The eight-meter statue of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was unveiled final Saturday in his backyard in Varberg, Sweden by multi-millionaire and staunch communist Lasse Diding (71). Nevertheless, it isn’t the primary time that he has introduced a stir to the resort on the west coast of Sweden.
For instance, he based a Lenin spa in considered one of his motels and presents left-wing writers a inventive keep in his Leninland for a symbolic payment. Since 2009, his basis has additionally been awarding the Lenin Prize yearly to authors whose work adheres to the “socially important and rebellious left-wing custom”.
In Varberg, he additionally tried in useless to purchase the rights to rename the native soccer stadium Påskbergsvallen after Lenin. Controversial businessman for the newspaper The night paper expressed satisfaction that the newly put in statue might be seen from town’s greatest vacationer attraction, a medieval fortress perched on a rock above the ocean. “I need everybody to get one thing out of it.”
„Stunning ornament”
The truth that the media and specialists consistently remind him that Lenin was the mastermind of the Crimson Terror and is chargeable for thousands and thousands of human lives, the previous trainer of historical past and Swedish accepts calmly. “Dictator? That was Spartacus too.” In an interview for Swedish Radio he acknowledged that Lenin was a controversial determine, however he stated that a lot dangerous occurred after his loss of life.
He argues that it should not be forgotten that Lenin “gave freedom to smaller peoples just like the Finns and Ukrainians and turned towards Russian imperialism”, during which, as Diding acknowledged, he can be Putin’s best opponent at this time. The multi-millionaire and communist in a single particular person believes that Lenin has been misunderstood and misinterpreted.
“It is time for folks to comprehend its magnitude,” he informed Aftonbladet. He had large tents erected in his backyard the place folks can research the revolutionary’s legacy. Neighbors say they haven’t any drawback with the monument seen from far and vast. In line with Diding, they do not precisely love Lenin, however on the identical time, the statue doesn’t offend them. He referred to as it a “stunning ornament” himself.
Lenin Baths
In 2007, as a hotelier, he managed to win the title of Entrepreneur of the 12 months in Varberg. Within the basement of the 18th-century Lodge Gästis, he constructed a reproduction of Lenin’s alleged favourite baths in St. Petersburg. In line with the resort’s web site, two-hundred-year-old mirrors and Artwork Nouveau chandeliers mingle right here with sculptures, artifacts and busts of Lenin.
There’s a lamp from the movie Gorky Park on the staircase. Lasse Diding visited the spa the place his idol allegedly used to go throughout a visit to Leningrad in 1983. Within the second Havanna resort with a five-pointed star in its emblem, he persistently materialized the Cuban theme. For a change, the spa right here bears the identify of the American author Ernest Hemingway.
In January 2023, the Diding Basis opened Leninland, “a cultural free zone for left-leaning writers and journalists”. For a interval of two to 4 weeks, authors can work in a “stimulating setting” – at “Karl Marx’s dacha” or in “Krupská’s bed room” in Villa Ulyanov. Students have a major low cost on entrance to the Lenin and Hemingway baths.
