Rescued from Ukraine, the statue of Friedrich Engels now stands in Manchester, echoing the city’s rich socialist history. A symbol revived.
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Rescued from Ukraine, the statue of Friedrich Engels now stands in Manchester, echoing the city’s rich socialist history. A symbol revived.
The statue of Friedrich Engels, situated in Manchester, has an intricate history that underscores the changing perceptions of historical symbols across different eras and countries. Originally erected in the 1970s, the statue stood in the village of Mala Pereschepyna in the Poltava Oblast of the Ukrainian SSR, serving as a Soviet emblem.
However, the political climate in Ukraine shifted dramatically following the implementation of laws in 2015 that banned public displays of Soviet symbols. This led to the statue’s removal from its pedestal and subsequent abandonment in a field, where it was left in a state of neglect, severed at the waist.
This act of decommunization in Ukraine sparked interest in Phil Collins, an artist motivated by the historical significance of Engels, particularly in Manchester, where Engels had resided while authoring “The Condition of the Working Class in England” between 1842 and 1844. Collins embarked on a two-year quest to locate a statue of Engels, culminating in the discovery of this neglected piece.
After eight months of negotiations, Collins succeeded in obtaining the necessary permissions to relocate the statue to England. This endeavor not only preserved a significant historical artifact but also recontextualized it within the city that played a pivotal role in Engels’ life and work. The statue now stands in Manchester, offering a tangible connection to the city’s profound industrial and socialist history.
