Real USSR » lenin

Moscow Underground Without Stalin — See the Gaps

eugenia — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 06:26:24 +0000

The Moscow underground metro system, opened in 1935, is well known for its ornate decorations, outstanding architecture and artwork. Most of that art is in the socialist realism style, which has its purpose of reinforcing the goals of socialism and communism. In 1932 Joseph Stalin introduced the decree “On the Reconstruction of Literary and Art Organizations”, thus making socialist realism state policy. Understandably, Stalin became the face of this movement — due to strict censorship rules, artists had to obey in order to avoid the punishment. So the majestic Moscow metropolitan system had bearings of many statues, portraits, mosaics of the man himself.

However, after his death, the Thaw and altogether the disintegration of the cult of his persona, images of Stalin were removed — no longer he was the face behind the socialism goals. Please read on to see the scars on the body of the finest example of the Soviet architecture — the Moscow Underground System.

Kurskaya Circle Station, 1944. Stalin by Tomskiy. After the statue was moved, the place was taken by a kiosk.

A mosaic: three women are embroidering a portrait of Stalin. Belorusskaja Station.

Later Stalin was replaced by the Emblem of the Red Labour Flag.

The trumpets are praising noone: the part of the mosaic with the face of Stalin was removed. Paveletskaya Station

This station, opened in 1944, was initially called Stalinskaya. In 1961 it was renamed as Semenovskaya.

Semenovskaya Station nowadays.

Semenovskaya, inside. Another portrait gone, not much polishing given.

Dobryninskaya Station, open in 1950 — Yuri Gararin was a teenager then and could not be portrayed as yet. However he replaced Stalin in mid196s there.

Elektrozavodskaya Station: at the back wall there used to be an ornament with a portrait of Stalin.

Elektrozavodskaya Station, nowadays.

Partizanskaya Staton. Above the statue is Stalin’s portrait and a quote “To defend our country is the most sacred duty of every citizen”.

Partizanskaya Staton. Now both the quote and the portrait have been removed

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21+ Depressing Photos of Post-Revolutionary Russia by Arkady Shaikhet

eugenia — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:11:22 +0000

When the new Soviet country was born, the people were promised a wonderful future under the socialism — just a few more years, the billboards boasted — and we’ll live in a glorious state. However the early days were more than gloomy: the rundown economy, disoriented society, the reek of fear and uncertainty — and that clearly can be seen through the photos of a prominent Soviet photographer Arkady Shaikhet.

This collection of photos starts off with nice, clearcut images of what the country was portrayed as by the media and propaganda — and progresses to a unsweetened world of the simple folk, vagrants, and peasants. Please let us know if there is a photo below that has touched your heart — we always value your feedback.

Gymnasts. Red Square. 1924

Arkady Shaikhet’s life story is one of the most remarkable ever. A fourth kid in a Jewish family from the South of Russia, with no school education or special skills, he was called in the army to serve in the WWI. However, the outbreak of typhoid saved him and so, being discharged at the age of 24, he moved to Moscow in search of great opportunities. And there they were: after getting a job at a local paper, Arkady tried his luck with a camera — only to realise that he got a special talent. It was all uphill ever since: publishing in the most influential newspapers, the honour of duty to photograph Lenin and Stalin, busy exhibitions and so on. He had the most remarkable shots of the Second World War events, which we hope to publish here in the future.

The cycle parade. 1924.

Morning exersize. 1927

Morning exersize. 1932

A sportsman. 1932

At the gym. 1928

And here’s some of the less life-assuring images of the new country.

A street kid is learning a shoemaking skill. 1929

A village in the mountains. Father and son. 1929

Engineers to be. Moscow. 1930

Bathing of a vagrant kid. Moscow. 1927

Voting. 1925

Out in fields. 1927

Plowing. Samara. 1927

Test drive. Moscow. 1924

City of Elista. A school lesson for the kalmyk’s kids (a small indigenous nation).

Electrification. 1925

Visit of a tax collector. Moscow. 1928

Putting up the poles for the electrical cables. 1925

Sharpening the tools. 1939

A building site. Uzbekistan. 1939

Workmen resting by a fountain. 1926

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The Fearsome Threesome – Lenin and His Lovebirds

eugenia — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 22:24:24 +0000

Paris, city of love, brought them all together. A Russian movie of 1981.

The official history often misses a very important and interesting point in the course of the Russian Revolution – not everybody knows that Vladimir Lenin, a formidable mind behind the Great October Patriotic Revolution and the leader of all communists, had less than straightforward love life – apart from a wife, he had a mistress – and not only that, these two women knew each other and got on very well!

