During the period of Stalinism theatre, and other arts were largely homogenized to express Soviet Realism, (see my post on the renowned artist Deyneka) However, at the beginning of destalinization the ice of homogeneity began to melt. By the mid 1950s there was an obvious struggle against conformity in the arts. The theater, free … Continue reading The Theatre Thaw(?) →
Month: April 2018
The Ear-Resistible Crop
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It is laid out in the thirteenth chapter of Gregory Freeze’s book, Russia A History, that Khrushchev was not the most likely successor to Stalin; However, he had a great attribute in his ability to relate to the common folk through his concern for popular welfare (409). Khrushchev, after taking power, implemented agricultural reforms specifically …
The Housing Crisis and the Rise of “Khrushchev’s Slums”
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The Sixties was a decade of change across the world. While students went on strike in Paris and people were protesting the Vietnam War in Chicago, Khrushchev was attempting to reform some of the old Stalinist ways of the Soviet Union while also keeping Soviet influence in the Eastern Bloc strong. One of the crises …
Continue reading “The Housing Crisis and the Rise of “Khrushchev’s Slums””
Soviet Leisure Time
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Luzhniki Stadium (1957) During the 1950s and 60s, Soviet society saw a huge increase in urbanization. Nearly half of society was considered urban and universally literate. This expansion of higher education and training created a more complex world. Improvements in transportation, communication, and education helped draw people into these more urban areas and urban-based culture … Continue reading Soviet Leisure Time →
Power in Peace: The International Youth Festival
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The World Youth Festival is, “an event of global youth solidarity for democracy and against war and imperialism” created with the intention, “to bring together young people of both the socialist and capitalist countries to promote peaceful cooperation and mutual rejection of war.” It indeed makes a great deal of sense that in the newfound …
Continue reading Power in Peace: The International Youth Festival
Honey, The New Neighbors are Moving In!
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The Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti or KGB served as the main security agency for the Soviet Union beginning in 1954 until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Unlike other security agencies, the KGB was ultimately an independently run government body with little oversight from Soviet Unions leaders. The KGB maintained many roles: gathering intelligence […]
No aggression coming from your pal Hitler, *wink wink*
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Joseph Stalin was a historical figure in the context of Soviet history. He was notorious for his policies known as Stalinism which developed throughout his time in leadership of the Soviet government. “He had claimed that Russia was “50 to 100 years” behind the West, and that without catching up in 10 years, Russia would […]
After Stalin – Politics and Society after the Vozhd’
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Cultural and social change rocked the Soviet Union in the years after Stalin’s death. This week’s posts address many aspects of the liberalization in politics and society leading up to Khrushchev’s “Secret Speech” in 1956. From returning veterans, the H-bomb, and the advent of the space race, to hipsters, youth festivals and the emptying GULAG, this weekly edition suggests how rich, varied and contradictory the dynamics of de-Stalinization were. We should also note Russia’s transfer of Crimea to Ukrainian control in 1954. Intended as a “gift” commemorating the tricentennial of the union of Russia and Ukraine, Crimea remained a popular vacation destination for tourists from across the Soviet Union. Seventy years later, this “gift” would acquire enormous historical significance, as relations between the now independent Russian Federation and Ukraine soured.
7th Blog Post Guidelines
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Change was in the air as the sixties unfolded. Challenges in the sphere of foreign policy and changes in leadership marked the political sphere just as new forms of cultural expression and shifting social norms shaped Soviet society.
Dacha: The Soviet Dream
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Since the 18th century the dachas had been a symbol of privilege and power. Originating in Tsarist Russia under the reign of Peter the Great, dachas, from the Russian words for “to give” and “gift,” were plots of land, often outside major cities, bequeathed to the empire’s loyal subjects. On these estates, the owners would […]
