scholarly journals The Great Patriotic War of 1941 and the Soviet Man: A Kafkaesque Expression of Soviet Ideology in Andrey Kurkov‟s The Bickford Fuse

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 2688-2692
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Unconscious ◽  
Nikita Khrushchev ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Great Patriotic War ◽  
Soviet Ideology ◽  
Narrative Mode ◽  
Unconscious Mind

Andrey Kurkov, in The Bickford Fuse, opens up an uncanny nightmarish world embroiled in war that ravaged it for years on end, making it nothing short of an episode taken right out of a Kafka novel. Kurkov’s narrative mode does not stray much from the Kafkaesque realm when he employs techniques such as psychological explorations, surrealism, dream sequences and nihilism to tell the story of the wandering Soviet man in the days of the former Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev. The Soviet man represents the distraught Soviet population who was ambushed by the Great Patriotic war of 1941and the disillusionment and nihilism it brought with it. The minds of multiple personae in the novel reveal a struggle between the forces of Thanatos and Eros and a psychological oppression unleashed by the Great Patriotic War. This study chronicles the transformation of the Soviet mentality and the failure of the socialist ideology, through the parallel journeys of Kharitonov, the searchlight operators, Andrey and the occupant of the airship, who stands for Nikita Khrushchev. This paper also aims to establish that surrealism is employed to give voice to the unconscious mind of the Soviet man as in the works of Kafka. The objective of this study will be to probe the Kafkaesque elements in the novel which encodes in it the myriad faces of the Soviet man of Khrushchev’s days.

Wars

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörg Baberowski
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Cycle Of Violence ◽  
Ethnic Cleansing ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Nikita Khrushchev ◽  
World Power ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Great Patriotic War ◽  
Red Army ◽  
The Town

This chapter looks at Stalinism during the Great Patriotic War. It first discusses Joseph Stalin's changing approaches to terror following the end of his policy of exterminatory violence. This shift is well illustrated by two incidents, one in September 1939 when Nikita Khrushchev traveled with Marshal Timoshenko to the town of Vynnyky. This episode shows that the Stalinist terror was also an instrument of ethnic cleansing with which the Stalinist regime did its best. The other incident was in 1941, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union. The front-line soldiers of the Red Army were trapped in a cycle of violence from which there was no escape. This chapter considers how the Great Patriotic War allowed Stalinism to develop to its full potential. The Soviet Union had become a world power, and yet it could offer its subjects nothing but misery and slavery. Only the death of Stalin on March 5, 1953 put an end to Stalinism and with it, despotism.

scholarly journals Kampaņa pret abstrakcionismu un formālismu 1963. gadā. Latvijas Padomju rakstnieku savienības valdes nostāja

Letonica ◽  
2017 ◽  
pp. 43-52
Author(s):  
Madara Eversone
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Central Committee ◽  
The State ◽  
Socialist Republic ◽  
Soviet Socialist Republic ◽  
Local Organization ◽  
Nikita Khrushchev ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
State Archives

Between 1962 and 1963 the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev launched several campaigns against abstractionists and formalists in Moscow, thus marking the end of the so-called Thaw throughout the Soviet Union. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Latvia also started a campaign against national abstractionists and formalists. On the 22nd and 28th of March 1963 the works of the new poets Vizma Belševica, Monta Kroma, Ojārs Vācietis as well as writer Ēvalds Vilks came under the criticism cross-fire at the Intelligentsia Meeting of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic. After the criticism from the Communist Party the above mentioned authors also had to be discussed at the Board meetings of the Latvian Soviet Writers’ Union and the local organization meetings of the Party. The article examines the attitude of the Board of Soviet Writers’ Union towards the campaign initiated by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Latvia in March 1963 by looking at the documents of the Latvian Soviet Writers’ Union and the Union’s local organization of the Communist Party that are available at the State Archives of Latvia. Crucial and artistic aspects of the works of the above-mentioned authors have not been included in the analysis. Examining the debates that evolved in the Writers’ Union within the ideological campaign, it is possible to state that the Board, which was loyal to the Communist Party, kept its official stance in line with the Party principles, hereafter paying special attention to the ideologically artistic achievements of particular authors. Generally, the position of the Board of the Latvian Soviet Writers’ Union in respect to the criticized authors can be evaluated as passive, because no repressions were carried out against the new authors and no creative activities were completely suspended by the Board. The campaign of 1963 strongly demonstrates the differences between the generations and the views of the writers. It also reveals the older generation’s struggle for keeping their position and prestige in the field of literature while the younger generation took an increasing opposition.

