Russia: The Loved One

Moscow’s main attraction for the Communist faithful is the Lenin Tomb in Red Square. Every day, thousands of visitors walk silently past the glass and granite crypt, stare reverently at the dimly lit, waxy-looking corpse guarded by rigid soldiers, then file back into the sunlight. Last week Soviet officials announced that the mausoleum would be closed for the next two months. “Normal repairs,” was the explanation. But on what—or whom?

To be sure, the tomb needs refurbishing after years of heavy traffic. But recent visitors have noted that Vladimir Ilyich himself has not been looking his best. “He has his good days and his bad days,” says an old Moscow hand. “I’m convinced they take him out now and then and do something to him. He looks pretty plastic in places.” Indeed, some Kremlinologists believe that the figure in the tomb is not Lenin but a wax facsimile, and to the casual eye the face and hands look very much like old wax into which someone has inserted hair. Then again, there are very few 41-year-old corpses available for comparison. Nonetheless, dummy or mummy, Moscow’s Joyboys will be busy for the next couple of months.