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Lenin statue, Fremont District, Seattle

This statue, commissioned in Czechoslovakia in 1988, was about to be scrapped, when Lewis E. Carpenter, a resident of Issaquah, Washington, who was teaching English in Czechoslovakia, arranged to purchase it and bring it to Seattle. The statue has been displayed in the Fremont district since the mid-1990s, though the Carpenter estate is seeking to sell the statue.

 

While most Lenin statues show him as an educator or a philosopher, this one shows him more as a warrior.

 

In this quirky countercultural neighborhood, having a Marxist statue is a very perverse statement of sorts, and at times, some residents add contrasting decorations to the statue, such as Christmas lighting.

 

I love the sight of this statue. I am a sucker for political propaganda art regardless of ideology, and I do happen to think the Communists have always had the most memorable propaganda art.

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Uploaded on September 19, 2012
Taken on July 27, 2012