scholarly journals Preserving the Memory of the Great Patriotic War: Regional Practices (1941–1945)

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-39
Author(s):  
Anna N. Eremeeva ◽  
◽  
Timofey V. Kovalenko ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Cultural Institutions ◽  
Krasnodar Krai ◽  
Museum Displays ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
Great Patriotic War ◽  
War Commemoration

The perpetuation of the feat of the Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War through monuments, museum displays, and artistic texts has been going on for three-quarters of a century now. Perpetuation strategies at various stages have been determined by official interpretations of events, processes, and commemorative practices. Referring to the analysis of the situation in Krasnodar Krai, this article reconstructs the initial stage of war commemoration and the mechanisms of historical memory production that were formed synchronously with the events of 1941–1945. The sources for the reconstruction are various documents of central and local Soviet bodies and the Communist party, creative unions, cultural institutions, periodicals, memoirs, and artistic texts. The main directions of the war commemoration were the combination of all-Union recommendations as well as regional peculiarities. The work was developed mainly after the liberation of the region in 1943. Military and labour exploits of the Kuban population were actualised. The merits of the Cossack formations were specially highlighted, while information about the facts of collaboration was minimised. Resistance to fascism during the occupation of Kuban was represented by the partisan theme. The main print source of the partisan movement in the region was the books by P. K. Ignatov, commander of the partisan detachment, that were promptly published and replicated in the USSR and abroad. The exploits of his dead sons, Heroes of the Soviet Union, became a classic example. Memorial spaces, a system for recording military monuments were formed. The artistic chronicle of the war was created as a set of victorious stories. The theme of the ongoing war was added to the repertoire of professional and amateur art groups, as well as exhibitions of local museums. The calendar of holiday dates included anniversaries of the liberation of territories from the Nazis. The memory of the war was reflected in the local toponyms.

Vanguard of the Revolution

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. James McAdams
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
North Korea ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
Modern World ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Revolution

This book is a sweeping history of one of the most significant political institutions of the modern world. The communist party was a revolutionary idea long before its supporters came to power. The book argues that the rise and fall of communism can be understood only by taking into account the origins and evolution of this compelling idea. It shows how the leaders of parties in countries as diverse as the Soviet Union, China, Germany, Yugoslavia, Cuba, and North Korea adapted the original ideas of revolutionaries like Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin to profoundly different social and cultural settings. The book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand world communism and the captivating idea that gave it life.

PARTICIPATION OF UZBEK SOLDIERS IN THE LIBERATION OF THE BALTIC STATES

2020 ◽  
pp. 69-75
Author(s):  
Ilkhomjon M. Saidov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
Socialist Republic ◽  
Soviet Socialist Republic ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Great Patriotic War ◽  
Working Age ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Soviet Historiography

The article is devoted to the participation of natives of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic in the Baltic operation of 1944. The author states that Soviet historiography did not sufficiently address the problem of participation of individual peoples of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War, and therefore their feat remained undervalued for a long time. More specifically, according to the author, 40–42% of the working age population of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic fought on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. Such figure was typical only for a limited number of countries participating in the anti-fascist coalition. Analyzing the participation of Soviet Uzbekistan citizens in the battles for the Baltic States, the author shows that the 51st and 71st guards rifle divisions, which included many natives of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, were particularly distinguished. Their heroic deeds were noted by the soviet leadership – a number of Uzbek guards were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In addition, Uzbekistanis fought as part of partisan detachments – both in the Baltic States, Belarus, Ukraine, the Western regions of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and Moldova. Many Uzbek partisans were awarded the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War” of I and II degrees.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document