Lenin Is a Lonely Man as Capitalism Metastasizes in Russia

Lenin statue in St. Petersburg (located in front of the House of the Soviets), formerly Leningrad. His name has been defaced from the pedestal. (Photo: haikus)

Think of St. Petersburg as a cross between Rome and Venice (central St. Petersburg has several long canals), with the broad majestic Neva River dividing sections of the city. Think of it as the gilded capital of the czars and the birthplace of the Bolshevik revolution. Think of it as stunning and romantic.

Now, you can also think of it as a city overrun with capitalism. It’s come down to this. Is Lenin pointing the way, in St. Petersburg, to a…

Burger King? (Photo: Terry Soto)

Starbucks? (Photo: Terry Soto)

….or maybe the leader of the Bolshevik revolution is now employed as a tour guide and is telling Russian bikers how to get to the rallying point for “Harley Days” in St. Petersburg, which will take place this August in the Palace Square just behind the world-famed Hermitage Museum?

Harley Days are coming to St. Petersburg in August. (Photo: Terry Soto) 

On May 1, which is known as International Workers’ Day in the former Soviet Union and still celebrated by many in the working class around the world, my wife and I arrived in St. Petersburg (formerly known as Leningrad until the dissolution of the USSR, when it reverted to its original name).

Upon exiting customs in the stunning new modern St. Petersburg Pulkovo International Airport terminal, we thought that we han mistakenly taken the wrong plane and landed in a US airport. After leaving customs, the first thing I saw was a large Starbucks on my right, followed by a McDonald’s. Then I strolled over to get a bottle of juice from a Hudson News store, also located within the sleek terminal waiting area.

In fact, while waiting for our luggage, illuminated rotating posters advertised a French oil

Advertisement for French fossil fuel corporation working in partnership with Russia. Posters rotate in luggage area of St. Petersburg’s international airport. (Photo: Terry Soto)

company, TOTAL, that the Putin government has been working with in Siberia. The posters – – like Shell or BP – promised a bright clean energy future, and the entire lugguage conveyor belt was branded with advertisements for TOTAL.

We boarded a public bus that took us to the first metro stop into St. Petersburg, since the central city was some distance from the airport. As the bus made its way down a wide boulevard, condos (built by investors for private unit purchases) loomed on the horizon. Meanwhile, there were car dealer showrooms – the likes of Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Cadillac, Land Rover and more – lining the street. (On another day, I passed a Rolls Royce dealership not far from central St. Petersburg). To add to the capitalistic blight, fast-food franchises such as Kentucky Fried Chicken dotted the periphery of the main road into the city.

When we exited the Nevsky Prospekt Metro station in the bustling center of St. Petersburg, the ghosts of May 1 celebrations no longer lingered in this now-capitalistic city.

The breathtaking vintage Tsarist-era central district of St. Petersburg is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so most of the inner-circle buildings and facades south of the Neva River are preserved, but that doesn’t prevent capitalistic infill. One afternoon, while my wife and I were walking down Nevsky Prospekt – the famed main thoroughfare of the Tsarist capital established by Peter the Great – we passed a person in a bear costume passing out Burger King flags that had discounted coupons on them. For those Russians and tourists who want to shop until they drop, one can find modern US-style malls behind the grandeur of some of the restored St. Petersburg building exteriors. Fancy restaurants, cafes, hotels and inns are bouncing up like crocuses in spring.

I sat in a French-style cafe next to a young Russian woman wearing Ray Ban sunglasses and New Balance running shoes. Many of the people of St. Petersburg have adapted to a consumer society where the free market reigns.

But what of the lower-wage workers and pensioners left behind by rising consumer prices, a growing lack of subsidized housing and increasingly expensive food? They are, as in the United States, left to fend for themselves. Although some Soviet-era subsidies still exist, they are not enough, given the increasing costs of goods and housing, and they are subject to austerity agendas in the Russian Federation Duma. Those who lack the “right” family networks or education don’t fare well in the new Russian capitalist economy.

In March of this year, BuzzFlash published a commentary on the implications of a Fran Lebowitz quotation: “”In the Soviet Union, capitalism triumphed over communism. In this country [the United States], capitalism triumphed over democracy.”

It should be noted that St. Petersburg doesn’t hold a candle to Moscow in the growth of the oligarchs in Russia. In fact, Moscow regularly competes with Western cities for having the most oligarchs in the world. The Western press counts Vladimir Putin among them, with many US and European outlets asserting that Putin may be the richest person in the world. (NOTE: This claim has never been verified, despite the fact the West still has practically all the cards when it comes to controlling and influencing international banking, including Swiss banks, and could easily investigate the matter and provide evidence. The assertion, therefore must be treated gingerly, as probably one more calumny in the overall information war against Putin, and Russia, itself. See also the Rumors Wiki page on this topic.—Ed.)