Young Nadezhda

Vladimir Lenin’s wife, nee Nadezhda Krupskaya, was born in 1869, in a noble but poor family. She was trained as a school teacher and had a very successful start to her teaching career – until she got involved with some revolutionary ideas which the air was penetrated with at the time. It all started with her passion for the books of Leo Tolstoy and then gradually developed into some seriously marxism-winged outlook.

Young Nadezhda was very well organised, hardworking, disciplined: she took up german so she could read Carl Marx’s manuscripts. She suffered from thyroid dysfunction and was incredibly skinny, with protruding eyes, hence she was nicknamed as Herring Fish.

It didn’t take her long to become a prominent figure in the revolutionary circles.

She was 25 when she met Lenin, and due to their ideological connectedness, they hit it off rightaway: she was subdues by his leadership skills and staunch Marxist views, he – well, he was in the need of a wife. The rumour had it that he was deeply in love with a friend of his sister Olga, but never had any luck there. Her mother, on the othe hand, considered Nadezhda unattractive and utterly marriageable, so Lenin, with his decent upbringing and education, was warmly welcomed.

In 1896, when Nadezhda was arrested and sentenced to three years of exile for espionage and anti-Tsar activities, she received a telegramme from Lenin asking her to marry him. Apparently her answer was “Oh well, you need a wife – I could be a wife”.

Their wedding rings were made out of copper coins by a friendly political exile; there was a church ceremony and the bride wore a black skirt and a white blouse, while the groom had his only brown suit on. She kept her maiden name (Krupskaya) on general feminism principle.

Taa

Nadezhda was no good at cooking: her mother did all of housework. After she died, Nadezhda wrote in her diaries that “our life became even more student-like”. During her honeymoon, she wrote a book “A female worker”, trying to analyse the women’s position in the society through the prism of Marxism philosophy.

One of the rare photographs: Nadezhda and Lenin

Within the next few years after the wedding, the couple moved to Paris in the hope to get some peace from the Tsar dogs. There Vladimir Lenin meets Inessa Armand, an adorable rich man’s wife of French origin who also happens to be a devout Socialist. Lenin was 39, she was 35, with five kids to two different husbands who also happened to be brothers, yet they fall in love and it is a strong, genuine, mutual feeling, which they managed to maintain throughout the years. Nadezhda learns that she is not the only one almost right away and makes several attempts to leave Lenin, but he objects, saying that their relationships – these plural and complicated relationships are well beyond any primitive bounds of a regular marriage alliance, and so she stays.

Inessa Armand

Although Nadezhda always remembered those years in Paris as the hardest years in their lives, she still managed to develop some sort of a warm feeling for Inessa.

This bizarre relationship continued for a good numbers of years – until Inessa’s son developed a TB and she had to take him to a resort in the Caucasus where she contracted cholera and died at the age of 46, in the year 1920. Lenin, already unwell due to overwork, never managed to fully recover after her death. Lenin outlived Inessa for three years only. Nadezhda Krupskaya had to take care of Inessa’s five kids, which she did with great pleasure – the contemporaries often said that Inessa’s daughter was the only person whom Nadezhda felt warm about.

Her contribution to the development of the educational programmes for the children of the young Soviet country cannot be underestimated — with no kids of her own, she was known as “everyone’s Grandmother”. She is still the one to thank for the establishment of the schooling system of Russia.

Nadezhda lived for fifteen long years after Lenin had died. She was an avid enemy of Stalin, who is often held accountable for her death – she died under suspicious circumstances on her 70^th birthday – many think she was poisoned by the cake that Stalin sent. Her only request – to bury Lenin – was never granted. She was buried in Moscow, under the walls of Kremlin.

An old collage

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The Patriotic Education in USSR. Part 2 — Pioneers, Soviet Boy Scouts

Anton Markin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:27:03 +0000

We are the pioneers, sons of working class (a popular song)

As you remember from the previous post, at the age of 9 the Soviet Kids grew out of their October Kids affiliation. The next ideological rite of passage was pioneering which the Soviet country placed a huge importance on. Loosely based on the American Boy Scout’s movement, pioneering covered all kids till the age of fourteen and worked in close relation with schools. Just like anything else Soviet style, it had its idiosyncrasies.

The pioneer tie knot under a school jacket.

