(Poster showing concern for the environment of lake Baikal, 1972) When one thinks of the Soviet Union and the environment, much of what comes to mind is the polluted waters, slashed forests, and major environmental disasters like the loss of the Aral sea. To an extent, it is right to associate the Soviet Union with … Continue reading →
Centralizing Soviet Science: Akademgorodok
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(The Symbol of Akademgorodok: a sigma representing the sum of Soviet science with a lightning bold symbolizing the new city springing into existince) Throughout the first half of its existence, much of the Soviet Union’s power had been focused on heavy industry and military might. However, after WWII and the death of Stalin, this focus … Continue reading →
The Unconquered People of the Soviet Union
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(Soviet Poster Calling the People of the Occupied Territories to Arms) The German advance was lightning quick in the early days of Operation Barbarossa. The Soviets troops, completely unprepared, were unable to hold on to territory and fell back toward the Russian border, leaving tens of thousands of soldiers behind in the panic. They took … Continue reading →
The Great Terror: Stalin Brings Down the Hammer and Sickle
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(Nikolai Krestinskii, Victim of the Great Terror) When one thinks of Stalin one of the first things that comes to mind is crushing oppression. Images of gulags and mass executions of political rivals, dissidents, and anyone deemed an ‘enemy of the people’, are forever intertwined with his name. The largest and most widespread of these … Continue reading →
Shaping the Soviet Future: Communist Youth
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As the Russian Civil War was coming to an end and it became clear that the Bolsheviks were the victors, they began to look away from the past and toward the future. The people that fought both for and against the Bolsheviks had grown up under the Tsar and for them, communism, even if they … Continue reading →
The Forgotten Victims of 1905
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One of the most interesting aspects of the 1905 revolution to me was the treatment of minorities by the revolutionaries and the government alike. I have learned in the past about the revolution and its political implications, but this seems almost like a forgotten sidebar to the revolution. In a time filled with so much … Continue reading →
Digging In At Bakal
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Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii was a groundbreaking early 20th century Russian photographer. A chemist by training, he studied for years to perfect a method of producing color photographs. Then in 1909, after receiving a commission from the Tsar as well as some special equipment, he set off to document the life, culture, and achievements of the … Continue reading →
Testing
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Soviet Test
