March 31st 2024
Lenin
“He is not the czar of Russia, he is only a policeman who made a career in the middle of chaos and moved over by leading a band of gangsters”, asserted the Briton with such a vehemence to upset the others. “You should keep full control of your emotions, if you want to grasp the power”, said Lenin placidly, as if he were only thinking loudly. “Can we do something against him? I mean Putin, not our fellow Art Dealer”, asked the former business consultant coming back to the point. “Are you so concerned about Russia? I lived through so many horrors, murders and plots that I can hardly estimate whether a political leader has gone too far. My conscience is blind, powerless, kept in chains by my memories, in the remotest and least accessible part of my brain. Or of my heart. Provided that it had not been damaged by the Soviet surgeons one hundred years ago”, Lenin made a point. He needed to rely on others’ feelings to give his life a meaning once again, at least a short term purpose. “Assassinations of political leaders are out of the question. It is a practice that has been constantly avoided, both by my government and the American one. We let dethroned leader to by lynched by the mob. It is quite practical to avoid them to write their memoirs and publish some embarrassing information, but, as I said, the Western Powers exclude assassination and I think we must also respect that point”, proclaimed the Briton. This time he was calm, but his eyes were looking deep into Lenin's. “Do you want to hypnotize me, or are you trying to steal a piece of my magical mind?”,asked the Father of the Revolution to the Art Dealer, without hiding a smile. “That’s a good point”, commented cheerfully the young woman, “Even if we managed to kill Putin, some of his gangsters will take his place. Their mafia will not collapse, but we become more savage, perhaps even stronger in the short term even stronger. We should avoid any repercussions on the population. They do not deserve further cruelty, just freedom, if possible. I would be happy with a relaxation of the current restrictions”. The business consultant revealed some of that idealism proper of the modern generations, under every circumstance and in any historical period. The activism of the XXI century youth was not less inconsiderate than the extremism of the previous times. Nor less dangerous. “I often defeated my enemy by undermining his credibility. By the way I also often asked my minions to get physically rid of them, just in case. However I am far too cruel and cynical to constitute an example for the average man. Or woman, in your case. I think that the arts of my age were far superior to those of the current times. You have totally lost the taste for good literature, doped by those stupid and concise messages you write everywhere. Or advertisements, or social networks. I have sometimes seen the slides of your presentations”, Lenin looked in the direction of the former business consultant”, I have never seen such superficial thoughts getting the reputation of the output of a brilliant mind. You consultants are such jokers”, concluded the communist leader with a wide and loud laugh. He enjoyed what he said and perhaps he was even kidnapped by a mix of rage and pleasure for the intellectual degeneration of the last decades. “Your ideology began it all. They were your peers who undermined at first the spiritual force of the West, systematically undervalued the worth of XIX century literature, of Latin and Greek classics”, the Briton replied to Lenin even more convinced of what he was saying. He also felt himself free from the charisma that the Russian born leader exercised on his mind at the beginning of their encounter. “Sorry, I did not want to offend or be arrogant. The strange circumstance of our encounter has altered my imagination, or perhaps I cannot properly express myself”, added the Briton. “Don’t worry. It is my presence that, in good or bad, altered your mind. Be assumed that what you said is coherent with logic and I cannot disagree. It is my brain that, more than one hundred years ago, decided to follow a dark path. I had to attend my brother’s execution. Just try to figure out what it meant to me”, Lenin tried to calm down his new companion. Perhaps he liked him as much as the former business consultant. “Have you got any ideas?”; asked the young lady, exhausted of the confrontation among the two men “I don’t have a clue”, said the father of the Revolution, “but I think that this young man could inspire us”, and suddenly looked over in the direction of the art dealer “I also witnessed to violence in my youth. I grew up in Ulster, during the troubles and my good old man was with the Red Hand. I don’t want to annoy you with stories from the four countries, but this lady perhaps pronounced the magic world. What if you, your body, your face, would suddenly appear in front of Putin and force him to confront you. I cannot imagine the outcomes. There is also the risk that your old nature would prevail and the both of you would become accomplices. But there is still a chance”, said th eBriton. “You are right my boy. Some evil genius still persecutes me, but I am not totally a fool. While Putin, despite his apparent success, is not such a genius. Your idea could work. Let’s sketch a plan”, commented, with the most serious tone, the father of the Revolution.
