A Red Alert for Madison Avenue

With communism dead and Russia in a cash crunch, Moscow is offering to sell Red Square for $1 million to foreign companies as advertising space on May Day, the celebration that used to honor the workers of the world and glorify Soviet muscle.

If $1 million is too much, the sacred Kremlin wall can be had for half that amount. The only thing off limits: Lenin’s tomb.

For the first time in decades, May 1 won’t feature a parade of red banners, tanks and missiles.

“This will be the first official celebration of the new Russia,” the Itar-Tass Russian news agency said in a letter offering Red Square to big business. “Have your day, but bring dollars. The city government will say ‘nyet’ to rubles.”