Perhaps Russian teens are taking the country’s safe-selfie advice. Eschewing dangerous shots atop buildings or train tracks, the latest preferred photo-op for young Russians appears to be posing with statues of the late Communist leader Vladimir Lenin.

The hashtag #селфислениным (#selfiewithlenin) appears to be gaining in popularity following the release of government-issued selfie guidelines designed to end a spate of selfie-related deaths.

A Lenin selfie.
Photo: @moonlighttdz, via Instagram.

Russian communists are looking to capitalize on the trend by holding a federal “Selfie With Lenin” flashmob, promoted with a #LeninLives hashtag.

The event would be a “cheap and effective way to popularize the image of the leader of the world’s proletariat among the youth,” the Lenin Communist youth union of the Komi Republic wrote in a letter to Russian Communist Party head Gennady Zyuganov as per a report in Global Voices. As a bonus, it would help inventory all the public Lenin monuments in the nation, of which there reportedly over 6,000.

A Lenin selfie.
Photo: @bulanov1996, via Instagram.

“The idea has merit, especially since it would allow us to see what the state of the Lenin monuments is like,” Zyuganov told Izvestia. “We’ll definitely support it.”

In a test event held in Komi on April 22, Lenin’s birthday, the youth union claims that they were able to identify and later restore a neglected monument to the revolutionary leader.

A Lenin selfie.
Photo: @murzique, via Instagram.

Of course, the logical conclusion to this trend is that someone will drunkenly destroy one of these monuments, right? (As we’ve learned the hard way, no statue is safe from the selfie).

Obviously, Russians are already two steps ahead of you on that one. Last month, a drunken Siberian lost his balance while posing with a Lenin sculpture. In an effort to stay upright, he grabbed the work’s torso, which split at the waist.

The Lenin statue in Moryakovsky, Russia, between selfie assaults.
Photo: Elena Antonova, courtesy the Siberian Times.

The man suffered a fractured leg and wrist, and the statue, which had already lost its head in a similar incident in May, is now just a pair of legs.

Another Lenin statue in Kemerovo was broken during an abortive selfie attempt in June. The drunken perpatrator tried fix the work, until he noticed a crowd had gathered. He ran off, only to be arrested shortly thereafter.

A Lenin selfie.
Photo: @radik_mulia, via Instagram.

“We don’t find this funny,” a disgruntled Moryakovsky village official told AFP. The Siberian Times is calling it a “selfie revolution.”

Nevertheless, the Communist Party seems committed to increasing Lenin’s selfie appeal. “There is no doubt the contest will be very popular among the young population,” noted Zyuganov. “Youngsters nowadays like to take selfies very much.”

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