“Perhaps the best-documented struggle of the cultural revolution was in literature,” (Freeze, pg.356). The reason literature became a struggle during 1929 was the shift from creativity to constraints that took
Category: Comrade’s Corner
Trotsky’s Train: Railway to Victory
by •
The Red Sotnia, which translates to Red One hundred was Leon Trotsky’s elite personal body guard and were the early twentieth century equivalent of the Secret service and manned what can be considered the early twentieth century equivalent of Air Force One. The train acted as an early version of a mobile Pentagon allowing Trotsky to go …
Doing Away With Religion
by •
Communism and religion have always been at odds with one another. This antagonistic relationship started with Karl Marx when he famously wrote, “It [Religion] is the opium of the people” (Marx 1844). Religion was seen as a tool with which the ruling class used to suppress and control the working class. However, with the seizure … Continue reading Doing Away With Religion
Terror Against Men of God
by •
The Bolsheviks did all that they could to seize power, even if that meant killing thousands to get what they wanted. The Bolsheviks conducted the Red Terror, a campaign of mass arrests and executions. The Red Terror resulted in tens
The Feminist for Russia: Alexandra Kollontai
by •
Born of Russian nobility in 1872, it was surprising to me how Alexandra Kollantai related to the revolutionary movements in Russia before, during, and after the 1917 Russian Revolution. Her social class status and upbringing portrays one of wealth and prosperity. She was well-educated and was generally free to seek her own path in life,…
The OG Instagram: Bolshevik Propaganda
by •
The Bolsheviks were very purposeful with their use of media. Specifically, the Bolsheviks focused on visual arts to draw in viewers not only to their subject matter, but rather the
From Revolution to Revolution
by •
The Revolution of 1917 had two parts to become the Communist Soviet Union that is typically thought of coming about after the tsar was abdicated. The February revolution created a provisional government that lasted for eight months. It was a more conservative government with ideals of liberal democracy. Its goal was to implement more liberal… Continue reading From Revolution to Revolution →
The Kornilov Affair and the Rise of the Bolsheviks
by •
After escaping from a Hungarian prisoner-of-war (POW) camp in 1916, General Lavr Kornilov came back to Russia and found that the army needed a restoration of discipline. Appointed as the Commander-in-Chief of the army by Prime Minister Kerensky, Kornilov was determined to achieve his political goals while increasing the army’s fighting capacity (Freeze, 287). One […]
The Peasants got Hangry
by •
Line at a Tobacco Store (1918). Corner of Prospect and Caravan Street, Petrograd, 1918. Source: Russian State Film & Photo Archive at Krasnogorks, 2000. This week I decided to focus on the food provisions that arose in Russia during … Continue reading →
The Kornilov Conundrum
by •
During the summer months of 1917, Russian Society was in the process of completely breaking down: workers frequently resorted to strikes and other disruptive behaviors that halted factory production, peasants seized land that did not belong to them, the upper class’s fears about chaos below them were manifested, and the government led by Kerensky … Continue reading The Kornilov Conundrum
