My Grandfather (George Short) attended the Lenin School in Moscow in 1929. On graduating he was given a small bust of Lenin which he was told was made from the Gunmetal of the Battleship Aurora which fired the first shots of the October 1917 Russian Revolution.
My Grandfather went on to be an organiser and District Secretary for the Communist Party of Great Britain and there is some evidence that he also visited several countries on behalf of the Comintern. He helped organise volunteers for the International Brigade in the war in Spain against Franco. He also served 1 month in Durham Jail in 1933 for refusing to be bound over to keep the peace.
He recently featured in the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ 4 Programme A Century of Fathers and was described by an article in the Independent as the first of the modern fathers. My own father confirms this assessment.
The bust reminds me of my Grandfather and his wife Phyllis and their life long support for the poor and oppressed people of both the UK and the World. They made many sacrifices on behalf of the Soviet Union as it was their belief that it held the seeds of a future better for all.
The bust passed to me on his death in 1994 and has its place in my study.
Bust of Lenin in Gun Metal
Contributed by Alan Short
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Russia
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- H:
- 10cm
- W:
- 6cm
- D:
- 2cm
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Comments
During the 1970s as a research student studying the history of workers' education in south Wales in the early 20th century, I interviewed a number of former attendees at the Lenin School. I recall seeing similar busts in their houses and they were always in a prominent position, usually close to their book and pamphlet collections. In 1983 I interviewed George Short, then in his eighties, he was a man with a very sharp intellect and one of the most articulate interviewees I'd recorded during my studies. Although I did not share his politics or view of the world, I greatly admired his total commitment to the improvement of the lives of ordinary working people. I am pleased that his grandson Alan Short has recorded this reminder of an important aspect of British working class history.