(A ‘found poem’ from the journal of Grigory Zinoviev, August 1917; found (by me) in Michael Pearson, The Closed Train. See below for context.)
The Beating of Ilyich’s Heart
A cool night marked with stars.
The smell of the cut hay.
Smoke from a small fire
Where venison simmered in a small pot.
We go to bed in a little shack. It is cold.
We cover ourselves with an old blanket
That Emelyanov found. It is narrow,
And each of us tries to leave
The larger part of it to the other.
Ilyich says he has a fufaika*
And does not need the blanket.
We are sleeping closely,
Pressed against each other.
Lying there in absolute silence,
I can hear the beating of Ilyich’s heart.
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*A warm coat similar to an anorak.
Context: In August 1917, Vladimir Ilyich Ulanov, aka “Lenin,” was in hiding near the Russo-Finnish border. A warrant for his arrest had been issued by Russia’s post-revolution provisional government, headed at that point by Alexander Kerensky. Many of Lenin’s fellow Bolsheviks in St. Petersburg, including Leon Trotsky, had been arrested and jailed. Kerensky's government had made public documentation showing that Lenin’s return to Russia in April 1917 had been facilitated by the German government, and that Germany was providing financial assistance to the Bolsheviks. Lenin, already facing opposition within his own party, had chosen to flee rather than to risk a public trial. Grigory Zinoviev, a loyal Bolshevik colleague, accompanied Lenin in the dangerous—but ultimately successful—trek to Finland.
Less than three months after Zinoviev’s journal entry, Ilyich returned to Petersburg and orchestrated (with Trotsky’s help) the overthrow of Russia’s provisional government. The Bolshevik coup created what became the USSR. Lenin died in 1924; Zinoviev was executed by Stalin in 1936, as were numerous other 'old Bolsheviks'.
Lenin in disguise (Finland 1917)
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