Almost all October Kids made it to the next level – not to be accepted, one had to really misbehave and do something wrong on several occasions. However, the process of initiation was organised in a smart ideological way: usually it was scheduled close to some Soviet days of importance: November 7^th (The Great October Socialist Revolution), 22^nd April (Vladimir Lenin’s Birthday), 19^th May – the Pioneering day. As the initiation ceremony was broken down into several parts, everybody had the impression that only the most “worthy” of the lot were accepted. In reality, a class of school kids would make it to pioneers in full over a period of time of less than two years.

The initiation were MC’d by school teachers. Stalin himself would witness off the wall.

The initiation process involved a vow:

I am (full name, eg Anton Markin) entering the team of the Soviet Union Pioneer Organisation, in front of all my comrade mates, I solemnly declare: to love and to protect my country, live as the great Lenin advised, as the Communist party guides, as the Pioneer Laws require.

Then the neophyte would receive a tie, which was just like any other scout’s type of a tie. There were rules on how to tie a knot, and the colour was, of course, bloody red. A badge with the burning fire of Pioneering and Lenin’s profile was also presented. The badge bore the slogan of all pioneers – Always ready! – which was meant to be a reply to “Pioneer, be ready for the mutual action of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union!”

Always ready!

Usually each school class would contain up to three pioneer teams. Each team had a designated captain, a discipline watcher, a note taker and other positions ensuring the smooth organisational process of the every day life of pioneers.

The initiation.

It was pioneers’ job to curate the October Kids by providing guidance and mentoring, organising their leisure time. The “older brothers” were responsible for taking the October Kids not only to the movies or museums: as they had to be the “right” influence, they often organised meetings for kids of all ages with remarkable citizens or excellent production line workers to keep the young ones keen on learning and working.

Pioneers with astronaut Leonov, the first man in the outer space.

A popular activity, which any modern ex-pioneer would find nostalgic now, was the collection of paper from the neighbourhood for the recycling purposes. This was organised as a competition between the pioneer teams: kids had to go knock on doors and ask for old newspapers, books, unused boxes etc. The winners – whoever collected most – were entitled to a “thank you” letter from school or the Komsomol organisation.

A usual school class round up

So in fact, no matter how hard they denied it, the pioneer organisation took a lot after the American Boy Scout movement. Starting with the uniform and right through to the organisational structure, it was a copy and paste scheme of work. Needless to say, the propaganda lines went as “American kids living the dangerous life of crass consumerism, whereas us, Soviets, bring up our younger generations in accordance with the rules of good behaviour, wellbeing, respecting the elderly and so on”. Well, as the Iron Curtain was hanging up strongly, nobody had the means of comparing– even though it could have been a great way to learn off the American counterparts. But a typical for the Soviets “Ours is best, is Western is rotten” attitude was adopted.

Boy Scout

The mass media catered well for the pioneer market segment. The teen magazines, such as “Friendly Kids”, “A Soviet Schooler”, “Pioneer”, “Burning Fire”, “Young modeller – constructor” etc., were extremely popular. Well, providing this was almost it – there was nothing in print, which would cover music, or interpersonal relations, or sex, or anything of the interest of those approaching puberty as it was considered inappropriate. The propaganda had its sprout tentacles reached out to even to the teen Russians.

“Burning Fire”. May 1988. The cover topic is 285 years of city of St Petersburg.

Summers – June to August – was the time to take off the tie and enjoy the well-earned school break. Many kids would be sent to the pioneer summer camps – the places to stay for a few weeks, play, rest, do sports, meet new friends.

Altogether the pressure was constantly on: being a pioneer was not only an honour, it was also a responsibility, and the adults, knowing it was an easy subject to manipulate, would demand good behaviour, good marks, household help etc. Nothing unreasonable, certainly, but still – the possibility of being expelled from the pioneer organisation was a constant threat, and so in order to do well in the Soviet Union, one had to belong.

Pioneer! Learn to fight for the actions of the working people. Unfortunately, wordy slogans, which made very little sense, were idiosyncratic to the USSR.

That was what kids were doing until the age of 14, when it was a new rite of ideological passage – the Komsomol.

To Be Continued.

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Happy Birthday Dear USSR! The Great October Socialist Revolution. November 7th 1917.

Lena Traer — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:10:26 +0000

The Announcement of the Soviet Government. By Vladimir Serov, 1918.

