Anatoly Kudryavitsky

The Museum of the Revolution, Moscow

Old revolutions smell of dust. Behind the red plush curtains, a mahogany table with a gramophone that plays songs of forgotten solidarity, the songs now devoid of rage. Nearby, a sculpture of a worker tearing up a cobblestone street. "Cobblestone, a weapon of the Proletariat." Other weapons of street fighting, or are these torture instruments? Flags, plenty of those. Even more portraits. Models of battleships… When you leave, the machine-gun of the armoured car takes aim at the back of your head.

Turkmen carpet:
an Asian-looking face
of Karl Marx