Goodbye Lenin

Today, in Ulaanbaatar, the last Lenin statue in Mongolia has been removed from its pride of place just off the central square, in front of the ‘five-star’ Ulaanbaatar Hotel. For seventy years, as the first client state of the USSR, Vladimir Illyich Ulyanov was called ‘Teacher Lenin’. In 2012, a mass of people turn up to throw their shoes at the representation as they express their contempt.


The centre-right government is obviously doing this for political reasons and Lenin was responsible for the deaths of millions and ushered in a system that led to millions more dying, but still it is a little sad that Mongolia is shedding a bit more of its distinctiveness and becomes more homogenous. I wonder if they’ll do anything about the statue of Choibalsan, their own Stalin who eliminated 3% of the national population and destroyed much of its cultural heritage, yet stands proud outside the city’s first university. Moreover, the Mongolians have installed in front of their parliament building three statues of Chinggis (Genghis) Khaan, Ogedei Khaan and Khubilai Khaan, who unleashed devastation upon much of Asia and Russia as a Pax Mongolica was put in place in the 13th century. Nationalism has had a resurgence since communism – which suppressed it – was ditched in 1990. Maybe Lenin got the boot (literally) because he was not Mongolian.

Being pragmatic, the government is not melting it down (another break with the Communists, who had no qualms about melting down the ancient craftsmanship of the ‘feudal’ past), rather it is auctioning it away to the highest bidder. The offer starts at 400,000 tugrugs – roughly £200. Any takers?