The Soviet Union was officially created in 1922, however, if there was a date which could be considered as a birthday of the USSR, that would have had to be November 7th of 1917 — this was the day when in St Petersburg the Bolsheviks — the organised military revolutionaries, who later became the Communist Party of the USSR — came to power. The Russian Provisional Government which were the head of the country after the Tsar Nicholas II had resigned, was overthrown and the Soviets, taking the government buildings one by one, had finally captured the town.

The October Coup, as it was initially called, had later been renamed as we know it now - the Great October Socialist Revolution. Many attribute this change in terminology from a coup to a revolution to have a propaganda underline, as revolution is certainly perceived as having more weight and grandiosity that coup. Interestingly, the term “October” is no mistake: the revolutionary events did take place on the 25th October 1917, yet the calendar style was changed in 1918 from the traditional Julian calendar to the Gregorian style calendar. Thus 25 October 1917 became 7 November 1917, yet the title — the October Revolution — was left unchanged.

The first anniversary. 1918.

It is hard to explain briefly what had lead to these drastic events of 1917. The country was exhausted after the First World War. In March 1917 Tsar Nicholas II abdicated, and the Provisional Government came into power, although many refused to recognise it. The country was in crisis on the economic, social and political levels. Workers of many towns were on mass strikes, demanding better pay and better conditions. In towns the rates of unemployment were rising, while in countryside peasants were rebelling against landowners. The total bankruptcy was inevitable, which was odd, given that less that ten years prior to it, it was one of the most strongest economies in the world. Food shortages were becoming more and more frequent, and numerous conspiracies against the government began. So it was no surprise when the Bolsheviks’ Central Committee voted 10–2 for a resolution saying that “an armed uprising is inevitable, and that the time for it is fully ripe”.

Vladimir Lenin, the brain behind the October Revolution, and the face most often associated with it.

The Provisional Government was residing in the Winter Palace and, when the fall of it was announced, a decree was adopted, giving the power to the Union of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies, thus ratifying the Revolution. The peasants were officially granted the land. The workers were allowed to take control over the factories and now manage them as they saw fit. The banks were nationalised,and all private bank accounts were confiscated. The Church was outlawed, and its properties were seized and later redistributed as cinema theatres, leisure clubs, or any recreational venues. All foreign debts were repudiated, and the wages fixed at an artificially high level. Vladimir Lenin was declared as the head of the State, and the long journey to Communism had officially began.

Seizing of the Winter Palace in St Petersburg by Bolshevik Baltic Sailors. The movie October, 1927.

The Bolsheviks viewed themselves as representing an alliance of workers and peasants and memorialized that understanding with the Hammer and Sickle on the flag and coat of arms of the Soviet Union. So the day was an official public holiday and the tradition to celebrate it with a parade, people marching in the streets with red flags and carrying red balloons and carnations — the official flower of the Revolution — had lingered for almost 70 years. The Red Square access roads in Moscow were re-constructed specifically for the November 7th annual Military parade showing off the latest developments in the Soviet weaponry.

Moscow 1941.

Not even the Military parade of 1941 was skipped, the year Germany invaded into Russia. The Soviet Army tanks were moving that day across the Red Square and straight to the army front. That act itself was as important as a large military operation as the Soviet people were showing their desperate sublime heroism. It is believed that the same day, November 7th 1941, was planned by Hitler as the day of the grand victory march of German troops through the Red Square having conquered Moscow, but it didn’t happen.

Probably one of the most famous images of the Soviet power –tanks in the Red Square in 1941.

Stalin gave a truly inspiration speech that day.

The tradition to commemorate the day of November 7th was spread all over the country. Any town — no matter how big or small — would participate. The attendance often was compulsory.

A parade in the small town of Lyvny, 1954.

Small town of Volzhsky. 1978.

Small town of Usinsk. 1979.

By the end of 1970s the enthusiasm about this day started to cease. A great deal of years passed since the original Revolution and people stopped feeling that excited about the Soviet state. The celebration march of the Working People was now enforced by factories and other organisations: it was no longer voluntary. This military parade was not as popular anymore, the new generation of the Soviets was not interested in weaponry and the great world power of the Soviet Union. However, from the outside it still looked the same and it was almost impossible to register the tiny changes in the mood.

Town of Ufa, circa 1980.

1986. Town unknown, but could have taken place anywhere.

Small town of Volzhsky. 1986.

