, Lawrence Uzzell reported that at one of the briefings in the US State Department he called for American authorities to strive for "observing the rights not only of American missionaries but also native believers of all confessions," and for the missionaries themselves "to conduct themselves in a respectful manner with regard to local religious culture."
Uzzell thinks that it is "impermissible" for western missionaries to "have recourse to the use of their economic advantages when conversions are bought by means of material stimuli." Uzzell thinks that bribery is another serious problem, stating that this has played a substantial role in the situation where "in the main western missionaries have suffered from the harsh religion law of 1997 less than have traditional protestant minorities."
"Bribes have influenced Russian officials," the director of Keston Institute claims, "who even without this are rather corrupt, so that they erect artificial impediments in the normal course of religious life, followed by fines that must be paid for the removal of these barriers."
Agreeing with the basic claims of Lawrence Uzzell, Metropolitan Kirill notes: "Foreign missionaries really do act disrespectfully toward the traditional religions and they use dishonorable means that traditionally are labelled prosyletizing. As a result such activity has a negative impact on interconfessional communications and even on international relations, especially in light of the support by some governments of any activities of missionaries from their countries." The way out of the complex situation, in the opinion of the OVTsSMP chairman, "would be the establishment of certain rules of coexistence of the various religions and confession." Only with the adoption of such a code, the metropolitan thinks, "will it become possible to speak about a transition from competition to fraternal mutual aid, including cooperation in the regeneration of churches weakened by years-long repression by the totalitarian regime." (tr. by PDS, posted 26 October 2001)
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In the near future, an amendment will be introduced into the law on religious associations which would put an end to unhindered penetration of Russia by sects and religious preachers who promote extremism and terrorism. This was announced to reporters by vice premier of the government of Russia Valentina Matvienko at the conclusion of a session of the Commission on Questions of Religious Associations. According to her, at the present time the law on these associations grants the exclusive right to adherents of any religion to invite foreign citizens for the purpose of preaching their ideas, although the mechanism for the legal control of the activity of preachers has not been worked out.
"Often preachers of wahabbism or other extremist movements register their visa for a year and nobody knows for sure what they are doing in Russia throughout this period," Matvienko said. In her opinion, this situation will be corrected in the near future. (tr.by PDS, posted 26 October 2001)
OPPOSITION TO RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM
Rossiiskaia gazeta, 24 October 2001 and Krasnaia zvezda, 24 October
2001
(from ITAR-TASS)
The government's Commission on Questions of Religious Associations reviewed the issue of measures to counteract the penetration of extremist religious sects into the territory of Russia, according to Russian Vice Premier Valentina Matvienko.
She said that in the near future it is proposed to introduce additions to the existing legislation which for now is insufficiently regulating the activity of foreign representatives of religious organizations in our country. The purpose here, Matvienko noted, is "not to complicate the life" of law-abiding religious leaders but to establish a legislative barrier to the penetration into the country of forces, parading in religious clothing but which pursue ends of an extremist character, threatening the security of our state and public peace.
In this regard, the vice premier said, appropriate instruction will be given in the near future to the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Internal Affairs, and Justice. Along with the preparation of legislative measures, Matvienko stressed, agencies of OVIR and other law enforcement bodies must strengthen the mechanism for control of the activity of foreign representatives of religious associations in Russia, within the established limits of their authority. (tr. by PDS, posted 26 October 2001, tr. note: identical articles appeared in the two newspapers)
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The Russian Associated Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith (ROSKhVE) annonced its support for the doctrine of church-state relations prepared by the deputy director of the Chief Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Justice for Moscow, Vladimir Zhbankov, and the Institute of State-Confessions Relations, "Blagovest-info" reports.
In its letter addressed to Vladimir Zhbankov, the chairman of ROSKhVE, Bishop Sergei Riakhovsky, stressed that this draft, in distinction from other existing drafts of some kind of doctrine, is "more frank and pointed toward people, believers, and really reflects their genuine interests and aspirations."
