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Monthly Archives: March 2017
Femininity and Radicalism
Vera Figner presented an interesting rendering of gender stereotypes in relation to ideals of radicalism. We touched on this a bit in class, but it would be useful to think further about the gendered implications of the split of Land … Continue reading
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Force and The People’s Will
On page 337, Saunders uses a citation to summarize The Peoples Will’s philosophy on force and violence: Their prime concern was the acquisition of force. ‘Is terror necessary? Are newspapers necessary? Is a change of programme necessary? Is activity among … Continue reading
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Pushkin and Pugachev
Hi, all. I wanted to follow up on our discussion on Wednesday regarding Alexander Pushkin’s representation of Pugachev’s Rebellion in “The Captain’s Daughter”. While we were all struck by Pushkin’s seemingly positive characterization of Pugachev, as well as his deleterious … Continue reading
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Why did the cultural innovations reviewed by Cracraft “have to be adopted?”
Reading Cracraft left me wondering about one specific phrase in the following passage. “New ways of dress, deportment, communication, navigation, building, gardening, gunnery, drawing, computing, measuring, sculpting, writing, visualizing, indeed of thinking had to be adopted along with new vocabularies … Continue reading
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The two sides of oppression (?)
In the recollections of both Pasha Angelina and Ludmilla Alexeveya, getting together with groups of like-minded young people played a pivotal role in their early adulthood. Both women were about twenty when Komosol meetings and kompaniya helped solidify their respective … Continue reading
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Khrushchev and the Kompanii
Several weeks ago, we discussed the nature of de-Stalinization and the extent to which it constituted a legitimate period of (albeit, limited) liberalization for the Soviet Union. Although the restriction of public dissent in the wake of the Twenty-Second Congress … Continue reading
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Revolutionary Quiz (Just for fun!)
Now that you’ve developed substantial expertise on revolutionary change in Russia, you may be interested in assessing your political bona fides. Have fun with this handy quiz form Arzamas Academy! http://arzamas.academy/materials/1269
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“What is to be done” in Stalin’s Russia?
I am curious as to how one might consider Stalin’s creation of a new Communist elite a fulfillment of some of the points Lenin outlines in his 1902 pamphlet “What is to be done?” Did Lenin have in mind the … Continue reading
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What “specific qualifications” qualified Stalin’s cadres for Soviet leadership?
In “Stalin and the Making of a New Elite,” Fitzpatrick argues that Stalin believed his new cadres to have “specific qualifications that were essential for Soviet leadership.” (1992, 150). Fitzpatrick goes on to claim that Stalin’s Great Purge was a means … Continue reading
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