Lissitzky wrote to Sophie (Küppers, his future wife) from Switzerland on May 16, 1924 "I have received a few sketches from my students who worked with me in my workshop in Vitebsk. I took out the sketch-plan for a rostrum from which Lenin is speaking, and have now finished it for Behne's book Zweckbau (1926). I am only sorry that it is being published so late, for it dates from 1920. At about the same time Tatlin built his tower; there was then still no constructivist theatrical decor. Lissitzky added the photograph of Lenin addressing the proletariat to the original sketch design.
(El Lissitzky: experiments in photography), p. 22.