Link to Brian’s post here.
Category: 6th Weekly Edition
Fame, Fortune and Propaganda
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No one thinks of aviation when thinking of Russia. But in the 1930s, flying was all the rage, with explorers adventuring out into the great white north. Each pilot set out to make a name for himself, and including one by the name of Valerii Chkalov. Chkalov entered the Soviet Air Force in 1921, but …
The Great Terror: Stalin Brings Down the Hammer and Sickle
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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 purges known as the Great Terror occurred…
When You Wish Upon A Pike
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Since there is a ’30s module about Russian childhood under Stalin and a ’30s module about the arts, I thought it would be appropriate to combine the two in my post. By The Pike’s Wishes is a 1936 play by Yelizaveta Tarakhovskaya. Tarakhovskaya was… Continue Reading →
Mother Russia Finally Says “Nyet” To Abortions…Kind of
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Abortion… Eight letters that make up one word that is fraught with controversy no matter where one is in the world. Russia is no exception to the controversy. In 1920, the then Soviet Union under Bolshevik rule, became the first country to legalize abortion. The law “on the Legalization of Abortions” asserted that to protect the… Continue reading Mother Russia Finally Says “Nyet” To Abortions…Kind of →
Mother Russia Finally Says “Nyet” To Abortions…Kind of
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Abortion… Eight letters that make up one word that is fraught with controversy no matter where one is in the world. Russia is no exception to the controversy. In 1920, the then Soviet Union under Bolshevik rule, became the first country to legalize abortion. The law “on the Legalization of Abortions” asserted that to protect the… Continue reading Mother Russia Finally Says “Nyet” To Abortions…Kind of →
Humble Stalin’s Metro System
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Viktor Deni: We have a Metro! (1935) Long live our great Stalin. There is no fortress that Bolsheviks cannot take – Stalin. Source: Lebedev, Artemii: Moscow Metro. 1996. The Moscow Metro system began construction in 1932 after a massive publicity campaign around it and Stalin which caused the project to have priority on all the resources …
Cult of Personality: Stalin versus Hitler
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In Chapter 11 of Russia a History, Freeze compares Stalin and the Nazi’s rise to power. This was a compelling observation to me so I looked into “The Cult of Personality” in Seventeen Moments which describes this as “a situation in which a public figure (such as a political leader) is deliberately presented to the … Continue reading Cult of Personality: Stalin versus Hitler
The Assassination of Sergei Kirov and the Power of Rumor
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December of 1934 marked a lethal turn in Stalin’s rule over the Soviet Union. The event in question was the assassination of First Secretary of the Leningrad Party Sergei Kirov on December 1st, 1934. Kirov was a popular member of the Politbiuro who was gaining more and more popularity until his untimely death. In the …
Continue reading “The Assassination of Sergei Kirov and the Power of Rumor”
Lev’s Slow Downfall and Demise
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Leon Trotsky, a Marxist revolutionary and theorist, played a huge part in Soviet history in the 1900s. He helped transfer political power to the Soviets with the October Revolution in 1917 and helped form the Red Army. During the
