| MOSCOW, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- A Russian liberal party
and human rights activists
staged a rally Monday in central Moscow to block the return of
a statue of
Soviet-era secret police chief Felix Dzerzhinsky to its site in
front of the
FSB security service headquarters.
The Union of Rightist Forces, known by its Russian initials of
SPS, began
collecting signatures to block the return of the monument, which
had been
removed from Lubyanka Square in August 1991 after Communist rule
crumbled.
Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov sparked the debate on the future of
the statue last
week, insisting the 14-ton bronze monument was an outstanding
work of art
that deserved to regain its prominent place in the heart of Moscow.
Luzhkov said the dismantling of the monument a decade ago was
motivated
"exclusively by the wave of protest against the existing
(Soviet) system, but
not against the monument itself."
However, as debate raged among the intelligentsia, politicians
representing
liberal parties such as Yabloko and the SPS said they were categorically
opposed to the return of "Iron Felix," as the founder
of what became the KGB
is known.
"Dzerzhinsky was a butcher who killed millions of Russians,"
SPS leader Boris
Nemtsov told a crowd of supporters gathered in front of the headquarters
of
the FSB, formerly the KGB.
Nemtsov said Dzerzhinsky's name alone was a constant reminder
of the
atrocities committed by the Soviet regime.
"It is not a question of whether this monument is good or
bad. It is a symbol
of a totalitarian era that ended not so long ago," Nemtsov
said.
"Restoring such symbols may bring back totalitarianism,
we could see
censorship and the violation of democratic freedoms," he
said.
Liberal forces have been alarmed by the initiative, laden as
it is with
symbolism and that follows the return of the Soviet anthem as
Russia's
national anthem earlier this year.
Grigory Yavlinsky, the leader of the Yabloko party, said a return
of
Dzerzhinsky's statue to its central place on Lubyanka Square was
"intolerable" because of its symbolic nature.
Vladimir Lukin, a leading member of Yabloko and deputy speaker
of the State
Duma, the lower house of parliament, also condemned the initiative.
"This man (Dzerzhinsky) was directly conducting the 'red
terror,' mass
terror, he organized collective murders," Lukin said, adding,
"He is one of
the biggest terrorists of the 20th century."
Memorial, a human rights group created to defend the rights of
millions of
victims of Stalinist camps and their relatives, said it would
fight the
return of Dzerzhinsky's statue as it symbolized a regime that
created the
Gulag, a system of forced labor camps where millions of political
prisoners
perished during Joseph Stalin's rule.
Lyudmila Alexeyeva, the head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, another
human
rights organization, said the mere suggestion that the symbol
of Red Terror
should be restored was extremely worrying.
Among those to support the return of Iron Felix were the leaders
of
Communist, nationalist and agrarian parties.
Luzhkov, who had expected a heated debate over the future of
the statue,
infuriated and astonished many as he had earlier supported the
removal of the
statue and called for a new monument to replace it.
In 1998, Luzhkov rejected a motion by Communists to restore the
statue, but
he was a changed man over the weekend, championing the benefits
of restoring
the "beautiful architectural and artistic composition which
was a dominant
feature of the square."
Luzhkov said the statue was so fine it was "flawless"
and "beyond reproach."
The mayor also tried to whitewash Dzerzhinsky by presenting him
as a
progressive humanitarian who cared for homeless children and fought
crime.
"NKVD, KGB -- that was after Dzerzhinsky. If we put on the
scales all the
things this man had done, the good will prevail," Luzhkov
said, arguing that
Dzerzhinsky was associated above all with solving social problems
such as
vagrancy, restoring Soviet railways and with the progress of Soviet
economy.
"I assume, indeed, that this monument, created by outstanding
sculptor
(Yevgeny) Vuchetich, tells a story of the great (Russian) nation's
history,"
the Moscow mayor said.
In Russian minds, Dzerzhinsky is still most often associated
with the
brutalities of the Bolshevik regime and the omnipotence of its
secret
services, which he came to epitomize from the early days of Communist
rule.
Dzerzhinsky was the chairman of the notorious Cheka, the first
Soviet secret
police organization, the precursor of the NVKD and later KGB.
A Pole by
nationality, Dzerzhinsky also became known for his fanaticism
in serving the
Soviet regime and ruthless use of terror against all dissenters.
After
leaving the secret service, he held other important posts in the
Soviet
government.
Over the years, the monument to Dzerzhinsky, standing in front
of the KGB
building in Lubyanka Square, came to signify the iron fist of
the
authoritarian regime that ruled the Soviet empire for more than
seven decades.
That explains why it was among the first monuments to Soviet
leaders targeted
by thousands of Muscovites who spilled onto the city streets in
August of
1991 to protest a hard-line coup that aimed to depose reformist
President
Mikhail Gorbachev.
As the coup failed, crowds rushed to Lubyanka to topple the statue.
They
screamed with joy and cheered in unison as a crane dismantled
it.
Since then, the monument has stood in the backyard of Moscow's
Central House
of Artists, along with other statues of Communist leaders that
were toppled
by angry crowds.
Several leading liberals have suggested that Luzhkov may have
decided to push
ahead with the statue's restoration for political benefits such
a move may
hold. It is well known that President Vladimir Putin, a former
KGB officer,
views Dzerzhinsky as a great historical figure and a mentor, and
his aides
may have hinted to the mayor that it would be nice to have the
statue back in
its prime position in front of the secret service's headquarters.
See also:
YABLOKO and the
Grim Symbols of the Soviet Era |
