Right around the three-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Fremont’s controversial statue of Vladimir Lenin was once again vandalized – this time defaced with orange and yellow paint.
The Fremont neighborhood of Seattle is home to a 16-foot-tall (5 meters) statue of Lenin that was erected in the 1990s with the help of Lewis Carpenter, an English teacher from Issaquah, Washington, who mortgaged his home to rescue the statue from Poprad in Slovakia. The Lenin monument stands on private property and has been the subject of numerous calls for removal, but it remains in place to this day.
As a reminder of the death and destruction caused by Lenin, the statue’s hands are often covered in red paint. Despite ongoing efforts to have it removed, it continues to stand as a controversial symbol in the community.
Calls for the statue’s removal have surfaced repeatedly, but it remains standing, shrouded in controversy. To some, it’s merely a piece of public art or a nod to Fremont’s quirky spirit. But to others, particularly Ukrainians, it stands as a grim reminder of an empire built on repression and a symbol of Russian dominance and imperial ambition. That struggle against domination is not new. In 1731, the French philosopher Voltaire observed: “Ukraine has always aspired to be free.”
Since Russia’s first invasion of Ukraine in 2014, and particularly after the full-scale assault in 2022, Ukraine has worked hard to dismantle the physical symbols of its Soviet past. As part of a broader decommunization movement, Ukrainians toppled hundreds of Lenin statues across the country. By 2021, the last remaining statue on public land had been removed.
Russia, however, has been erecting monuments of Lenin throughout Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. In November 2022, following the occupation of Melitopol, the Moscow-installed head of the Zaporizhzhia region, Vladimir Rogov, reinstated a statue of Lenin that had originally been removed in 2015. “After seven years, the statue of Vladimir Lenin has returned to its place in Melitopol,” said Rogov.
For many Ukrainians, Lenin is not remembered as a revolutionary thinker but as the architect of their subjugation. After Ukraine declared independence from Russia in 1918, Lenin’s Bolshevik forces responded with war and massacres. Facing resistance, Lenin eventually granted Ukraine limited autonomy, less out of goodwill than to ensure Soviet control.
“Lenin doesn’t stand for communism, but for Russian control.”
Ironically, Russian President Vladimir Putin echoed this history on the eve of the 2022 invasion, declaring that “Soviet Ukraine is the result of the Bolsheviks’ policy and can rightfully be called ‘Vladimir Lenin’s Ukraine.’” In doing so, he unintentionally highlighted Lenin’s central role in dismantling Ukrainian independence in the early 20th century.
Despite Putin’s disdain for Lenin, statues of him have reappeared in parts of occupied Ukraine. Speaking to The Economist, Serhy Yekelchyk, a historian at the University of Victoria, said these monuments are not about communism, but about power. “In Ukraine,” he notes, “Lenin doesn’t stand for communism, but for Russian control.”
That control is not merely symbolic. In previously occupied cities like Kherson, Ukrainian historians have found themselves under threat. In autumn 2022, Oleksiy Palah, an expert on 18th-century history, was detained by Russian forces for nearly a month. He was told that historians are more dangerous than soldiers “because they poison people’s minds.” His captors demanded he write propaganda framing Ukrainian nationalism as a Western invention and Kherson as historically part of imperial Russia. He was freed only after Ukrainian forces liberated the city in November 2022.
As the Russian occupation took hold, local schoolteachers hid Ukrainian textbooks to protect them from confiscation. Soon after, Russian soldiers raided school libraries, burning the books and replacing them with Russian ones. Teachers were ordered to abandon the Ukrainian curriculum – now declared illegal – and adopt the Russian education system.
In occupied Luhansk, Russian forces recently removed a Holodomor memorial, a granite cross commemorating the 1932-33 Kremlin-engineered famine where millions of Ukrainians were starved to death. The Russian-installed mayor claimed it insulted local “patriotic feelings.”
“The Holodomor is an obvious historical example of genocide and starvation committed by Russia against Ukrainians,” said John Vsetecka, Assistant Professor of History at Nova Southeastern University. “This narrative has helped Ukrainians understand the longer arc of Russian aggression against their country. It has also been a way that Ukrainians have educated the wider world about what Russia has done to them time and time again.”
Kristina Hook, an Assistant Professor at Kennesaw State University, said: “Instead of joining Ukrainians in commemorating this history, modern Russian leaders denied many aspects of the Holodomor even after the fall of the Soviet Union, from its intentionality to its targeting of Ukrainians to the lack of accountability for these crimes.”
Russia has also been building monuments to Joseph Stalin throughout Russia, the same figure who starved millions of Ukrainians to death in the Holodomor.
According to Vladyslav Bobrovnyk, Head of Advocacy for the Ukrainian Association of Washington State (UAWS), Lenin’s legacy is no abstraction. “His regime deliberately targeted Ukrainian language, culture, and independence,” Bobrovnyk noted. “Policies under his rule and the state he built led directly to famine, persecution, mass repression, and the death of democracy and countless millions across Ukraine.”
