W.F. Deedes .sx From dark fear to soft soap .sx TYRANNY overcome , at least for the time being , where will Russian writers go now for their inspiration ?sx I put the question to a woman in Moscow .sx It was her beautiful hat , not her thoughtful face , which drew me to her ; but luckily she turned out to be a professor of literature .sx " They will help us to understand democracy , " she said .sx " They will see the new challenge , and help us to meet it .sx " .sx I tried politely to look impressed , but I was not .sx Great writers who have been denouncing the vileness of Stalin's legacy , and challenging its heirs to throw them in jail , will seek bigger fish than 'democracy' .sx My guess is that for some of them at least a new target will be our Western culture .sx Samantha Fox and Sylvester Stallone stand high in the esteem of many of Moscow's young people today .sx That surely gives Russia's satirists some sort of start .sx The big burger looms in Moscow .sx I am assured that McDonalds' designs there are benign , that they genuinely seek to improve catering for local people , not to pamper tourists .sx I accept that , but there is much else in store .sx There is Disneyland ; there is Benetton , the Italian outfitter with its avant garde advertising ; there are exciting fashion designers like Jean Paul Gaultier ; and at a humbler level , there are East-Enders , Wogan , Joan Collins , Madonna and Clive James , all of whom may soon be reaching out to Russia .sx My recent days here have brought home what a culture shock this will be .sx Out in the darkness there , people have been living almost entirely by human association .sx Thinking and talking centre on reality , on birth and death , sickness , hunger and fear .sx Nobody discusses last night's soap opera .sx There is a depth to Russian thinking and culture , even among the poor , which we in the West have part-exchanged for more ephemeral pleasures .sx W.F. Deedes .sx The last word goes to Marx .sx .. IT HAS rained in Moscow most of the last week .sx An oddly appropriate consequence of this , I thought , was to be seen on certain of the busts of modern Russian leaders which line the Kremlin wall .sx When I inspected them , the rain trickled down their cheeks like tears , as if they were crying .sx As well they might , you could say .sx Lenin , whose embalmed body lies in the closely-guarded mausoleum nearby , showed no signs of remorse .sx I glanced at the pale , flood-lit face , rendered slightly incongruous by the neat collar and black tie with white dots , and thought irreverently of Evelyn Waugh's novel on embalmed corpses in Hollywood , called The Loved One .sx On return to the pouring rain in Red Square , I asked some of my fellow travellers why they had joined this damp pilgrimage .sx To which most of them replied in effect " before it gets shut down " .sx It is reported that Lenin's remains will be transported to Leningrad ( St Petersburg ) to be buried in accordance with his wishes alongside his mother there .sx A MORE awkward question is the future of the vast Lenin museum below Red Square , where 20 halls of the red-brick former city council building are crammed with memorabilia of the founder of the Soviet state .sx This also is threatened with closure , but I cannot conceive how such a mass of material will be disposed of .sx It is surely the world's most extravagant example of the cult of personality .sx One or two English entries raise the eyebrows .sx A copy of Justice for December 1903 bestows its blessing on Lenin as his party holds its second congress .sx There is a blue LCC plaque of the " Lenin stayed here " variety which was " Presented to Moscow City Soviet by Desmond Plummer , leader of the GLC , on behalf of the people of London , April 1971 " .sx Most striking of all is Lenin's splendid open Rolls Royce No 236 ( 1922-23 ) which has a niche to itself and appears to be in pristine condition .sx I had been gazing at this when I was approached by a senior museum official - there being virtually nobody else in the place , I was a conspicuous figure .sx We chatted and I asked about the museum's future .sx " We do not know , " he said sadly , at which one or two of the old dears who guard the halls began to creep up like anxious pussycats .sx Well , I said , wishing to be helpful , if you are to be sold up , do not let that Rolls Royce go for less than pounds2 million .sx He looked amazed .sx The question seemed to me whether this staggering collection is to be rated as history or mere politics .sx I mentioned this to my interpreting lady .sx " History ?sx Fiddlesticks !sx " she said .sx " It is all propaganda .sx " She admirably expresses the prevailing mood of this city today .sx BEING old-fashioned , I thought the right way to approach Moscow was by train from Finland .sx I recommend the sleeper which leaves Helsinki just after 6 pm and pulls into Moscow via Leningrad in time for a late breakfast .sx The cars are old but not uncomfortable .sx When I did the trip ten years ago under Brezhnev , the night's ration was bread , sausage and half a bottle of vodka .sx Under Gorbachev there is a Pullman car of Edwardian splendour with velvet coverings over the tablecloth , delicious food and rapid service from ladies who look more WI than Young Communist League .sx What drew me to the train , however , was not these delights , but the thrilling impression of Russia which you get by rumbling through it at night .sx It is hard to grasp the scale of this vast land .sx A train journey conveys as the airplane cannot .sx They say the track gets bumpier after you cross the Finnish border .sx And so it does , but that conditions the mind to what lies ahead .sx So do the graveyards of broken trains and derelict carriages which suddenly break the lonely forest line .sx Many traces of a rotten , inefficient system which has dragged the Russian people down almost all of my lifetime lie along this line .sx This was the route , my travelling companion