It all started in 1987, Estonians began mass protests in the capital city of Tallinn against the Russian occupation of their country. One of the protests included gathering of 10,000 people in the Tallinn Song Festival where they sang a … Continue reading →
The Disappearing Villages of the Soviet Union
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In the 1980’s there was a resurgence of immigration from the rural Siberian villages into the big cities. In 20 years the number of villages in the Western part of Siberia with less than 200 residents decreased by 50 percent.(Ryvkina) … Continue reading →
Is the Rise of the Dacha the Fall of Communism?
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The Dacha is one of the most iconic Russian terms, alongside matryoshka dolls and cheburashka. If you begin to study Russian, it will be one of the first words you will learn, as it is scattered across beginners text and workbooks. So what exactly is a dacha? According to Websters’s dictionary its “a Russian country cottage used …
Continue reading “Is the Rise of the Dacha the Fall of Communism?”
The Use of Propaganda in Films
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If you love films that are devoid of artistic direction, filled with utterly non discreet propaganda, and that are made purely for enjoyment then Soviet films roughly from the 1930’s to the 1950’s are the films for you. (If any of those things do not appeal to you I highly recommend taking a look at …
The Rise of a New Culture
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One of the most fascinating things about history is how it affects the culture and customs of the generations of that time and the generations to come. The Revolutions of 1917 in Russia embarked on a cultural transformation that affected millions of people throughout Eastern Europe and Northern Asia and still affects them to this …
The Yakutian Laika Dog
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In 1910 Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii ventured out into the Ural Mountains and captured this picture of the so-called “Guard Dogs”. I hope that Prokudin-Gorskii was being facetious with that title because those dogs do not look particularly interested in guarding anything. The dogs depicted in the picture are Yakutian Laika dogs which are commonly found within the region surrounding …
