This petition calls for the removal of Seattle’s 16-foot-tall bronze statue of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the murderous Russian revolutionary who led the Soviet Union and subsequently caused the deaths and oppression of tens of millions of people in the early 20th century. This statue is an affront to American values and civil liberties. Removing this statue will demonstrate Seattle’s commitment to democracy and honor our nation’s history of welcoming immigrants and refugees of authoritarian regimes.

Various Seattle websites boast the statue as if it were an important landmark. Why would a bronze replica of a mass murderer be something to brag about? Further this statue is disrespectful if not traumatic to the foreign residents and immigrants now living in the United States as refugees of communist and authoritarian regimes around the world. 20% of the world’s population lives in oppression under communism, and to glorify Vladmir Lenin is to delegitimize their suffering and to cast a dreadful shadow across the international community. Lenin is certainly no representation of the artistic freedom that the neighborhood of Fremont seems to cherish deeply.

Many young Americans are painfully unaware of Soviet and other communist failures that have resulted in more than 100 million deaths in the past 100 years. This statue does nothing to honor this history, memorialize these victims, or commemorate the survivors of communism. Further, this statue falsely glorifies a murderous dictator and has no place in the United States, certainly not in this unique, iconic and largest city in the great state of Washington.  

This petition calls on the Mayor and City Council members of Seattle to make the right decision to take this statue down immediately. This would rightfully denounce instead of celebrating a deadly ideology, and allow this nation to stand in solidarity with 1/5 of the world’s population currently suffering under communism.