Progressive Educators and the Professionalization of Educational Research in the USSR, 1917-1927

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-220
Author(s):  
Randall D. Law
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
English Language ◽  
Progressive Education ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Soviet Government ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Education Community ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
And Gender

This article examines the efforts made by Soviet progressive educators to accommodate themselves to the new Soviet government and the consequences thereof. Russia’s pre-revolutionary progressive education community sought to indirectly transform state and society by encouraging the creation of “schools of citizenship” that would educate all – regardless of class, creed, and gender – for lives of “harmonious development” and active engagement. Bolshevik victory in 1917 presented progressive educators with an ironic dilemma: the party that most progressives rejected as coarse, violent, and undemocratic embraced their ideas with a passion and energy unseen from every previous government. Could progressive educators work for such a benefactor? They could and they did, in great numbers. But to distance themselves from a ruling party they disdained, progressives wrapped themselves in the language of professionalism and retreated into self-contained institutes, governmental bureaucracies, and experimental schools. These developments warped the content of Russian progressive education, distanced progressives from the schools they sought to transform, and hastened the demise of educational progressivism in the Soviet Union. This article makes extensive use of archival documents, published primary sources, and both Russian and English-language secondary sources.

scholarly journals Visual Metaphors for the People: Unpacking Sergei Eisenstein’s Pedagogy of the Russian Revolution Through Film

Elements ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley Prescott Brown
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Russian Revolution ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Sergei Eisenstein ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Visual Metaphors ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The People ◽  
General Line ◽  
Communist Ideology

This paper attempts to understand how the celebrated and controversial figure of Sergei Eisenstein understood and contributed to the formation of the Soviet Union through his films of the 1920s.  The lens of visual metaphors offer a specific insight into how artistic choices of the director were informed by his own pedagogy for the Russian Revolution.  The paper asks the questions: Did Eisenstein's films reflect the official party rhetoric?  How did they inform or motivate the public toward the communist ideology of the early Soviet Union?  The primary sources used in this paper are from the films Strike (1925), Battleship Potemkin (1926), October (1928), and The General Line (1929).  Eisenstein created visual metaphors through the juxtaposition of images in his films which alluded to higher concepts.  A shot of a worker followed by the shot of gears turning created the concept of industry in the minds of the audience.  Through visual metaphors, it is possible to understand the motives of Eisenstein and the Communist party.  It is also possible, with the aid of secondary sources, to see how those motives differed.

scholarly journals Leonid Pavlovich Radzishevsky – one of the prominent Soviet geometricians of the 1930’s: to 115th anniversary

2020 ◽  
pp. 78-87
Author(s):  
Roman Mikhailovich Ainbinder
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Scientific Discourse ◽  
Scientific Activity ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Professional Activity ◽  
Soviet Government ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Life Path ◽  
Academy Of Sciences

  The object of this research is the biography of virtually unknown at the present time mathematician L. P. Radzishevsky, whose most productive period of scientific activity falls on the 1930’s. The works of Radzishevsky have been recognized by most prominent Soviet mathematicians of that time, particularly by member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union I. M. Vinogradov. The provided biographical records demonstrate the circumstances of personal life and professional activity of Radzishevsky, since the last years of the Romanovs dynasty, throughout the civil war and first years of Soviet government, until 1942. The study is based on the various methods of historical research, such as narrative, historical-genetic, and biographical. The main results of the conducted research became the reconstruction of scholar’s life path and analysis of his contribution to the Soviet mathematics. The absence of scientific works on life and academic activity of L. P. Radzishevsky within the Soviet and Russian historiography alongside introduction of the unknown archival documents into the scientific discourse, define the novelty of the presented material.  

The Role of the Mongolian People’s Republic in the Korean War

2018 ◽  
pp. 97-130
Author(s):  
Denzenlkham Ulambayar
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Korean War ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
Central Intelligence Agency ◽  
Intelligence Agency ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
The Korean War ◽  
History Of

