How Lenin became a ‘Soviet Santa Claus’ (PICS)
After the 1917 revolution, the Bolsheviks canceled the celebration of Christmas, but there were still Christmas tree parties for children, where the revolutionary leader himself gifted kids with presents.
Lenin at Christmas tree
There was a whole trend in Soviet culture, called ‘Leniniana’. This is a whole collection of various works of art, the main character of which was Vladimir Lenin: paintings, posters, illustrations, sculptures and monuments (which still stand in many Russian cities).
A series of posters and postcards was also dedicated to the theme: ‘Lenin by the Christmas tree’.
In 1918, the Bolsheviks canceled Christmas as a religious holiday. Following it, they banned the “bourgeois” tradition of decorating Christmas trees (it was returned only as a ‘New Year’ tree under Stalin in 1935).
But kind ‘Grandpa Lenin’ could not leave children without presents. The mythologization of the leader also began in the New Year's theme.
Bolshevik writer Vladimir Bonch-Bruevich described how, in the midst of the Civil War, in the cold and hungry year of 1919, Lenin ordered a holiday for children.
“Get gingerbread, candy, bread, clappers, toys and let's go to school tomorrow evening to visit Nadya [Krupskaya, Lenin's wife – GW2RU]. We'll make a holiday for the kids and here's some money for expenses.”
According to the writer's version, Lenin played with the children, led round dances around the Christmas tree, treated them to candy and drank tea with them. “Vladimir Ilyich was very fond of children and the kids felt it.”
Later, Soviet writer Alexander Kononov wrote the book ‘Christmas Tree in Sokolniki’, which became a fiction version of Bonch-Bruevich's memories. From the illustrations to these works, the theme of ‘Lenin by the Christmas tree’ was launched.
