Every year on the ides of March he would call me up and say, "eschew Communism." To which I would reply, "gesundheit."
Why your pater should have chosen the ides of March for his annual warning (if warning it were, indeed!) is not immediatewly apparent. But, given his age, he would have remebered that the Russian Revolution took place in March 1917. The first session of the Moscow soldiers Soviet (the word is Russian for "committee") took place on March 1st and the Czar abdicated in favour of Grand Duke Mikhail on March 2nd. (Grand Duke Mikhail adbicated on March 3rd. Wise man!)
So far as I know, nothing of great importance happened on 13th March, although the 14th was the Address of the Soviet "to the people of the whole world" declaring for peace.
Vladimir Illyich Ulanov (Lenin) didn't arrive until April 3rd, and the Bolshevik Revolution didn't happen until October (or November - depends which calendar you're using!)
Incidently, I once saw a hilarious cartoon of a member of the German High Command bringing Lenin a trained seal.