Since the 1990s, when previously classified and top secret Russian archival documents on the Korean War became open and accessible, it has become clear for post-communist countries that Kim Il Sung, Stalin and Mao Zedong were the primary organizers of the war. It is now equally certain that tensions arising from Soviet and American struggle generated the origins of the Korean War, namely the Soviet Union’s occupation of the northern half of the Korean peninsula and the United States’ occupation of the southern half to the 38th parallel after 1945 as well as the emerging bipolar world order of international relations and Cold War. Newly available Russian archival documents produced much in the way of new energies and opportunities for international study and research into the Korean War.2 However, within this research few documents connected to Mongolia have so far been found, and little specific research has yet been done regarding why and how Mongolia participated in the Korean War. At the same time, it is becoming today more evident that both Soviet guidance and U.S. information reports (evaluated and unevaluated) regarding Mongolia were far different from the situation and developments of that period. New examples of this tendency are documents declassified in the early 2000s and released publicly from the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in December 2016 which contain inaccurate information. The original, uncorrupted sources about why, how and to what degree the Mongolian People’s Republic (MPR) became a participant in the Korean War are in fact in documents held within the Mongolian Central Archives of Foreign Affairs. These archives contain multiple documents in relation to North Korea. Prior to the 1990s Mongolian scholars Dr. B. Lkhamsuren,3 Dr. B. Ligden,4 Dr. Sh. Sandag,5 junior scholar J. Sukhee,6 and A. A. Osipov7 mention briefly in their writings the history of relations between the MPR and the DPRK during the Korean War. Since the 1990s the Korean War has also briefly been touched upon in the writings of B. Lkhamsuren,8 D. Ulambayar (the author of this paper),9 Ts. Batbayar,10 J. Battur,11 K. Demberel,12 Balảzs Szalontai,13 Sergey Radchenko14 and Li Narangoa.15 There have also been significant collections of documents about the two countries and a collection of memoirs published in 200716 and 2008.17 The author intends within this paper to discuss particularly about why, how and to what degree Mongolia participated in the Korean War, the rumors and realities of the war and its consequences for the MPR’s membership in the United Nations. The MPR was the second socialist country following the Soviet Union (the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics) to recognize the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) and establish diplomatic ties. That was part of the initial stage of socialist system formation comprising the Soviet Union, nations in Eastern Europe, the MPR, the PRC (People’s Republic of China) and the DPRK. Accordingly between the MPR and the DPRK fraternal friendship and a framework of cooperation based on the principles of proletarian and socialist internationalism had been developed.18 In light of and as part of this framework, The Korean War has left its deep traces in the history of the MPR’s external diplomatic environment and state sovereignty

Translation and Transformation: English-Language Children's Literature in (Soviet) Russian Guise

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Inggs
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
English Language ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Socialist Realism ◽  
The Political ◽  
Philosophy Of Action ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Free Translation ◽  
Soviet Russia

This article investigates the perceived image of English-language children's literature in Soviet Russia. Framed by Even-Zohar's polysystem theory and Bourdieu's philosophy of action, the discussion takes into account the ideological constraints of the practice of translation and the manipulation of texts. Several factors involved in creating the perceived character of a body of literature are identified, such as the requirements of socialist realism, publishing practices in the Soviet Union, the tradition of free translation and accessibility in the translation of children's literature. This study explores these factors and, with reference to selected examples, illustrates how the political and sociological climate of translation in the Soviet Union influenced the translation practices and the field of translated children's literature, creating a particular image of English-language children's literature in (Soviet) Russia.

New Materials for Studying Preparation and Staging of the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students in 1957

2018 ◽  
pp. 550-563
Author(s):  
Daniel Sawert ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Soviet Society ◽  
Unique Event ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Cultural Standards ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Local Traditions

The article assesses archival materials on the festival movement in the Soviet Union in 1950s, including its peak, the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students held in 1957 in Moscow. Even now the Moscow festival is seen in the context of international cultural politics of the Cold War and as a unique event for the Soviet Union. The article is to put the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students in the context of other youth festivals held in the Soviet Union. The festivals of 1950s provided a field for political, social, and cultural experiments. They also have been the crucible of a new way of communication and a new language of design. Furthermore, festivals reflected the new (althogh relative) liberalism in the Soviet Union. This liberalism, first of all, was expressed in the fact that festivals were organized by the Komsomol and other Soviet public and cultural organisations. Taking the role of these organisations into consideration, the research draws on the documents of the Ministry of culture, the All-Russian Stage Society, as well as personal documents of the artists. Furthermore, the author has gained access to new archive materials, which have until now been part of no research, such as documents of the N. Krupskaya Central Culture and Art Center and of the central committees of various artistic trade unions. These documents confirm the hypothesis that the festivals provided the Komsomol and the Communist party with a means to solve various social, educational, and cultural problems. For instance, in Central Asia with its partiarchal society, the festivals focuced on female emancipation. In rural Central Asia, as well as in other non-russian parts of the Soviet Union, there co-existed different ways of celebrating. Local traditions intermingled with cultural standards prescribed by Moscow. At the first glance, the modernisation of the Soviet society was succesful. The youth acquired political and cultural level that allowed the Soviet state to compete with the West during the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students. During the festival, however, it became apparent, that the Soviet cultural scheme no longer met the dictates of times. Archival documents show that after the Festival cultural and party officials agreed to ease off dogmatism and to tolerate some of the foreign cultural phenomena.

RUSSIAN DIASPORA. SUMMATION AND RESEARCH PROSPECTS

2020 ◽  
pp. 130-143
Author(s):  
Irina V. Sabennikova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Third Stage ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Significant Phenomenon ◽  
History Of ◽  
Methodological Principles