Small town of Lyvny. 1988.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union the first Russian president Boris Yeltsin officially renamed the holiday in 1994, giving it a completely different meaning. November 7th became the Day of the Liberation of Moscow from the Polish occupation in the year 1612. The next year he came up with a new name and changed it to the Day of People’s Unity. Almost 10 years later, in the year 2004, Vladimir Putin changed the name again, bringing it back to the original roots: it became the Day of 1941 Military Parade on the Red Square in the city of Moscow in the memory of the 24th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. It stopped being a day off, rather, the Day of People’s Unity sprawled as a new holiday, celebrated nowadays on November the 4th. Who knows what the future holds for this day now.

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The Patriotic Education in the USSR. Part One: the October Kids.

Anton Markin — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:09:55 +0000

Only those who like to work get successful in this world.

The young Soviet country could not grow and flourish without the support and patriotism of its people. From the early days of the Soviet Union, the ideology organisations aimed to target citizens of all ages, obliging them to belong in order to do well in life. So the pestering had to start early: when kids start school (the school age 7 years old in the USSR), the school ideology organisation would take them under the wing, with the prospect of nurturing the future members of the Communist Party.

The very first movement every child would belong to was called the October kids, after the Great October Revolution of 1917, after which the new government came into power.

Despite the absolute totality — for every single child it was compulsory to become an October kid — it was still a long awaited honour.

A proud Octobrist.

Usually the inauguration was an all-school celebration where each kid got a formal insignia pin to wear and the rules to life and living were announced. The pin features a ruby-red star with the portrait of young Lenin in the centre.

The inauguration ceremony was of great glory

A usual class was divided into the groups of five people in each, like little stars, which was a symbol of the Soviet regime. An older student - generally well-performing and a responsible one — would curate such a star, by giving them songs to sing, stories to listen to and doing other things to nurture the sense of patriotism. The main goal, however, was the creation of a“Pioneer Cult” and its maintenance: the next step after the Octobrists, which kids joined at the age of 9. They had their own set of rules, all rhymed, like a good proclamation to live by. The rules went as following:

There are five of our rules, let them be our only tools!

We are active kids — we are Octobrists! You, October, don’t forget - communism is there yet.
We are courageous kids — we are Octobrists! We are living our life like our heroes — full of light!
We are diligent kids — we are Octobrists! Only those who like to work get successful in this world.
We are thruthful kids — we are Octobrists! Never shall betray a friend — that’s the point we defend.
We are happy kids — we are Octobrists! Our songs, our laughs and dances are to share in equal stances.

We are diligent kids — we are Octobrists!

Kids of all ages enjoyed their own ideologically correct mass media — there were two popular magazines, Mourzilka and Merry Pictures. The magazines still exist, albeit they are now ideology and propaganda-free kids mags.

Mourzilka cover. 1984.

The Mourzilka character was a yellow furry creature of unknown origin, who had a camera and a very inquisitive mind. It was born in 1937 and became an instant success.

Mourzilka cover. 1966.

Merry Pictures had a humour focus and offered a variety of quizzes, puzzles, jokes, as well as many suggestions on how to create toys or give an old toy a make over. It was a fine magazine made by talented writers and artists, and it was very, very popular!

Merry Pictures.1981. Who do you want to be when you grow up?

Whatever happened to the October kids when they grew up? At the age of nine the best October kids — the ones with the best marks, good behaviour and positive feedback were to proceed to the following level of Soviet pioneering. But this is a totally different story.

From now onwards: the pioneers. Stay tuned!

To be continued.

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From Admirals to Dictators: Prominent Soviets on the Cover of Time Magazine.

Stas Kulesh — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:32:06 +0000

Here’s our little something for your Monday — a compilation of Time magazine covers with a USSR focus, 1925 — 1991. The prominent Soviet and Russian politicians, government leaders, poets, composers, writers, philosophers, scientists, astronauts, dissidents, admirals and a few dictators — the list of 110 remarkable citizens of the Soviet Union; those who made the West cringe — or laugh for that matter.

The faces are certainly repetitive, yet some covers are a piece of art –this collage is worth a good look, so click on the flash bit below, zoom in and explore.

If you would like to learn more please do not hesitate to click the fancy carousel. Thanks for being with us.

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Declassified: the Great and Powerful Stalin.

eugenia — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:18:52 +0000

Joseph Stalin is always with you.

Joseph Stalin was probably one of the most multifaceted, controversial and yet unknown persons in the course of the world history. In January 1943 Time magazine featured Stalin as the Person of the Year, saying:

The year 1942 was a year of blood and strength. The man whose name means steel in Russian, whose few words of English include the American expression “tough guy” was the man of 1942. Only Joseph Stalin fully knew how close Russia stood to defeat in 1942, and only Joseph Stalin fully knew how he brought Russia through.