Still, the Lenin statue remains standing in Seattle. “The presence of a statue of Vladimir Lenin in Seattle is, frankly, jarring,” Bobrovnyk said. While it is often defended as a work of art or historical curiosity, “we can’t overlook what Lenin actually represents, particularly to Ukrainians.”
Seattle is a city that prides itself on progressivism, yet, as Bobrovnyk points out, there are far more fitting figures to memorialize. “Why not honor people like Bertha Knight Landes, the first female mayor of a major US city… or Gordon Hirabayashi, who courageously resisted Japanese-American internment?” These are individuals who embody Seattle’s spirit of reform and justice, he argues, unlike Lenin, “the architect of a totalitarian regime.”
“It makes sense to install something nearby that actively addresses the root harms that Lenin’s ideology caused.” – Vladyslav Bobrovnyk, Head of Advocacy for the Ukrainian Association of Washington State
But what can actually be done about the statue, given it stands on private property? Legally, the options are limited, Bobrovnyk acknowledges. However, he suggests several non-legislative paths forward: fostering public dialogue and education to contextualize the statue, applying respectful community pressure on the property owner, and most importantly, creating artistic and historical counterbalances nearby. These counter-monuments could elevate those who represent Seattle’s true values and speak to the resilience of communities that suffered under Soviet rule.
When asked whether the city should consider installing a counter monument, Bobrovnyk offered a resounding yes. “If [the Lenin statue] doesn’t tell a story about Seattle… then it makes sense to install something nearby that actively addresses the root harms that Lenin’s ideology caused,” he said. That could include a memorial to the victims of Soviet terror, or a monument to someone like Reverend Samuel McKinney or Vi Hilbert – people whose lives and legacies reflect Seattle’s conscience and cultural richness.
But for many Ukrainians, the issue is even more visceral. “To me, Lenin is a figure cloaked in shadows,” Bobrovnyk said. “He destroyed with pen and sword, leaving behind silence where music and language once lived… His legacy is not one of hope but a monument to lost potential, imposed silence, and lives stolen before they could even begin.”
Caesar Kalinowski IV, a First Amendment lawyer and Seattle resident, emphasized that while the statue’s message may be controversial, its existence is legally protected. “The statue of Lenin in Fremont has always been a divisive issue,” he said. “While some view it as a pro-communist sentiment in a funky Seattle neighborhood, many see it as a reminder of the horrific oppression that Lenin brought on so many communities – which is why the hands are often painted red to symbolize the blood on his hands.”
“Given the statue’s location on private property,” Kalinowski continued, “any meaning intended by its owner and its continued existence is protected under the Constitution.”
That said, Kalinowski believes the city still has a role to play. “As a city dedicated to protecting liberty and opposing political violence in any form,” he said, “I would love to see an official counter-protest monument on nearby public land, dedicated to those who fought against Lenin’s oppression.”
It is especially poignant given that Washington state has the third-largest Ukrainian population in the US, trailing only California and New York. Ukrainians are also the fastest-growing European immigrant community in the state and are growing to play an important role in Washington’s diverse community.
Pedestal of Lenin monument in Kyiv after the statue had been removed during the Maidan protests of 2013. Photo: Wikicommons
In February 2019, a group of Washington state legislators introduced House Bill 2120, proposing the formation of a work group to study and recommend a replacement for the Vladimir Lenin statue in Seattle. The bill aimed to explore alternatives more reflective of the state’s values and diverse communities.
More recently, there have been discussions with Washington state House Republican Jim Walsh about the possibility of building a counter-monument, potentially one dedicated to one of Ukraine’s most revered historical figures, Taras Shevchenko. However, Walsh’s office did not respond to a request for more information on the proposal.
“The Lenin statue was erected as an art piece, not a political statement, but it makes one nonetheless,” said Riley Mullett, a Seattle resident. “Erecting a statue of a Ukrainian figure like Taras Shevchenko would be a powerful counterbalance. As a Seattleite, I think there’s room for more stories in our public spaces.”
“Honoring Taras Shevchenko, whose poetry gave voice to a nation long under imperial rule, would stand as a visible act of solidarity with Ukrainians defending their independence today. It’s a chance to add depth to our public art, to reflect not just history, but the values we stand for now.”
In fact, Shevchenko’s vision for Ukraine extended far beyond literature, even in the 19th century. He admired George Washington as a model of principled leadership and longed for a republican form of government in his own country. In his writings, he asked when Ukraine would have its own George Washington, someone who would pursue righteousness through laws, not repression.
Lyndon B. Johnson, speaking of Shevchenko’s legacy, said: “He was more than a Ukrainian – he was a statesman and citizen of the world. He was more than a poet – he was a valiant crusader for the rights and freedom of men. He used verse to carry on a determined fight for freedom.”
Nicole Macri, the state representative for Washington’s 43rd District, which includes Fremont where the Lenin statue is located, did not respond to a request for comment about the monument or whether her office supports building a counter-monument nearby. The Seattle Mayor’s Office also did not respond to a request for comment.