The historiography of any historically significant phenomenon goes through several stages in its development. At the beginning − it is the reaction of contemporaries to the event they experienced, which is emotional in nature and is expressed in a journalistic form. The next stage can be called a retrospective understanding of the event by its actual participants or witnesses, and only at the third stage there does appear the objective scientific research bringing value-neutral assessments of the phenomenon under study and belonging to subsequent generations of researchers. The history of The Russian Diaspora and most notably of the Russian post-revolutionary emigration passed to the full through all the stages of the issue historiography. The third stage of its studying dates from the late 1980s and is characterized by a scientific, politically unbiased study of the phenomenon of the Russian emigration community, expanding the source base and scientific research methods. During the Soviet period in Russian historiography, owing to ideological reasons, researchers ‘ access to archival documents was limited, which is why scientific study of the history of the Russian Diaspora was not possible. Western researchers also could not fully develop that issue, since they were deprived of important sources kept in Russian archives. Political changes in the perestroika years and especially in the period after the collapse of the Soviet Union increased attention to the Russian Diaspora, which was facilitated by a change in scientific paradigms, methodological principles, the opening of archives and, as a result, the expansion of the source base necessary for studying that issue. The historiography of the Russian Diaspora, which has been formed for more than thirty years, needs to be understood. The article provides a brief analysis of the historiography, identifies the main directions of its development, the research problematics, and defines shortcomings and prospects.

Soviet Defectors

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Riehle
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
National Security ◽  
Privileged Information ◽  
Soviet Government ◽  
Threat Perceptions ◽  
Aggregate Analysis ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Decision Making System ◽  
The Stability

This book identifies 88 Soviet intelligence officers who defected from 1924 to 1954 and provides an aggregate analysis of their information to uncover Soviet strategic priorities and concerns. When intelligence officers defect, they take with them privileged information and often communicate it to the receiving state, and thereby they open a window into a closed national security decision making system. The book provides the most comprehensive list of Soviet intelligence officer defectors compiled to date representing a variety of specializations. Through the information they provided in now-declassified debriefings, documents they brought with them, and post-defection publications and public appearances, this book shows the evolution of Soviet threat perceptions and the development of the "main enemy" concept in the Soviet national security system. It also shows fluctuations in the Soviet recruitment and vetting of personnel for sensitive national security positions, corresponding with fluctuations in the stability of the Soviet government. The shifting motivations of these officers also reveals the pressures that they were experiencing at the time, leading to their choice to break with the Soviet Union.

scholarly journals Boris Uspenskij in English: Bibliography

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 395-403
Author(s):  
Taras Boyko
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
English Language ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
English Language Publication

The bibliography provides a list of Boris Uspenskij’s publications in English, including works written in co-authorship and various reprints/reissues. For the most part, Uspenskij’s publications in English are translations of his books and articles originally written in Russian and previously published in the Soviet Union/Russia. The first English-language publication of his work, the monograph Principles of Structural Typology appeared in 1968; the current bibliography consists of 65 entries from a period spanning from 1968 till today.

scholarly journals «ЧЕРКАСОВСКОЕ» ДВИЖЕНИЕ В ЯЛТЕ 1944 г.

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 44-51
Author(s):  
N.D. Borshchik ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Health Resort ◽  
Crimean Peninsula ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Red Army ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Post War ◽  
The City

The article deals with the problems of post-war reconstruction of Yalta – one of the most popular resorts of the Soviet Union. During the great Patriotic war, this all-Union health resort was subjected to barbaric destruction and looting. The fascist occupation regime (1941-1944) caused enormous damage to the health resort Fund of Yalta, the city economy and the entire infrastructure of the southern coast of Crimea. The rapid return to the pre-war structure and the commissioning of social facilities has become a priority for the regional authorities and the population. In addition to traditional methods, the Patriotic «Сherkassov» movement, which began in the liberated Stalingrad in 1943 and spread throughout the country, was widely used. A solid Foundation was laid for the interaction of the city administration of Yalta and the local population with the commanders and soldiers of the red Army. Based on the analysis of archival documents of the State archive of the Republic of Crimea, it was possible to trace the course of restoration work in the fi rst months after the liberation of the Crimean Peninsula from fascism. It is established that for the rapid restoration and functioning of the Yalta resorts, public activists launched a socialist competition on «Сherkassov» methods

scholarly journals A Genealogy of (post-)Soviet Dependency: Disabling Productivity

2014 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cassandra Hartblay
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
The United States ◽  
Core Element ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Us ◽  
Global Condition ◽  
Postindustrial Era ◽  
Post Industrial

<p>Nancy Fraser and Linda Gordon's 1994 article &ldquo;A Genealogy of Dependency: Tracing a Keyword of the US Welfare State&rdquo; explored the historical emergence of "dependency" as a moral category of post-industrial American state. In this article, I engage their framework to explore the genealogy of dependency in America's post-industrial sister, the post-Soviet Russian Federation. I also add disability as a core element of 'dependency' that was largely absent from Fraser and Gordon's original analysis. Considering cross-cultural translation, I ask how Russian deployments of three words that all relate to a concept of interdependence align with and depart from American notions of dependency, and trace historical configurations of the Soviet welfare state vis-a-vis disability. To do so, I draw on historical and cultural texts, linguistic comparisons, secondary sources, and ethnographic research. Given this analysis, I argue that rather than a Cold War interpretation of the Soviet Union and the US as oppositional superpowers in the 20th century, a liberatory disability studies framework suggests that in the postindustrial era the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as dual regimes of productivity. I suggest that reframing postsocialism as a global condition helps us to shift considerations of disability justice from a critique of capitalism to a critique of productivity.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Keywords: dependency, disability, citizenship, russia, productivity</p>

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