When he began climbing the power ladder (which happened shortly after the first World War and the Russian Civil War), the country was in a state close to anarchy: the ruling governments kept changing, one’s life had very little value and there was no guarantee of Human Rights of any kind. Maybe that is why he had no choice but to impose his new rules: tough and cruel, yet clear to follow and, in all honesty, viable due to the promised harsh punishments — which he was not slow to deliver.It is fair to say that the options he had were not “A free country or totalitarianism”, no. What he faced was more like “A total anarchy and chaos — or totalitarianism”. Needless to say, the difference is palpable.

Smiley face.

Now it is interesting to note that in 1930s of the 20th century there were very few countries in Europe which did not lean toward totalitarianism (apart from France or England, perhaps). The modern historians now say that Stalin was somewhat of a Hitler’s follower, and this point of view is certainly worth weighting. For instance, the Great Purge –the mass political repressions and his own personal crimes against the humanity — is now said to start on the 1st December 1934, with the assassination of Sergey Kirov, the leader of the opposition movement — which happened not long after the German “Night of the Long Knives” (30 June 1933). Stalin figured that that was a very efficient way to eliminate the critics of his regime and to bring the allies to order — so he did not contemplate the massacre as he saw it fit. The main difference to Hitler’s approach was, however, that Hitler made it to the top in a legitimate and civil way, whereas Stalin had formed a gang from a good for nothing bunch and had to control them in a very violent way. Sadly, there was a young country which suffered the most.

Stalin’s Communism Party ID card. The membership number is 000 000 2, the first one belonged to Lenin himself.

The point of all of this cruelty was that Stalin created indeed a very capable and effective system, which could only perform well under his own personal rule. So with his death in 1953 the system began to shatter and then eventually fell apart showing the imperfections of totalitarianism as a whole. But the Churchill’s notion on “Stalin who took the country with a hoe and left it with the atomic bomb” is not really very truthful. Nevertheless, Stalin’s persona has become somewhat of a mythical deity: still, about a half of those of the Russian origin would consider him the hero who rebuilt the country after the WWII, who kept everything in order and enemies at bay, and who just saved the country and its people.

The Big Three, Yalta Conference, 1945.

Funnily enough, it is virtually impossible to find any of the old photographs of Stalin among the people. When you start looking, you get photos with Churchill and Roosevelt on the Yalta conference; you get Stalin on government meetings or in Mausoleum, you get Stalin making a speech for the Communist Party. The images of Stalin among the factory workers are very rare — just like Stalin visiting a mining plant or army barracks. So he wasn’t that close to people, after all — quite the contrary, he tried to stay as far away from the regular people as possible: he never travelled to Siberia or the Urals, and when he did leave his Moscow residence (like when visiting Tehran), the whole voyage was top rank classified.

Stalin with a fellow party member M. Kalinin.

Certainly there is an array of opinions on Stalin, but there is one I find particularly interesting, by someone named S. Montefiore:

Stalin possessed a rare combination of being intellectual and murderous at the same time. He did well at school, he wrote poetry, he aspired to a lot, but he was different: he was never an idealist. At school he picked up what was necessary to succeed in those unstable times: the basics of espionage, blackmail, human hunt, violence and no account for feelings or emotions. He could have not succeeded elsewhere, apart from in those times, in those places. But back in the revolutionary Russia, surrounded by the cruel and unscrupulous people, he managed to become the most cruel and the most unscrupulous.

The police file on Stalin. Circa 1913.

Stalin’s personality has been under scrutiny for the past 60 or 70 years, not only by historians, but also by psychologists and linguists. Funnily enough, they now find his rhetoric to be of a primitive level, but his public speaking skills were excellent. L. Batkin, for instance, argues that Stalin had a tendency to keep repeating what was being said by twisting and turning the same idea around– tautology was his main speaking technique. His vocabulary was said to be poor but he was always pompous: this was his way to conceal that he did not have much to say. His logical reasoning was also poor: often he constructed his persuasive chains by saying something like A is A, and B is B, hence it is not possible because it just can’t be. The true horror of it is that it never really mattered:he was already there, at the top, before anybody could notice.

Almost a decade after his death, a poem by a prominent Russian dissident Evgeniy Evtushenko was published. The poem describes the burial of Stalin but at the end suggests that the problems are not yet over.