assured me , which Lenin took in the First World War when the Germans rushed him in to ease their eastern front against the Tsar's army - as he did .sx SOME Muskovites still observed the courtesies during and after the coup .sx Across a defiled statue of Marx run the words " very sorry " .sx Chaim Bermant .sx Practising some lethal preachings .sx WHEN I first heard of them they were known as bum-boys .sx Then it was nancy-boys and fancy-boys , and pansies and fairies , and fruits and fags and faggots , and poofs and poofters and queers and gays .sx Gays was the name they eventually chose .sx Now they are reverting to queers , but given their disposition should they not be calling themselves kamikazes ?sx I ask the question in all seriousness , for they not only seem to have a death-wish themselves , but an apparent readiness to inflict death on others .sx A report in the Health Education Journal shows that a growing number of gays are no longer taking precautions to protect themselves or their partners , and that promiscuity among them is as rife as ever .sx The nearest thing to a saint in the gay community is Derek Jarman .sx As anyone familiar with his books and films will know , he is very gifted .sx A recent interview with Lynn Barber also suggests that he is extremely brave .sx He was diagnosed as HIV positive five years ago and presumes he has Aids .sx He is in and out of hospital , subsists on a diet of pills and has perhaps 12 months to live , but accepts his afflictions with cheerful stoicism .sx He is 50 and it is difficult not to be moved by his heroism .sx Yet he admits that he still picks up young men without mentioning his condition .sx " I do make certain any encounter I have is safe , " he added .sx But , given the hazards , how safe is safe sex ?sx And , had his partners known of his condition , would they have felt so nonchalant about it ?sx One has to make allowances for Mr Jarman not because he is dying , but because , as he says himself , he is on so many drugs he is no longer quite sure who he is , what he is , or what he is doing .sx But it seems to me that such encounters are not far short of premeditated murder .sx It is always dangerous to draw conclusions from particular cases , but Mr Jarman is more than a particular case .sx He is regarded by many homosexuals as a role model .sx He is one of their most articulate spokesmen , and he is devoting what is left of his life to fighting Clause 28 of the 1988 Local Government Act .sx One might think from the fierce opposition it has provoked in the gay community that the Clause is a threat to the rights and liberties of homosexuals , whereas it was designed to limit their presumption .sx Before the Wolfenden Report was published in 1957 , homosexuals suffered persecution and terror .sx The main proposals in the report that public bodies should not legislate on private morality , and that homosexual acts should be permitted between consenting adults , were not readily accepted .sx They aroused great controversy , and were only passed into law under the Sexual Offences Act ( 1967 ) after a Labour Government was elected .sx The Act was intended to remove the stigma of illegality from homosexual practices and to end the pariah of the homosexual .sx But , if politicians could have foreseen what was to follow , the Act would never have been passed - for instead of seeking integration into the wider society , gays began to present themselves as an alternative society .sx Where they had been retiring and discreet they became strident , assertive , even aggressive .sx Then came Aids , and practices which people had felt to be immoral were shown to be lethal .sx All the Government could do was launch a campaign for the wider use of condoms .sx Gays insist Aids is not primarily a homosexual plague .sx Evidence shows - in America and Europe , at least - that the victims are overwhelmingly gay and , where heterosexuals are infected , it is usually through contact with bisexuals .sx Drug addicts are also affected , but while no one suggested drug addiction as an alternative life style , the gay community continued to act as a sort of church militant .sx They obtained a greater say in local government and tried to push their teachings in schools .sx Hence Clause 28 .sx If ever a measure were justified by circumstances , this was it .sx We live in an age in which it is no longer acceptable even for churchmen to talk in terms of right or wrong , but I think one can be forgiven for suggesting that the homosexual way of life is less than wholesome or , to put it more bluntly , it is , even without the menace of Aids , a desperately sad one .sx Their gaiety , where it exists , is at best ephemeral .sx There is little love in their lives and their very promiscuity is an attempt to snatch a moment of bliss in physical gratification .sx They are not preaching a way of life , but a way of death .sx Not that every married couple is happy , but the family offers scope for lasting relationships and happiness .sx The life of the homosexual , possibly because of its inherent sterility , does not .sx Their relationships are generally brief , and as they do not care for the word promiscuity , they prefer to prove that they are unhappy with the basic truths of their situation , and their efforts at proselytisation arise not out of the belief that they have something better to offer , but out of the comfort available in numbers .sx It must be added that in spite of the Wolfenden reforms , homosexuals still suffer from ostracism , discrimination and harassment ; the police tend to treat their complaints with derision .sx But instead of protesting about genuine grievances they protest about pseudo-grievances - like Clause 28 .sx Gays are pushing their luck and seem to think that they can win over public opinion by alienating it .sx They will not obtain the repeal of Clause 28 , but if they persist in their efforts , they could lead to the repeal of the Wolfenden Act .sx