ON THE INSTALLATION IN MOSCOW OF A MONUMENT TO KARL MARX

RESOLUTION ON A LETTER FROM A. V. LUNACHARSKY
December 24, 1919
Dear Vladimir Ilyich, During one of our conversations, you reproached me for the fact that we still do not have a proper monument to Karl Marx in Moscow. I must note that in Petrograd, near Smolny, there stands a rather fine monument to Marx, created by the renowned sculptor Matveyev—though it is fashioned from a rather fragile material.
If the Petrograd Executive Committee is satisfied with this statue of Marx, then I will petition for its casting in concrete; should it prove impossible to use bronze for this purpose, I am prepared to proceed accordingly.
I agree that it is imperative to begin construction of a monument to Marx in Moscow. I know that in the first competition, grandiose designs were submitted, proposing the redevelopment of entire squares. Of course, such plans are out of the question at present; the task can only be to create a beautiful, meaningful, monumental figure of Marx to stand in one of Moscow’s public squares.
The competitions we have held thus far have always led to misunderstandings and failed to yield satisfactory results.
In Moscow, there is a sculptor perfectly suited to undertake a single commission for a statue of Marx. He is the artist who created the superb granite monument to Dostoevsky, already erected by the Moscow Soviet on Tsvetnoy Boulevard—namely, Merkurov...
I earnestly request that you, dear Vladimir Ilyich, respond to this letter of mine over the telephone... Should you agree, Merkurov could begin work immediately, and the monument might be completed by May 1*.
was released and tested on December 20. Given the complexity of the task, the specified completion deadline is a testament to the diligence and zeal with which the workers approached this urgent assignment.
*
On December 30, the Sovnarkom adopted the following resolution: “While recognizing, in principle, the necessity of erecting a monument to Marx on Y.M. Sverdlov Square by May 1, 1920, we instruct the Commission under the Council of People’s Commissars to promptly and thoroughly investigate the matter, submit a design for the monument, along with a plan for the corresponding measures and a budget for approval by the Council of People’s Commissars” (Protocol No. 337, Clause 7).
TO THE MOSCOW SOVIET
Please provide
your written response—or your reply by telephone.