Grimly clenching his embalmed fists, just pretending to be dead, he watched from inside. He was scheming. Had merely dozed off. And I, appealing to our government, petition them to double, and treble, the sentries guarding the slab, and stop Stalin from ever rising again.

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The Great Patriotic War: the Villainous Hitler’s Plan or the Provoсation?

Dmitry Yakimenko — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 08:18:19 +0000

Military Parade in Moscow

In accordance with the official history the Second World War (in Russia called ‘the Great Patriotic War’) was commenced on the Soviet territory by Germany: the treacherous attack on 22 June, 1941when they invaded into the USSR. This official version of the Soviet Government is written in every history book. At the same time there is numerous evidence of Stalin’s desire to start the war first with the intention similar to Hitler’s . And that is why there is the theory that Stalin provoked German aggression against the USSR.

In 1939 the USSR government signed a historical agreement with Germany (‘the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact”). This non-aggression pact guaranteed that both parties never make war with each other. Signing this document, the USSR implicitly permitted Germany to commence the war against the West. This would have allowed Stalin to start the emancipation movement of the countries which would have been invaded by Hitler. It was the right moment – Germany, exhausted with its Western campaign, would not have been able to fight in the East (East being the West of the USSR), should the USSR invade the German borders later. By winning the war with Hitler, the USSR would become the main World Saviour and, as per the Lenin’s precept, it may be the start of World Communism Revolution.

What would have happened if the USSR began that war? The war – is the Mother of revolution, and the world war – the mother of World revolution. According to the main revolution philosopher Friedrich Engels, the World War with the victory of Communists would result in the ‘total exhaustion and creation of conditions for the ultimate victory of the labour force’. Fortunately, this guy died before the Second World War and, unfortunately, Lenin — the follower of the idea of World Revolution gained an access to power in Russia and created the monster Stalin.

Joachim von Ribbentrop third from right watches his Soviet counterpart Vyacheslav Molotov seated sign the Molotov Ribbentrop Pact of non-aggression on Aug. 23 1939. Josef Stalin (AP Photo/File)

In 1939 a German colonel Heinz Guderian paid a visit to the Soviet Locomotive Factory which also produced tanks. The number of tanks produced daily was 22(!). That was a time when Soviets were not participated in any war. Just six years prior to that, Germany which was not at war, did not have any tanks at all. Also when Germany commenced the war they had only 3200 tanks – the same amount which could have been produced by the Soviet locomotive factory for less than half a year! And now a little bit about those tanks. Similar to the Soviet cars, copied from the American templates, that tank’s prototype was first created in the USA (where it was never put into mass production) and transferred to the USSR with the utterance of forged documents where it was listed as the agricultural tractor.

Later, this ‘tractor’ was copied and then assembled in tremendous numbers under the brand HST – High-Speed Tank. First HST could gather speed of 100 km/h. Even at present this speed for the tank is considered to be enormous. The shape of the tank’s body was simple and rational. None of the tanks in the World had such an armour shape. The best tank of the Second World War, T34, was the direct descendant of the HST. The principles used in this tank was later copied by the German ‘Panther’ and then spread in the world. In 1936 these tanks could move on the bottom of the deep creek — almost underwater. In 1938 these tanks were assembled with the diesel engines – unprecedented feature for that time. Finally, these tanks were equipped with the very powerful weapon. Those tanks had only one disadvantage – they were useless on the territory of the Soviet Union as they were not adapted for the impassability of roads rather than to good roads of Europe…

BT-7 — High Speed Tank

Another instance of Soviet pre-war weapon was the Soviet pursuit plane which was the first one in the world equipped with rockets. By that time the Soviet engineers already created the unique plane IL-2 with the armour body – the real “tank” able to fly, with the super power equipment including 8 rocket missiles. Did the Soviet aviation have the supremacy in the air then? No.

Mostly Russian pilots including the pilots of pursuit planes were not trained to conduct the fight in the air, rather they could strike the targets on the ground. According to the code of the military aviation they were directed to conduct one superior offensive war destroying the enemy planes on the airfields and then holding the supremacy in the air. In 1929 the magazine ‘War and Revolution’ in the article ‘The beginning of the War’ concluded: ‘It is very advantageous to seize the initiative and start the war first, making a surprise attack’. Later, this conclusion was cited in all the Soviet aviation codes.

IL-2 — Flying Tank

One more proof to the alternative version of the offensive war intentions were the howitzer artillery groups created in the USSR as a part of the Red Army military force. If the Sovet government prepared to the defensive actions then they would have produced cannons as they are initially designed for defence – as grazing fire forces the enemy to stop. In an opposite case, however, howitzer is better as it has a high-angle fire trajectory and proved to be the best to smoke out the defender from the trench. Should the Soviets predict the defensive actions they would definitely have built cannons rather than howitzers.

