Looking Back on Fall 2015

We are putting a wrap on the semester, but not on our study of Soviet culture. The class worked with the editorial team to select twelve posts representing the chronological span and topical range of the course — from our initial forays into the literature and painting of the Realists through the study of life in communal apartments in the […]

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Serious About Socialist Realism: Class Thursday 10/15

Thursday we will continue our discussion of the trials and tribulations Soviet writers and musicians faced during the thirties. We will start with Andrei Zhdanov’s “Soviet Literature: The Richest in Ideas” (RR 413-416). Please bring the text and a nugget with you. Several questions should arise from this reading, but one we must address is: What duties did Socialist Realism […]

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Let the Comrades’ Voices be Heard!

You might have noticed that the editorial team has some technical issues to address. While we complete our re-education, we need all good comrades to help fulfill the weekly plan by identifying outstanding posts for the slider. As you read your comrades’ posts on Monday, keep an eye for those you especially like. Articles with in-depth analysis, that make you […]

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Cruising Shockworkers

This week’s issue addresses the cultural revolution that accompanied the campaign to modernize the Soviet economy during First Five Year Plan (1928-1932). Diverse materials, from the agitational songs and posters of the collectivization drives to the art of the Ukrainian famine (Holodomor) and the memories of shockworkers who toured western European ports during the Great Depression provided compelling material for […]

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Reviewing the Cultural Revolution

Tuesday’s class led to a great discussion on the the Cultural Revolution when Groups 1, 2, and 3 analyzed some of the key components of the Soviet War on Backwardness. This blog post will reflect on those examples and review the widespread effort to modernize rural Russia and the resulting conflicts. Stalin’s First Five Year Plan transformed the landscape above and below ground […]

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Revolutionary Cinema – Class Thursday Sept. 17

On Thursday we will continue our work on Revolutionary Cinema and prepare for the next round of posts. We will finish watching Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin and discuss the film using Dziga Vertov’s “We: Variant of a Manifesto” (RR, pp. 365-369); Trotsky, “Vodka, the Church, and the Cinema,” and Blyakin’s “The Little Red Devils” (MC pp. 36-52) Please complete these in […]

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Futurists, Pulp Fiction, and Silver Age Poetry (Thursday, Sept. 3)

On Thursday we will do the groundwork for your next posts. There are excerpts from Nat Pinkerton (King of Detectives) Anna Verbitskaya in Scholar. Please read them, along with the Futurist Manifestos (Maykovsky’s “Slap in the Face of Public Taste” is also here), and Alexander Blok’s poem, Scythians (RR pp. 13-15).  Please make sure you have access to these texts […]

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