THE LATTER RAIN: The Tsaritsa is brought home to Russia

The reburial of empress Maria Fyodorovna, the mother of Russia's last tsar, has taken place in St Petersburg in accordance with her wishes.

This news item spoke to me, because, my mom was of
Russian descent, the first generation, born in
America. She was the youngest child of a Bolshevik,
whose brother, gave the order to slaughter the Imperial
family, the Romanovs, including, their ethereally
beautiful daughters, and heir to the throne, young
Alexei.

My grandfather came from a family that believed in
revolution, and Communism. His older brother, rose
to prominence, at a young age. He became the protegee
of VI Lenin, and he became the first provisional leader
of the Soviet Republic. It was his command that ended
the lives of the Romanovs. His name was Yakov Mikhailovich
Sverdlov, aka "Comrade Andrei."

History doesn't dwell on him, even though, his contributions
to Communism, were significant. He designed the hammer and
sickle, star motif, and chose the red background for the flag.
He wrote the First Constitution of the U.S.S.R., created, the KGB,
and was chief, in the four person leadership, with Lenin,
Trotsky, and Stalin.

He didn't get along with Stalin, because, he was tidy,
and Stalin was a pig. They spent years in exile, together,
living in a squalid room, in Siberia, before escaping,
and reestablishing their agenda, in overthrowing the
monarchy.

I can just picture them, like the Odd Couple.. two
future bloodthirsty tyrants, stuck in a stinky shack,
in Siberia, ew. Stalin. Stalin hated Jews, and
unfortunately, Jewishness was written all over
Yakov, even though he was probably an antidialectical
antimaterialist, and atheist, or whatever Lenin was.
He was joined to the hip with Lenin, who picked him
to head the Secretariat.

It is impressive that a young man, in his 20s, achieved
this success, but, he was not much different than modern
terrorists. In fact, many believe, the Bolsheviks, were
the template for modern terrorist groups, just as
Robespierre, and the French Revolution, was the Bolsheviks'
template for terror, in the Russian Revolution.
Trotsky writes of Robespierre, and Sparticus.

Anyway, it's like having Bin Laden, as a relative.

Sverdlov was the inspiration, for the character,
"Strilnikov," in Pasternak's "Dr. Zhivago."

I want to take the Trans-Siberian train, through Russia,
one day. I want to see the places, where he, and
my mom's family, left their mark, still seen, today.

My brother looks like a clone of Yakov Sverdlov. He
collects Soviet memorabilia, with his likeness on it.

There used to be a city named after him, "Sverdlovsk",
but, it went back to Ekaterinaberg.

I've seen things that Hitler wrote, about my own family.

A statue of Unkle Yakov still overlooks the town, once called,
"Sverdlovsk." Boris Yeltsin grew up, under the patriarch's
imposing statue.

His hand, pointed,in an unusual way, and it was a mystery,
until the 1990s, when, the bodies of the Romanovs were
located, in an abandoned shaft.

Sverdlov's hand, in the statue, was pointing
to where they were secretly buried.

*another angle of the Ekaterinaberg statue of Sverdlov*

Here's a statue of him, in Nizhny, where he, and Gorky
were born. The statue of him, in Red Square, was torn
down, in 1991.

My grandfather was sent to the USA, perhaps to start
Communist cells, or because, they expected most of the
family to be killed, which they were, in the purges in
the 1930s, by a paranoid Stalin.

I am not proud of my grandfather, either way. My dad said he was
a very bad man. I feel a sense of guilt, to come from a family,
who were devoted to terror, prohibition of religion, and
destruction, of individual will, and freedom.

But, in the end, the Romanovs have the
respect, not my Unkle Yakov, and that's the way it
should be. It brings me comfort, to know they
are at rest, now, and more importantly, before
God, in joy, forever.

With the return of the Imperial mother, next to her beloved
Nicholas, and 2/3 of her grandchildren, I hope the tsaritsa
can now rest in peace.