worth the wait

Image: (Credit: National Archives, USA) Outside the Lenin mausoleum in Red Square, long lines of the faithful wait their turn to file past Lenin's mummy. Stalin cleverly concluded it would be useful to his consolidation of power to have Lenin's body preserved and enshrined to serve as a reminder to the people of the sanctity of the Party. The Lenin mausoleum is still open today but since the fall of communism there is much discussion about whether to dismantle it and bury Lenin's corpse in a less conspicuous tomb. (Credit: National Archives, USA) Sound: coming soon

(c) 1999 John Borneman & Linda Fisher, All Rights Reserved