A larger-than-life bust of Lenin sits in a tucked-away park in the southeastern city of Kotka — but since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the monument is suddenly at the centre of national debate.
The sculpture was received as a gift in 1979 from Kotka's Estonian twin city Tallinn, which was at the time part of the Soviet Union. Since then, the statue has been the target of vandals and protesters.
At the onset of the Winter War in 1939, Kotka was one of the first areas bombed by the Soviet Union. The city's Lenin bust sits near a building where civillians were bombed by Soviet planes. The municipality has already received requests to remove the statue and put it into a regional museum, rather than destroying it outright.
Kotka sociology professor Juhani Pekkola has wanted the Lenin statue removed from the city centre for some time.
"The bombing of civilians is a war crime. A monument like this is in the wrong place. Instead of the aggressor, we should remember the people from Kotka that died in the bombing, the heroes of the war, the children of the war, and the war orphans," Pekkola told Yle.
Two-thirds of respondents in an online survey by local newspaper Kymen Sanomat said they would like to remove the Lenin statue from the park.
Finland has a complicated history with the founder of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin. Lenin spent time in Finland during the turn of the century and was the Soviet leader who signed the documents recognising Finland's independence in 1917.
That history was prominent during the Cold War, when Moscow had a strong influence over Finnish society and Lenin was promoted as a friend of Finland despite his role in Russia's wars and the Red Terror around the foundation of the Soviet Union.
In 1946 the first Lenin Museum outside the Soviet Union was opened in Tampere, where it is still operates today. Besides Lenin busts, the Soviets also gifted other statues in communities across the country as a means of spreading influence within Finland.
However, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Finland's Lenin statues have come under greater scrutiny. Critics have argued that the sculptures insult those who died at the hands of the Soviet Union, while proponents have argued the pieces are tied into the history of Finland itself and should be considered works of art.
In mid-April, Turku decided to remove its own Lenin statue from the downtown due to the controversy surrounding it. Turku received it as a gift in 1977 from the city then bearing the name of the revolutionary, Leningrad — or, modern-day St Petersburg.
Preserving history
Russian and propaganda researcher Reeta Kangas, from the University of Turku, has considered these statues to be historical monuments. As an art historian, she would like to save monuments that may occupy an uncomfortable place in the public conscience. Kangas said she thinks the monument can take on a new meaning through open discussion.
"You can talk about things and not just cart statues off to one of the art museum's warehouses to collect dust. It is difficult to see the monument actually glorifying Lenin anymore, but it has remained a document of the past," Kangas explained.
Kangas questioned the rationale behind Turku's decision to remove the city's Lenin statue. In her view there is a political reason behind it — Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"I don't understand the logic. After all, there is a statue of Alexander I in Turku, and no one responded to that statue, even though it symbolises the same great power that Putin has," Kangas pointed out.
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Lenin Museum weighs in
The director of Tampere's Lenin Museum, Kalle Kallio, also sees no connection between Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the Lenin statues. The Lenin Museum is the only surviving museum dedicated to the revolutionary outside Russia and is in a former workers' hall where Vladimir Lenin and eventual longtime Soviet leader Josef Stalin first met in 1905.
Kallio agreed with Kangas, citing an inconsistency in the removal of statues
"Helsinki's Senate Square has a statue of Czar Alexander II. In our history, he is the 'good czar' who allowed the use of the Finnish language and during which time the markka [Finland's then-currency] came. If we do not accept Lenin, then why do we accept Alexander II?" Kallio asked.
Statue's future?
The Kotka Municipal Council is still deliberating over what to do with the statue.
Some council members are opposed to its removal.
Councillor Leena Griinari (Green) said she would like to see the statue of Lenin remain at its current location but considered an explanatory sign necessary. Griinari said she sees the statue as a work of art by sculptor Matti Varik, the Estonian artist that was commissioned to create it in 1979.
"Here is the irony of the artist that Lenin only has one hand, and it isn't his left. One can wonder whether it is a certain kind of subtle statement or not," Griinari pondered.
In 1995, a sculpture of Lenin's missing arm was unveiled near the statue as part of an art exhibition.
"I think this whole thing is full of symbolism. Of course, it is worth preserving it on the basis of art history, but also on historical grounds," explained Griinari.
The removal of the statue raises the question of forgetting or changing history. Kallio from the Lenin Museum treats these statues as merely statues, and he does not think that the perception of the past is altered whether a statue is indoors or outdoors.
He referred to the statue controversy in the United States, where there has been a desire to remove monuments that glorify the legacy of the Confederacy. Supporters of segregation built the majority of these statues in the United States as a response to the civil rights movement throughout the 1900s.
"If the people of Kotka decide that Lenin's place is no longer outside, then it would be possible to remove the statue. But you have to be consistent. There may be other things that could no longer be on display anymore if we painted these issues so broadly," reminded Kallio.