David Maas (International Relations) David’s thesis explores the rise of the radical right in Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. First, David is examining how the turbulence of the 1990s allowed for radical right groups and their ideas to emerge in the country. From here, David’s thesis will investigate Vladimir Putin’s response to the phenomenon: the Russian government in the 2000s has attempted to both suppress the movement while also adopting many of its tenets. David hopes to identify why the government has acted in this way, and how policies have helped shape the radical right today.
This is Varlam Shalamov (1907-1982) journalist, poet, writer, and survivor of Stalin’s Soviet work-camps. Shalamov was sent to a work camp (twice) for his ‘counterrevolutionary’/Trotskyist ideas: mainly the distribution of letters written by Lenin warning against Stalin’s dictatorial attitude. He wrote his accounts of the conditions inside the work-camps entitled ‘The Kolyma Tales’. He was quite handsome too, of course, with his deep-set, light eyes.
“We realized that life, even the worst life, consists of an alternation of joys and sorrows, successes and failures, and there was no need to fear the failures more than the successes.”
(via greatsunrises)
022012 ♥ 268
101511 ♥ 50Girl at the Bakery
From “Russian Children’s Picture Books in the 1920s & 1930s”, catalogue for a joint exhibition between Ashiya City Museum, Ashiyaga Museum of Art and The Tokyo Met, published by Tankosha in 2004.
100911 ♥ 23Soviet classroom. Around 1973. My dad is in the front, Aleksander Merenkov.
-Alena Merenkova
The man who saved the world:
Stanislav Petrov was manning surveillance equipment for the Soviet Air Defense Forces when he noticed something strange on the screen. Soon after, warning signals started flashing with the report of an incoming nuclear missile from the USA.
Seeing only one missile, he figured it was a mistake. He figured Americans wouldn’t send only one missile if they wanted a nuclear war.
Soon thereafter, many more started appearing on the screen.
Nevertheless he trusted his instincts, and rather than contact his superiors he waited to see what would happen. He waited past the perceived time on impact. There was no damage - the warnings were due to a system malfunction.
Had Petrov not defied protocol and contacted his superiors, a real nuke may very well have been fired in response - igniting a nuclear war between the USA and Soviet Union.
September 26, 1983 - 28 years ago today.
(via beautifulunreality)
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071711 ♥ 304The Russian Imperial family was murdered in the basement of Ipatiev House ninety-three years ago today.
16/07/1918
one of the many reasons I dislike the so-called “heroes” of the Russian Revolution (in this case, Lenin and Sverdlov)
no-one who orders the murder of children deserves to be remembered as a good person.
Laika, the first dog (and living creature) sent into space, finally gets a happy ending.
Laika was a stray wandering the streets of Moscow when she was found by Russian scientists and trained to test Sputnik 2’s life support systems. The only catch was that she wouldn’t be coming back.
A 2007 book called Laika told her story, but it, too, ended tragically (just like the real story). People didn’t like that, even though it was true. They wished they could change the space-dog’s fate. Well, the author has started to do just that, publishing alternate endings on the web to honor Laika’s memory in a happy way.
(via Discovery News)
(via khrushchev-is-my-homeboy)
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