Politico has viewed three-and-a-half hours of footage from Bernie and Jane Sanders’ 1988 ‘honeymoon’ to the Soviet Union, and judging by their description, it looks like the footage might make it difficult for Sanders to distance himself from his support for Communist regimes both the USSR and the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, where he also visited.
In the footage, Sanders, often seated under or near portraits of Vladimir Lenin, would extol the virtues of Soviet life.
The hours of footage include a scene of Sanders sitting with his delegation at a table under a portrait of Vladimir Lenin. Sanders can also be heard extolling the virtues of Soviet life and culture, even as he acknowledges some of their shortcomings. There are flashes of humor, too, such as his host warning the American guests not to cross the KGB, or else.
Sanders and his entourage visited three cities, Yaroslavl, Moscow and Leningrad as they worked to establish a ‘sister city’-type relationship between Yaroslavl and Burlington. The trip happened in 1988, as Sanders was nearing the end of his second term as Burlington’s mayor. – READ MORE