Yura's ship has sailed
During the Great Purges, Stalin’s henchmen tried to eliminate every trace of his victims. The achievements, writings, and images of many Old Bolsheviks were removed from the archives and erased from history books. Even towering figures like Bukharin and Kamenev disappeared from the Party’s official narrative, leaving behind only redacted documents and airbrushed photos.
Yuri Luzhkov may have avoided execution in the basement of Lubyanka, but the Kremlin is still initiating a campaign to reduce his legacy. Specifically, it announced that it wanted to get rid of a kitschy, 340-foot-high statue of Peter the Great that stands in the middle of the Moscow River. This controversial monument—which is dedicated to a Tsar who loathed Moscow so much that he founded a new capital—was designed by Luzhkov’s favorite architect, Zurab Tsereteli, and came to symbolize the former mayor’s impact on the city. Only criminal charges for corruption could serve as a greater repudiation of his eighteen years in office.
Another irony of mayor’s dismissal is the change it has brought about in his behavior. Although Mr. Luzhkov ruled Moscow like a personal fiefdom and vocally supported Putin’s power vertical, he recently announced that Russia needed more democracy and greater respect for the rule of law. He also published several letters to the public in Novaya Gazeta—one of the few opposition newspapers left in the country. Like other ousted figures before him, ‘Citizen’ Luzhkov seems to have had a Pauline conversion to the merits of a liberal system that he once scorned. Now if only he could overturn the ban on new parties or independent candidates for office…
Yuri Luzhkov may have avoided execution in the basement of Lubyanka, but the Kremlin is still initiating a campaign to reduce his legacy. Specifically, it announced that it wanted to get rid of a kitschy, 340-foot-high statue of Peter the Great that stands in the middle of the Moscow River. This controversial monument—which is dedicated to a Tsar who loathed Moscow so much that he founded a new capital—was designed by Luzhkov’s favorite architect, Zurab Tsereteli, and came to symbolize the former mayor’s impact on the city. Only criminal charges for corruption could serve as a greater repudiation of his eighteen years in office.
Another irony of mayor’s dismissal is the change it has brought about in his behavior. Although Mr. Luzhkov ruled Moscow like a personal fiefdom and vocally supported Putin’s power vertical, he recently announced that Russia needed more democracy and greater respect for the rule of law. He also published several letters to the public in Novaya Gazeta—one of the few opposition newspapers left in the country. Like other ousted figures before him, ‘Citizen’ Luzhkov seems to have had a Pauline conversion to the merits of a liberal system that he once scorned. Now if only he could overturn the ban on new parties or independent candidates for office…
