Lenin's Hovel
Lenin’s hovel, also known as the Shalash (Russian for "hut"), was a temporary hideout constructed in July 1917 in the meadows near Lake Razliv, outside Petrograd. It served as a secluded refuge for Vladimir Lenin and Grigory Zinoviev following the failed July Days uprising.{{cite web |last=Orlov |first=Ilya |title=Lenin in Hiding |website=The Russian Reader |url=https://therussianreader.com/tag/lenin-in-hiding/ |access-date=30 April 2025}}
Historical background
In the aftermath of the failed July Days uprising in 1917, the Russian Provisional Government issued warrants for the arrest of leading Bolsheviks, including Lenin, who was accused of being a German agent. Facing arrest, Lenin fled Petrograd and found refuge in Razliv, where he was hidden by Bolshevik factory worker Nikolai Emelianov.{{cite web |title=Lenin's Places – Welcome to Sestroretsk |website=Sestroretsk Municipality |url=https://sestroretsk.spb.ru/en/lenin-places.html |access-date=30 April 2025}}
Initially, Lenin and Zinoviev took shelter in a wooden shed behind Emelianov’s house. As the risk of discovery grew, Emelianov ferried them across Lake Razliv and constructed a hut of hay and branches in a remote meadow.{{cite web |title=Lenin’s Hut |website=Atlas Obscura |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lenin-hut |access-date=30 April 2025}}
Life in hiding
While living in the hut, Lenin adopted the guise of a Finnish peasant and continued to lead the Bolshevik movement in secret. He received underground newspapers, coordinated with comrades through liaisons, and worked on The State and Revolution, a text that outlined the theoretical justification for proletarian dictatorship and the use of force to overthrow capitalist structures.{{cite web |title=Lenin: The Facts |website=Workers' Liberty |url=https://workersliberty.org/node/15279 |access-date=30 April 2025}}
In late July 1917, Lenin left Razliv using forged documents under the alias Konstantin Ivanov and escaped to Finland, from where he would later return to lead the October Revolution.
Legacy
File:The Soviet Union 1969 CPA 3741 stamp (Hay Hut, Razliv).png
After Lenin’s death in 1924, the site at Razliv was incorporated into the rapidly expanding cult of Lenin. Emelianov’s shed became an official memorial in 1925, and a stylized monument—resembling the hut but with Constructivist features—was built in 1928 by architect Alexander Gegello.
In 1964, a modernist concrete and glass exhibition pavilion was erected near the hut site to house artifacts and guide visitors, forming part of the Lenin Hut Museum Complex, which included both the Shed Museum (Sarai) and Hut Museum (Shalash).
The Lenin Museum in Tampere, Finland is the only permanent Lenin museum outside of the former Soviet Union. It includes references to Lenin’s time in hiding, connecting it to his political ties with Finland and his strategic withdrawal across the border in 1917.{{cite web |title=Last Lenin Museum in the World |website=Atlas Obscura |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lenin-museum |access-date=30 April 2025}}