Leniniana

{{for|the Kommunizm album|Leniniana (album)}} __NOTOC__ [[File:USSR stamp Lenin's memories 1924 12k.jpg|thumb|150px|upright|{{small|Soviet stamp from the Lenin Mourning Issue, 1924. Designed by Ivan Dubasov}}]] In philately, '''Leniniana''' is a topic for collecting postage stamps that tell about the life and story of Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) or people, places, etc. connected with him. The topic was common in the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite book|last1=[Anon.] |title=Leniniana: USSR Postage Stamps Commemorating V. I. Lenin |url=http://www.hhsales.co.uk/results.php?s=77 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150508154412/http://www.hhsales.co.uk/results.php?s=77 |archive-date=2015-05-08 |access-date=2015-05-24 |year=c. 1974 |publisher=Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga. 22 p. |location=Moscow |quote=Among the numerous themes to which postage stamps are devoted in the USSR there is one that is particularly close to heart and dear to every Soviet collector. This theme is attracting ever more attention of philatelists in other countries as well. They are putting out catalogues and holding stamp exhibitions. This theme is the Leniniana. |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Владинец, Н. И. |author2=Ильичёв, Л. И. |author3=Левитас, И. Я. |author4=Мазур, П. Ф. |author5=Меркулов, И. Н. |author6=Моросанов, И. А. |author7=Мякота, Ю. К. |author8=Панасян, С. А. |author9=Рудников, Ю. М. |author10=Слуцкий, М. Б. |author11=Якобс, В. А. |editor1-last=Владинец, Н. И. |editor2-last=Якобс, В. А. |title=Большой филателистический словарь |trans-title=Great Philatelic Dictionary |url=http://dic.academic.ru/contents.nsf/dic_philately/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150630122434/http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/dic_philately/1331 |archive-date=2015-06-30 |access-date=2015-05-24 |year=1988 |publisher=Радио и связь [Radio i svyaz']. 320 p |location=Moscow |language=ru |isbn=5-256-00175-2 |trans-chapter=Leniniana |chapter=Лениниана |chapter-url=http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/dic_philately/1331 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

thumb|150px|upright|{{small|Soviet stamp commemorating the 90th birth anniversary of Vladimir Lenin, 1960. Designed after a drawing of {{Interlanguage link multi|Nikolay Nikolayevich Zhukov|qid=Q1990946|lt=Nikolay Zhukov}}}} On the stamps of the USSR, Lenin was most frequently portrayed among the Bolsheviks. After 1923, his pictures were present on about 11% of all Soviet stamps. Lenin portrait first appeared on a stamp series that was the {{Interlanguage link multi|Lenin Mourning issue|qid=Q4258419|lt=Mourning issue}} printed immediately after his death in 1924. Images of the first Soviet leader soon became ubiquitous.<ref name=Grant>{{cite journal|author=Grant, J. |date=July 1995 |title=The socialist construction of philately in the early Soviet era |journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=476–493 |doi=10.1017/S0010417500019770 |issn=0010-4175 |jstor=179216 }}</ref>

Because of various Lenin representations on postage stamps, it is hardly possible to categorise them all. Among different ways and roles in which Lenin was shown, there were:<ref name=Grant/> * his simple portraits, * Lenin as a child and youth, * Lenin as the organiser of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, * Lenin as the founder of the first socialist state, * Lenin as the organiser of the Party press, * Lenin as an inspirer of Soviet organisations and activities, etc.

There was even a stamp depicting Vladimir Lenin near a New Year's tree celebrating the holiday with children.<ref name=Grant/> <gallery class="center" style="text-align:center; font-size:78%" caption="Stamp labels from the 100th birth anniversary issue, 1970"> File:The Soviet Union 1970 CPA 3887 label 14 (Lenin (Sculpture by Y.Kolesnikov) with 16 labels 'Lenin course').jpg|Venera 5 space station File:The Soviet Union 1970 CPA 3887 label 12 (Lenin (Sculpture by Y.Kolesnikov) with 16 labels 'Lenin course').jpg|Atomic icebreaker Lenin </gallery>

== References == {{reflist}}

== Further reading == * ''Stal'baum, B.'' (1970). "Lenin, deti, filateliia" [Lenin, children, philately] (in Russian). ''Sovetskii Kollektsioner'', '''8''': 6–9.

== External links == * {{commonscat-inline}} * [http://www.stamprussia.com/lenin.htm Lenin: USSR (Soviet Union) Postage Stamps 1924–1991] * [http://library.ryerson.ca/asc/sc/leniniana-collection/ Leniniana Collection – Ryerson University Archives Special Collections] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005185230/http://library.ryerson.ca/asc/sc/leniniana-collection/ |date=2013-10-05 }}

Category:Philately of the Soviet Union Category:Cultural depictions of Vladimir Lenin Category:Postage stamps featuring people Category:1924 introductions