Communist Proteins: Lenin's Skin, Astrobiology, and the Origin of Life

Abstract

Communist ProteinsLenin's Skin, Astrobiology, and the Origin of Life Alexei Yurchak (bio) If every physical and chemical invention is a blasphemy, every biological invention is a perversion. —J. B. S. Haldane We might say indeed that modern man has an epidermis rather than a soul. —James Joyce Body without Organs When Lenin died on 21 January 1924, there were no plans to preserve his body, and the funeral was planned for 27 January. However, in part due to extremely cold temperatures that winter, the body showed no signs of decay for longer than usual.1 Every few days party commissions checked the condition [End Page 683] of the body, making sure that it remained in a good state, until in March warm weather brought the first alarming signs of decomposition.2 The unexpectedly long period during which Lenin's body remained un-buried allowed the party leaders to discuss its possible future in greater detail than they could have otherwise. At first, any mention of long-term preservation and display seemed controversial, and to some in the leadership sounded like a violation of their materialist worldview. But others insisted that it was important to display Lenin's body for a while longer, if not indefinitely, to let the proletarians of the world bid farewell to their leader.3 Eventually it was decided to allow Professor of Medicine Vladimir Vorob´ev and the biochemist Boris Zbarskii to try an experimental embalming method they proposed. They worked on the body for four months and in late July 1924 reported success. If Lenin's body were regularly reembalmed according to their method, they claimed, it was likely to remain in a good condition for a very long time.4 After that report, everything changed. Lenin's body was no longer a decomposing corpse, and talking about burying it seemed inappropriate. The transcripts of the debates among party leaders before the embalming suggest that they saw Lenin's body in two distinct ways: not only as the body of a flesh-and-blood individual called Lenin but also as the embodiment of the foundational truth of the communist project—truth that was different from Lenin and bigger than him. This doubled body stood for "Leninism"—both a man's teaching and a truth that far transcended that man.5 This perception affected how the body was eventually preserved and the procedures to which it has been subjected since. It is important to stress, however, that this project has never been linked to any hopes or plans for Lenin's literal resurrection. Sometimes journalistic and academic accounts suggest that Lenin's body may have been preserved because Bolsheviks believed that science would one day be able to revive the leader.6 At the time of Lenin's death, there were also popular rumors about supposed plans to do so. However, the scientists and [End Page 684] politicians who were involved in the project of preserving Lenin's body never discussed resurrection. And if we consider how Lenin's body was preserved, it appears that they never privately considered that idea either. For example, the original plans to freeze Lenin's body—a form of preservation that might seem reminiscent of contemporary cryonics and therefore might give at least some grounds to speculations about resurrection—were quickly abandoned for several reasons.7 It had become clear that freezing would preserve not only the body but also all its visible defects, while liquid embalming could allow the scientists to continue fixing these defects later.8 Also, an experiment in freezing a dead human body that was conducted soon after Lenin's death demonstrated that even small fluctuations in temperature led to rapid darkening of the body's tissues and decomposition. In a country devastated by the Civil War electrical grids were unstable, and freezing was ruled out as too risky. Most importantly, the dual way of thinking about Lenin's body translated into a particular understanding of what preservation might mean in his case. It was not Lenin's full physical body that was preserved but only part of its material structure—its skeleton, skin, muscle tissues, and outward form and appearance, but neither its...