The debates over the different versions of the reasons of Germany attacking the USSR have started in early 90s. These debates are concentrated on Stalin’s obscure intentions when he maimed the entire country while creating the unique system of governance. What was his ultimate purpose?

There are only two possible outcomes – the first one is complimentary for the USSR while the second one is deteriorative. Unfortunately for the Soviet adherents there is no proof that Stalin prepared for the defensive war and this fact puts the Stalin’s regime on the same line with the Hitler Nazi one. Sometimes it seems to be better not to look back in history where the old myths let the Stalin’s supporters live in a fool’s paradise.

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An Old Curiosity Shop: The Museum of Soviet Life

Maria Yukhimenko — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:58:44 +0000

Earlier this year, a unique in its peculiarity museum was opened in Novosibirsk, the Siberian capital of Russia. Privately owned, this museum offers an insight into the days long gone, yet longing to be remembered: a collection of the Soviet everyday artifacts; simple things that still matter.

Please welcome our new author Maria Yukhimenko, who has visited this place and and prepared this report exclusively for the realussr readers.

The USSR Museum: the facade.

The museum occupies a 1917 villa and is opened by appointment only. The story goes that a long time ago this building was used as an NKVD headquarters (the KGB predecessor, that is). Well, it certainly feels like it – the atmosphere is gloomy enough: dark rooms, high stud ceilings, squeaky wooden floors.

However, it turns out to have quite a bit of character…

As always, please click on magnifying glass to see in detail.

An Old curiosuty shop indeed!

A TV with an classic clock on it.

The Soviet art deco: a cast iron clock Young couple flirting.

Inside it feels like a treasure chest, with all the impossible relics brought together: from old cameras and typewriters through to crockery, clothes and propaganda posters. Most of the appliances are still in working order, Anna the proud curator tells me.

Assorted Soviet china

A boy scout with a German sheppard, close up.

The stuff on display does not seem to be categorized in any particular way, nor is it chronological: it is just there, in almost random piles, to be touched and looked at by visitors. Almost each artifact has got a tiny sticker with a price on; unfortunately, apart from the door charges (USD$2), this is the only way for the museum to stay afloat.

Rubber toys, mostly fairy tale characters.

The director of the USSR museum is Idea Lozhkina. Back in the days, propagandistic names were trendy (Firstofmay or Revolutia, and so Idea is one of them). And she was, indeed, struck by an idea of opening a Soviet version of a curiosity shop. “My house was full of old memorabilia, and people liked it, so I though, why not? – says Idea. - It is very important to create something useful in this life. Something, which will help to remember those days, otherwise the risk that the stuff will be dumped is very high”.

The interview with the director Idea Lozhkina.

The Museum tries to stay neutral in its political position. Idea says they are not trying to promote communism or communistic propaganda; they are only trying to keep the memories alive. The younger ones, who come to the museum, do not always know who Lenin was. Nevertheless, the museum has been opened for two months only, and it has been very popular with the public.

Busts of Mao, bronze; Lenin, cast iron. Note which one is taller, this is Made in the USSR for you.

There is a study-like room, which is just asking to be labelled as “Lenin’s study”. His portraits on the walls, communistic flags, a typewriter on the desk, an opened book on Marxism and communism principles… Just next to it there are documents of that era: passports, membership dockets, letters. A guy in the huge portrait on the wall seems almost unrecognizable: young Brezhnev, it turns out. A rare shot.

Young Brezhnev.

Another Soviet toy, a stuffed teddy.

The “Smena” camera (“Change”, no less!) in its glory days made it to the Guinness Record Book as the most popular camera of its days: the sales were skyrocketing!

USSR money: the rouble is yellow, three is green.

At 6 pm after the war, a film of 1944. The IMDB rating is 7.2/10

In the future they intend to open a small cinema to show films of the Soviet era and to allow the older people to socialize and feel a little nostalgic over it. The Museum team also plan to celebrate major Soviet holidays, organize get-together parties, sing old songs and listen to the old music. “After all, — says Idea, — this place strives to bring people together. Russia is a great and powerful country which I believe in, but Russia was born out of the USSR, and it would not have been possible for Russia to be born without the USSR. And we are here to praise its legacy, even on such a small scale as every day items”.

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