Death for others, for enemies of the state or—what was the same thing—those who were opposed to him, was something that Lenin could view with philosophical detachment. In fact he considered it a salutary visitation. It encouraged the quick. Yet that the shadow must one day touch his person was a thought he preferred to bury in the dark absolutism of his mind. Those who knew him best avoided mentioning death in his presence. But whether it was the stress of the Revolution and its aftermath or merely the cycle of bodily growth and decay, the fact is that Lenin by the time he was fifty was a rapidly aging man.
Lenin died on January 21, 1924, amidst the white and gold decor of the Morozov Palace, 23 miles from Moscow. In accordance with Russian custom his body was laid out on a table. Whether or not any cosmetics had yet been applied to his face, those who saw him remarked how vigorous he appeared. Grigory Zinoviev, one of the members of the Politburo summoned there (he would be shot by Stalin tweleve years later), recorded the moment in prose intended for the ages:
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