In St. Petersburg, an area that used to build Soviet ships, a dilapidated but rustically charming island called New Holland is being redeveloped for commercial and recreational purposes by a New York firm, which signed a contract with the city.

As occasional BuzzFlash columnist Steve Jonas recently noted, the US and Europe do not appear satisfied that capitalism has conquered Russia, even though this was the primary goal (along with avoiding a nuclear holocaust) during the Cold War years. Shouldn’t the US and the European Union be putting on party hats and celebrating the downfall of Bolshevism and rise of the Chicago School of free markets in Russia?

The answer, as Jonas points out, is no. The US and EU are now battling Russia over markets for expanding capitalism. Will they be US/EU markets or Russian markets to exploit? That is a big part of the conflict over Ukraine: The US and EU want Western agriculture companies to own the rich farm lands there. They also want the right to frack away Ukraine’s buried gas.

Jonas calls this the clash of capitalisms and wrote awhile back:

I thought that the objective for the whole venture [to push the Ukraine into the EU and NATO] from the US point of view was to get the oligarchs to overthrow the Russian nationalist Vladimir Putin and install a leadership that, with their cooperation, would open up all of Russia, along with its immense energy reserves, to US-led Western imperialism, with the immature Russian robber-baron capitalism gradually being taken over. In other words, two capitalist ruling classes are engaged in an immense battle, in a very small space, using very small proxy militaries, for a very large prize.

Ralph Lauren fashion magazine in Russian found among reading material in St. Petersburg cafe. (Photo: Terry Soto)

Jonas also noted that:

The United States is in the declining phase of capitalist empire [in which it can’t expand without capturing new markets]. It can survive for a bit longer (in historical terms) only by gobbling up more resources and having access to more low-paid workers in other countries for the manufacturing of its products (see the Trans-Pacific Partnership). Russian robber-baron capitalism is clearly on the upswing. Presently it has its huge energy reserves.

Most of Ukraine has long been within the sphere of Russian influence, and it has capitalist interests that have loomed large in the current conflict, including Ukraine’s dependence on Russia’s mega-natural gas company, Gazprom.

It appears clear that the US and EU are provoking Russia by attempting to co-opt a country that has been in its sphere of influence for centuries. As Jonas correctly observes, an emerging capitalistic nation – which possesses vast resources – is challenging the US’s capitalistic empire which, along with the EU, is attempting to co-opt Russia’s longstanding market territory.

A few months ago, I was having a conversation with someone who is actively involved with a Marxist labor party. She contended that none of the governments involved in the Ukraine conflict is standing up for workers. The conflict is being fought primarily over market territory.

Poster advertising Heinz Ketchup on a sidewalk across from the St. Petersburg Neva River embankment. (Photo: Terry Soto)

The Western neoliberal capitalists want it all. They’re not satisfied that Russia has fully adopted capitalism, although admittedly in its own style. Do we have to engage in provocations over the Ukraine, in what is no longer a battle of ideologies but rather a battle over who controls large target markets?

This brings us back to the metastasizing of capitalism in St. Petersburg. With the downfall of the Bolshevik Revolution, will Lenin be retreating back to Finland Station (see below) from which he launched the revolution when he returned to Russia from exile in 1917? Is a splash of Heinz Ketchup on a Whopper Burger the ultimate insulting triumph of capitalism over what was to have been the creation of a workers’ utopia?

Finland Station in St. Petersburg. In April of 1917, Lenin returned from exile here and exhorted a crowd to overthrow the provisional Kerensky government through an armed revolt. The station was rebuilt under the USSR in 1960. (Photo: Terry Soto)

Will Lenin be fleeing the new oligarchs in a Ralph Lauren suit and a pair of Nike running shoes, to hasten his escape from rule by plutocracy?

Will the remaining statues and sculptures of Lenin in St. Petersburg soon be loaded on an express train to Helsinki?

Afternote: The role of other factors in the Ukraine crisis are not to be diminished. Russia [for contextual reasons made more urgent in the current era] has long sought sole control over the headquarters for their Black Sea naval fleet in Sevastopol, Crimea. Identification with Russia has also played a role in the national-identity politics that are unfolding, particularly in eastern Ukraine. However, with its large population of 50 million people, its abundant agricutural land and its other natural resources, the belligerent US/EU stand-off with Russia is most importantly about whose sphere of capitalism will claim Ukraine as a captured market.