by Gary Lehmann
In the very midst of the Revolution, Lenin made a telling admission.
One evening, in the home of Y. P. Peshkova, while listening to a Beethoven sonata, he told his fellow revolutionary, Maxim Gorky, that for the good of the Revolution, he had to stop listening to Beethoven, even though it was his favorite music.
“It gets on my nerves,” he explained.
“Beethoven softens my heart just at the exact moment when it must be hardened to the cries of humanity. I must find the courage to break skulls.”
He knew in his heart that the cold-blooded extermination of Russia’s Czarist society would not be brought about by people who listen to Beethoven.
