Month: February 2017

Was it a Year of Great Change Though?

In 1929, the First Five-Year Plan was in its second year and was continuing to centralize the state. This was an important element with changes occurring within this year due to the improvements of productivity of labor, industrial construction, and agricultural development. While these changes were taking the economy by storm, economists “were faced with… Continue reading Was it a Year of Great Change Though?

1929: Make a ‘Great turn’ away from religion and into the factories

I’m Going Over to the Six-Day Work Week (1929) Heavenly Powers: Guards! They have a knife! Save me! Source: Bezbozhnik u stanka. Moscow: M.K.R.K.P.. 1923. The Soviet disdain for religion had been well known in society when the crackdown began in 1929, but its efforts stretched back to even before the founding of the USSR. …

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Sporty Chic(k)

The featured image is a 1929 painting by Ivan Kulikov that highlights the importance of sport in Russia during the late 1920s. The “Great Turn” was a major departure from the New Economic Police (NEP), a movement many thought was… Continue Reading →

Stalinism and Religion

One of the most fascinating components of the ‘building of Stalinism’ is action taken against religion, especially the Russian Orthodox Church. Although the First-Five-Year Plan particularity focused on collective agriculture and industrialization, the attack on religion was physically and mentally schematized. Churches were not only destroyed by the thousands, but propaganda also declared religion poisonous. … Continue reading Stalinism and Religion