'Vot vot': that's all Lenin could say, when his mind was destroyed by brain disease, W. tells me. 'Vot vot', to express agreement or disagreement, satisfaction or annoyance, as he was wheeled along in in a bath chair, wrapped in blankets, at his rest home. 'Vot-vot' to the visiting Trotsky, soon to be expelled from the Soviet Union; 'vot-vot' to Stalin, soon to become its absolute ruler.
Lenin's nurses trying to teach him the the word worker again, and the word revolution. His aides tried to tried to teach him the words peasant and people; they tried to teach him the words cell and congress. God knows, his wife even tried to get him to say kulak, a word he used to spit out in hatred …
What will be his last words?, W. wonders. What will he say, as his mind dissolves into mush? 'Lars's fault', he will gasp. 'Lars', he will say, when he can say nothing else. 'Lars, Lars, Lars …'
Lars Iyer's Blog 