Russia, where optimism goes to die.
Fearless Leader Hearts Fearless Leader
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Love that man! Seriously, Stalin had the Metro built, so it’s bizarrely appropriate for this monument to be erected.
Weeeelllll…. it’d be tough to select any Russian leaders or notable figures. People might know of Peter, the Great, yet he was…a czar. Probably not going to choose Nicholas II, the Bolsheviks deposed and murdered him. Maybe a notable World War II general? Some of those guys actually did (try to) do decently by their troops, if not the overall people. Selecting an orthodox bishop might be almost as dicey as a communist general secretary.
Alexander II, Piotr Stolypin, and Nikita Khruschev would be more appropriate. You don’t have to select political bosses. Plenty of cultural figures from which to choose.
Actually, Moscow has an equestrian monument to the last Tsar, Nicholas II. It was dedicated back in 2014 as part of a larger memorial to the heroes of World War I and stands in front of the Defense Ministry building on the Frunze Embankment. There are actually many monuments to the last Tsar and his family throughout Russia. The Moscow monument isn’t even the only equestrian monument to Nicholas II: Nizhnii Novgorod recently erected one also. And of course the Orthodox Church built an enormous church complex “On the Blood”, atop the site of the Imperial Family’s murder.