In notes earlier today, I mentioned Lenin. In Ukraine, Russian forces have installed a statue of Lenin — presumably to tell the Ukrainians what’s what. There’s a new sheriff back in town, and his name is V. I. Lenin. Reappointed by V. V. Putin or something.
This morning, I spoke with Inna Sovsun, a member of the Ukrainian parliament. The interview will be published soon. She was born in 1984 — the Orwell year, as some of us can’t help thinking of it. Therefore, she was born in the Soviet Union, in Kharkiv. She gave me a memory from kindergarten.
The kids were playing a game. There were lines on the floor and you could not step on them. You had to avoid them. You had to walk around them. Otherwise, you didn’t love Lenin.
Well, little Inna stepped on the lines all day — deliberately. She didn’t love Lenin. Even then.
This prompted a phone call from the teacher to Inna’s mother. The teacher informed the mother that she, the mother, was doing a poor job with her daughter’s political education.
Today, Ukrainians are in no mood — no mood at all — to be good boys and girls and honor Lenin, or Putin. They are stepping on lines, as much as they can. They are doing their best not to be reabsorbed into the old empire.
The Ukrainian military has been astonishing, as have the people at large. The citizenry. In fact, the performance of the military, and the resolve and spirit of the people, are inseparably connected.
After our interview, Ms. Sovsun and I talked a bit further, including about foreign support of Ukraine. She mentioned an organization: Come Back Alive. This is an “old” organization, in that it was established in 2014, when Putin’s Russia first invaded. Its aim is to support the armed forces with laptops and other such equipment. The “supplementary” things they need to stay alive and keep going. The website explains.
Ms. Sovsun told me something like this: “People would rather give to humanitarian organizations, or organizations that are more clearly and classically humanitarian. But frankly, there is no greater humanitarian cause than to support the military, which is doing its utmost to fend off the invasion and keep us free.”
It’s hard to argue with her, or so I find.