SOURCE: "Religion, Bolshevism, and the Origins of the Lenin Cult," in The Russian Review, Vol. 40, No. 1, January, 1981, pp. 35-46.

In the following essay, Tumarkin examines the cult of Lenin that sprang up in Russia after the leader's death.

In 1925, one year after Lenin's death, a story, called "Clever Lenin," circulated among the peasants of the Viatka countryside. One day, it begins, Lenin was leafing through books and newspapers and in every one found writings about himself. "Why should we fear the Entente and America when we have Vladimir Il'ich, who goes by the name of Lenin?" Lenin worried about how his country would fare without him, so he sent for the finest Soviet doctor and explained that he wanted to appear to die but remain alive. "We will put you not in a grave," replied the doctor, "but in a spacious room, and we will cover you with...