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It's almost impossible to think of Moscow today without the towering figure of Vladimir Lenin dominating the city from the Palace of the Soviets. The design restarted an interest in Neo-Classical architecture that can be seen throughout Russia and former Soviet States to this day. Even the United Nations debates whether to make it a heritage site. Construction was halted after the foundation was laid down due to the Nazi German Invasion during World War Two. Building material that had been marked for the building was needed for the war effort and manpower was needed at the front. There was some debate over whether to complete the structure as the war was coming to an end and how resources should be used.

Joseph Stalin seemed a bit obsessed with the buildings completion as a symbol of Communism's triumph over Fascism and the Hitlerites. He went before the Politburo and gave a speech about Building a Greater World from the Bones of the old one. Followed by articles and Pravda and other Soviet owned media. Comrade Stalin was not joking about that in the least. Ordering the Red Army and teams of POW construction crews to tear down every building still standing having to do with Axis Government functions brick by brick and sent back to Moscow to be used as building materials. Who can forget that famous Yevgeny Khaldei photo after the Battle of Berlin of Red Army men taking the Reichstag apart with hammers and sickles. The post WWII governments in Berlin, Budapest, Bucharest, Bratislava, Sofia, and Zagreb launched formal complaints of course but the Western Allies didn't pay much attention.

The Soviet Union took and organized volunteers from all over the country to actually build the Palace many fresh from military service. Men and women who p articipated in the event look back at it as a defining event in their countries history uniting soviet citizens for a common goal. Though later uncovered data seems to show that the building was a drain on money and resources in the 3 and a half years it took to construct and may have used POW labor as a building force.

In the post Soviet era the building was regarded largely as an eyesore from a bygone government. Even members of the Duma made jokes openly that the government continued to be run from there for 4 years after the Soviet Union collapsed. It's also cited as the main reason the Capital was moved to St. Petersburg and the Winter Palace. The building is still standing to this day as a tourist destination and rallying spot for hard line Communist Protesters, especially on Mayday. The current Russian government doesn't seem to know what to do with the structure though there have been proposals to turn it into a large swimming pool or given to the Russian Orthodox Church to convert into a place of worship.

How does history change if the building just remained a large hole in the ground? What other building and monuments might have build instead? How are the economic and diplomatic situations changed?

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