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 […]
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It’s hard to believe that this is the last blog post of the year already. As I sat down to research for a topic to write about this week, I found something rather peculiar: the Anti-Alcohol Campaign. What? An anti-alcohol campaign in Russia? I was taken aback to say the least. Alcohol is a staple […]
When 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 […]
Read moreWhen you think popular music of the Soviet Union, the Beatles might not spring to mind. But in the relatively liberated time after the death of Stalin, and Khrushchev’s opening of some cultural borders, the young people of the Soviet Union soon found themselves in love with the Beatles, much like their western counterparts. … Continue reading Family, Factory, and…Rock and Roll?
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The Dissident Movement in the Soviet Union took place in the 1960s and 1970s and was created by opposition of the citizens to Soviet government policies. Although participation wasn’t quantitatively huge, the protests made by a few leaders made great impacts for human rights and peace. (Andrei Sakharov speaking for human rights and against the nuclear bomb […]
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The 1970s in the Soviet Union are often known as the time of stagnation. The economy was doing rather poorly, and the new leader, Leonid Brezhnev, backpedaled many of the reforms that had been made under Khrushchev. However, one positive that many Soviet people found was life in communal apartments. While there were definitely some […]
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The 1970s in the Soviet Union is often referred to as the “era of stagnation“. The country had just seen the removal of Nikita Khrushchev from power in 1965 and Leonid Brezhnev soon became the General Secretary of the Soviet Union. The era started with significant economic growth in the industrial sector but was lacking […]
The years following the time period known as “the thaw” (refering to the thawing of Stalin’s cultural ice age) the new soviet General Secretary, Leonid Brezhnev, looked to present an appearance of a continuing thaw,Continue reading
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Russian education has long been criticized throughout the world as too structured, too easy to obtain, and backward- looking. While this may be true in many regards, it has also made Russia the most educated country in the world, in terms of people with college degrees. This focus on education began after Vladimir Lenin realized […]
Soviet Rock & Roll music began to emerge in the mid to late 50’s during the cultural thaw. For a
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