State attempts to seize Lenin statue, but fails because it is on private property

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This week a group of Republicans has introduced House Bill 2120. It seeks to remove the bronze monument and replace it with another artwork. The measure would set up a statewide committee to determine the new artwork, which would then be subject to a series of public hearings, at least two of would be held east of the Cascade mountains.

The bill cites Lenin’s role in the formation of the Soviet Union, and atrocities committed under the auspices of that government, including the “Red Terror of 1917-1922” and the deportation and genocide of Crimean Chechens and Tatars. Sponsors conclude that Vladimir Lenin “does not meet the standards of being one of our 15 state’s top honorees with a statue display in Seattle.”

The bill caught many in Fremont by surprise. Longtime Fremont businesswoman Suzie Burke, the neighborhood’s largest industrial land owner, was quick to point out that not one of the bill’s sponsors lives in the Seattle area.

“Because if there had been someone from here, I would have called them up and said ‘Why don’t you come down and talk about it?’”

Burke points out that the bronze sculpture is privately owned, and sits on private property. The sculpture was created in 1988 in the former Czechoslovakia; in 1993 a Seattle artist discovered it in a scrap yard and shipped it home. The artwork has been for sale since then, although the owners have declined purchase offers.

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