Category Archives: Uncategorized

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 →

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 →

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

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 →

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 →

It is hard to read about Russian imperialism and without comparing it to what I readily know about western European imperialism.* My sense of European imperialisation is characterized by the exploitation of primarily natural resources and secondarily, the exploitation of … Continue reading →

Tolstoy seems to be very anti-Russian in Hadji Murat. He paints the Nikolai I as an idiot who does not take religion seriously (67), which probably would have been a big deal for an early Christian Anarchist. On the other … Continue reading →

In the introduction to A Life under Russian Serfdom, Boris Gorshkov writes that Purlevskii’s understanding of freedom is not only “as the ability to pursue one or another occupation but as liberation from serfdom”(2005,19). Gorshkov is arguing that Purlevskii’s story … Continue reading →

The Madariaga reading seems to suggest that Empress Catherine II believed that education and free inquiry would lead people to support her absolute monarchy. She attacked vices such as “ignorance” (92), she had the power to censor books but did … Continue reading →

In 1783, Catherine allowed individuals to operate private printing presses, on the condition that the individuals register their press with and submit their work to the censor. According to Madariaga (1990, 98), this innovation represented Catherine’s desire “to encourage social … Continue reading →