MOSCOW, June 28 (RIA Novosti) – A bankrupt textile factory in the city of Cheboksary intends to auction off its monument to Bolshevik revolution leader Vladimir Lenin, Komsomolskaya Pravda reported on Thursday.
The bidding in the auction, which may be held before November 2012, starts at 207,000 rubles ($6,300).
The decision to auction the monument standing in front of the factory caused outrage of local Communists who urged local authorities to preserve the statue as a site of local cultural heritage.
However, neither the Communists nor the authorities plan to take part in the auction.
“We are not ready to bid for the monument, the budget has no money for the auction,” Cheboksary Mayor Leonid Cherkasov said adding that the statue, one of the six Lenin monuments in the city, should remain where it has always stood.
The monument’s pedestal contains a time capsule with a message to future generations placed there in 1967. The capsule is supposed to be opened in 2017, the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution.