In the closing years of the Soviet Union the popular mass culture was under-attack. The years of togetherness and and the one-size fits all culture was coming to a close. But like all habits this one would die hard. With such big changes it is normal for there to be resistance and in this case […]
Read moreWhen you think of Comedy and game shows what comes to mind? Fun competitions that are either silly or gross, maybe a guessing game? Here in America we have seen many game shows come and go, some fun and exciting and some just strange or down-right not good. Here in the US we love game […]
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“I see no God up here.” These are probably the most famous words Gagarin spoke while in space, words that obviously are quite striking but profound. To understand this first we must understand the man, A simple Russian citizen would would rise to height none had ever achieved. Iurii Gagarin: the first man in space. […]
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Russia and the Soviet Union has long struggled with national anthems. The constant regime changes doesn’t exactly help with keeping a patriotic and political song relevant. Following the fall of the Tsar the Russian national anthem was the Internationale. While this song was influential and powerful during the revolution and the civil war it began […]
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Through the late 1930’s the Soviet union was experiencing a new more quite change. While propaganda was a standard in the USSR there was a more serious influence that was occurring at the top. During this period Stalin had grown even more paranoid, and while the Purges rooted out his possible rivals and nay sayers […]
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Russia and the Soviet union is of course a large state and within its borders falls many different ethnic groups. following the mas culture Push by the party regional and ethnic cultures still remained. among these groups there was a special case, that of the Jewish people. The Jews have historically been a prosecuted people […]
Read more“Vodka, the Church, and the Cinema” This writing by Leon Trotsky provides a glimpse into what Trotsky envisioned the new culture as. As one of the leaders of this new soviet endeavor Trotsky looked towards the future but also the past. He saw how the old fit with the new, and how the old would […]
Read moreIn the footsteps of a giant the Russian people follow, the not so silent majority rises. The man who brought this scene to canvas was Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev, a man who had grown up poor and fell in with the Soviet ideals. As a young man he worked along other painters, one of which being […]
Read moreVasily Perov was one of the original founding members of the Wanderers movement in pre-soviet Russia. His works centered around a new genre of art in Russia: Critical Realism. In his piece Monastic Refectory we can see just how skeptic he was of Russian social structure and customs. Although he paints a lovely scene it […]
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