Sergei Riakhovsky notes that this draft "is distinguished in its better aspect by its optimal recognition of comments from representatives of interested religious association, while the authors of other drafts simply have ignored the interests of believers."
According to Riakhovsky, the main achievement of the writers of the draft of the doctrine is the establishment of criteria for traditional religious organizations. "Pentecostal religious congregations have been operating in Russia for more than 100 years now and have made a contribution to the development of the spirituality of our country and served the welfare of our common motherland. Thus for us the section of the doctrine that establishes the status of a traditional religious organization is especially important."
According to Sergei Riakhovsky, the current version of the doctrine serves the interests of ROSKhVE almost completely and corresponds to the views of its leaders on how relations between the state and religious associations should be constructed. (tr. by PDS, posted 26 October 2001)
[Compare Baptist statement on this subject.]
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Moscow city hall has granted permission for constructing a chapel and placing a cross on the church of the holy apostles Peter and Paul on Miliutin Lane, which has not been restored to the Catholics, although the fate of the church remains unknown, "Blagovest-info" reports. According to the rector of the parish, Bogdan Severynik, the privatization of the church by the "Giprouglemash" organization was declared illegal, so the Catholics continue to hope that the church will be returned to them and they await a response to their appeal to the Procurator General of the Russian federation.
However, after the visits of Pope John Paul II to Ukraine and Kazkhastan, the administrative procedures associated with the resolution of the Catholics' issues within the governmental structures have been substantially delayed. In particular, despite expectations, the Catholics now are not likely to receive in the near future two parcels of land in different districts of Moscow for construction of new churches, although the locations had been previously approved.
Serious problems also are expected with regard to the return of the building complex on Miliutin Lane that has historically belonged to the Roman Catholic church. (tr. by PDS, posted 25 October 2001)
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For the first time in the country, a twenty-three-year-old conscript was exempted from regular service in the ranks of the Russian army on the basis of religious convictions and was allowed to perform alternative civil service in his home city, "Blagovest-info" reports. Seventh Day Adventist Yury Khvalev, who was among nine draftees, will work in a sanitorium in the first city hospital. This became possible because of an order from the head of the city administration, Yury Lebedev, "On planning for conducting an experiment for the creation of a mechanism for performing alternative civil service." In signing this document the Nizhnygorod mayor was particularly influenced by organizations of defenders of human rights of the city, especially the Nizhnygorod Peacemaking Group, which since 1996 has been defending the right of citizens to alternative civil service establishing in the Russian constitution. (tr. by PDS, posted 25 October 2001)
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The likelihood of a meeting between Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all-Rus and the pope of Rome will grow "only under the condition of active and constructive participation on the part of the Vatican in the resolution of the acute problems that today are making the pontiff's visit to Russia impossible." This is the way an official representative of the Russian Orthodox church, Viktor Malukhin, commented to "Interfax" on Tuesday regarding the statement by the chairman of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Russia, Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, which expressed hope that the position of Patriarch Alexis II with respect to the pope's visit will "be softened more and more."
"There is no doubt that this is the way it will be," the representative of RPTs declared, again recalling the conditions of the Moscow patriarchate whose fulfillment would bring nearer a meeting between John Paul II and Alexis II. In the words of Viktor Malukhin, "the issue is primarily the impermissibility of Catholic proselytizing on the canonical territory of the Russian church and the observance of the rights of Orthodox believers in western Ukraine, where the children of the Ukrainian church of the Moscow patriarchate have been subjected to cruel persecution on the part of Uniates."
"However, until now," Viktor Malukhin remarked, "the desire of the Vatican to arrange a papal visit to Russia has not been viewed by the Holy See in the context of these problems which becloud in a most serious way relations" of the two churches. Meanwhile, the Moscow patriarchate thinks, it would be a resolution of the indicated problems that would make the meeting of the two primates not a mere "ceremonial event or sensation for the world press but would permit the healing of the still bleeding wounds and really open a new page in Orthodox-Catholic dialogue."
