Thursday, July 8, 2010

Lenin's pears

Unlike the rest of Eastern Europe after War II, Yugoslavia fell under the leadership of Marshal Tito and remained independent from Moscow. It became the only country in the Balkans resist pressure from Moscow to join the Warsaw Pact and remained "socialist, but independent" right up until the collapse of Soviet socialism in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Tito prided himself on Yugoslavia's independence from Russia. Despite this, many people did side with Communism in its original sense, and admired such leaders as Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, whose bust I came across at the village house of the now-deceased parents of a friend I visited recently. The pears come from the garden beside the house. I don't know if Lenin liked pears, but the bust and the fruit made for a nice still life.

12 comments:

Gemma Wiseman said...

Quite a hauntingly beautiful presentation!

Luis Gomez said...

Really beautiful shot!

Olivier said...

bravo, une belle photo, j'aime la composition

dianasfaria.com said...

A very lovely still life!

Suburban Girl said...

Beautiful still life!

B SQUARED said...

I'd choose a pear over Lenin, any day.

Louis la Vache said...

It astounds «Louis» how willing people are today to overlook how murderous Lenin was and also overlook the fact that while Tito remained quite independent of Moscow, he was in fact as callously murderous as Lenin and Stalin, particularly in toward the end of World War II. As murderous as the Nazis were, the fact remains that more have died under Communist regimes than under all other political systems combined.

That aside, nice image of the pears, if, as we look at the photo, we mentally crop out Lenin's bust...

Lowell said...

Well done, Bibi. I don't understand the fascination with Lenin, but I like the photo and I love good pears!
This is a great pair!

Daryl said...

Pears are very sexy

Alexa said...

I like the juxtaposition. You do have a great eye.

Thérèse said...

Dans un magazine francais hier j'ai releve le titre d'un livre francais sur Belgrade, la ville blanche ecrit par Buisson... a suivre...

Tash said...

I was taught to admire both men in grade school. I think there was a story about Lenin chopping down a cherry tree and not telling a lie that we read in 2nd grade... :)
I was always excited to see Marsal Tito in his white uniform and Jovanka at the Jugo Film Festival in Pula when I was a kid.
Your photo is just beautiful.

SPRING FASHION

 This is a post that would be better in color, but maybe not. These colors were soooo pale.