As regards the visits by the pope to Ukraine and Kazakhstan, which, in the opinion of the Russian church were held "in violation of generally accepted practice, without an official invitation from the Moscow patriarchate, it is extremely doubtful," Viktor Malukhin said, "that they improved the pope's rating in the eyes of Russians by ten percent, as Archbishop Kondrusiewicz declared, citing an unamed sociological service." "More likely, on the contrary," the representative of RPTs added, "such disrespect by the Vatican for the religious feelings of the nations in the postsoviet space could engender only stronger negative feelings." (tr. by PDS, posted 24 October 2001)
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The queue forms early mornings on Red Square, in all weathers, before the squat black granite tomb of Vladimir Lenin. On a typical day thousands still come, apparently oblivious to the onward march of history. Elderly women in the main, wrapped in shawls, some with restless children in tow, they wait impassively for hours as the line inches forward.
Then it is a hushed walk down steep marble steps into the inner vault, and a few seconds to file past the brightly lit glass casket that holds Lenin's mummy, before being ushered through a discreet side exit.
For outsiders the experience is invariably a letdown. Lenin appears an almost absurdly small man dressed in an ordinary suit, with close-cropped red hair, Asiatic eyes and ironic smile pasted on a small, waxy mouth. But Russians emerging from that quick encounter can explain why the old Bolshevik still enjoys a prestigious Kremlin address, a decade after the state he founded was consigned to history's rubbish bin. "Lenin was the sun that lit up our lives, he was the spirit that made us do great things," says Svetlana Kuznetsova, a retired Moscow schoolteacher who brings her grandchildren to visit the mausoleum at least twice a year. "As long as Lenin is in his place, there is hope that our country might revive from its present degradation." Thanks to the enduring hold of Lenin's extraordinary personality cult over so many people, the wizened old revolutionary still easily triumphs over opponents - 77 years after his death at the age of 54 following a long illness. Former President Boris Yeltsin, who abolished the Soviet Union a decade ago, vowed to evict Lenin from his Red Square perch and to eradicate Lenin's heirs, the Communists, from Russian public life. Yeltsin stumbled off into retirement almost two years ago with neither goal realized. The Communist Party, banned in a series of sweeping Yeltsin decrees in 1991, now rules almost half of the Russian regions and controls a third of the seats in parliament. As for Lenin, he was voted "Russian Man of the Century" in a nationwide survey last year, winning 14 per cent of the votes. Next in line was Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin with 9 per cent. Yeltsin didn't make the list.
Current Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has officially quashed the decade- long debate about removing Lenin from his official mausoleum and burying him in a regular grave. "I'll tell you why," Putin told journalists recently. "Many people in this country associate their lives with the name of Lenin. To take Lenin out and bury him would say to them that they have worshipped false values, that their lives were lived in vain ... I cherish stability and consensus in society, and I will try not to do anything to upset civil calm." Even the radical democrat and film director Mark Zakharov, who originally led the charge for burying Lenin, now says "this is not the best political era to discuss that issue".
Ironically, Lenin himself never wanted any of this and would probably be aghast if he could see his chemical-soaked remains boxed and displayed like the bones of some Russian Orthodox saint. After he died in 1924, his widow Nadezhda Krupskaya is said to have demanded he be buried next to his mother in a St Petersburg cemetery. But she was overruled by the Party, and particularly Stalin, who saw a way to make the deceased Lenin go on working his undeniable magic on the masses. "The Party tried to create a secular religion, with Lenin at the centre," says Tatiana Koloskova, a curator at the Central History Museum in Moscow. "In the Russian Orthodox tradition, an undecayed corpse is proof of sainthood. By preserving Lenin, and placing him in a temple next to the country's seat of political power, the Party sought to usurp the power of the Church."
The discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb by archaeologist Howard Carter the year before Lenin's death, and the ensuing global fascination with ancient Egyptian mummification, may have played a role, she adds. "Bolshevik leaders read widely, and may very well have been inspired by the Tut frenzy."
The Party brought in a special team of undertakers to do the job. They developed an embalming treatment which remains an official state secret to this day. Ilya Zbarsky, whose father Boris headed the Lenin project back in 1924, described the mystery method in his 1998 book In The Shadow of the Mausoleum. Doctors performing the autopsy had removed Lenin's veins - the usual channel for embalming fluid - so scientists were forced to improvise by bathing the corpse in a vat of preservatives. "The body was washed with water, with different concentrations of alcohol, then with elevated solutions of potassium acetate," Zbarsky wrote. "Cuts were made in all parts of the body to enable better penetration and permeability of the solution."
Every 18 months since 1924 - even during the Second World War - Lenin has been tenderly removed from his display case and carried to a special complex buried deep beneath the Kremlin for a two-month soaking in embalming fluid, surgical touch-ups and other rejuvenating treatments. A team of 12 scientists who staff the curiously -named Kremlin Centre for Biological Structures handles the regular rest cures and remains on permanent call for any emergency. The annual cost to Russian taxpayers: pounds 1m. f
The Centre's reputation has suffered in recent years from press allegations that its specialists often peddle their skills to the new rich and criminal underworld to earn a few extra roubles. A 1996 expose in the daily Komsomolskaya Pravda charged that dozens of mafia leaders had been restored "by the Lenin method" after being shot, stabbed or blown up.
As a state-sponsored religion substitute, vast resources were invested in the Lenin cult over seven Soviet decades. It was briefly eclipsed by Stalin-worship during that dictator's heyday, but came back more forcefully than ever after Stalin was blamed for the horrors of the blood purges and Gulag prison camps. Every school, workplace and many homes boasted a "red corner", a little shrine to Lenin. According to historian Lev Kolodny, more than 40 cities and towns around the USSR were named after the great Bolshevik. A staggering 51,553 museums and major monuments were dedicated to him.
"The cult eventually became ubiquitous and acquired elaborate rituals, designed to evoke feelings of awe and cement the link between people and Party which Lenin symbolized," writes historian Nina Tumarkin in her recent study, Lenin Lives. "Lenin's portraits, busts and statues became the icons, his idealized biography was the Holy Writ, his writings were Gospel. All the little red corners were places of worship and the principal cathedral was the Mausoleum."
After Communist reformer Mikhail Gorbachev arrived in the Kremlin in 1985, it seemed only a matter of time before Krupskaya's wish to see her husband buried would be honoured. Russian democrats like Zakharov were elected to the newly formed Soviet parliament, where they argued that the strange mummy on Red Square was an alien and embarrassing symbol for a modern state. When Yeltsin faced down a hardline coup, and the USSR headed for extinction, the Lenin cult seemed likely to follow it. Russians were hugely amused in 1992 when rock impresario Stas Namin, a grandson of the former Communist Party Politburo member Anastas Mikoyan, proposed to send Lenin's body on a "farewell world tour" before giving it a proper funeral. "Michael Jackson does it, Egyptian mummies do it, so why shouldn't Lenin be seen by the world?" Namin said at the time. The tour's theme, he added, could be: "Workers of the world, goodbye."
But the political shocks of the past decade and the growing power of the rebounding Communists have put a stop to all that. On one occasion in 1997 when Yeltsin raised the issue of finally burying Lenin, Communist Party leader Gennady Zuganov threatened to bring tens of thousands of loyalists to stand vigil at the Mausoleum. Yeltsin backed off. Today only a handful of fringe politicians will even discuss it. "While the monster Lenin lies in state on Red Square, Russia will never be able to join the civilized world," says Valeria Novodvorskaya, an outspoken radical democrat. "Compared to Lenin, Osama bin Laden is a Sunday-school pupil."
But as long as President Putin is able to look from his Kremlin office window and see those long, patient queues forming each morning, Lenin will probably continue to rest securely on his pedestal, smiling to himself as Russia shuffles by in supplication. (Copyright 2001 Newspaper Publishing PLC, posted 22 October 2001)
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