scholarly journals Lento, a “chronicler” of the events of March 9, 1956 (According to Otar Chkheidze’s novel “Revelation”

enadakultura ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nona Ambokadze

March 9, 1956 remains a controversial issue in Georgian historiography to this day, as the protest was ambivalent in its content ad demands. Despite differences of opinion, everyone agress, that this was the first anti-Soviet political rally in the Soviet Union. On the one hand, the demonastrators, insulted by Nikita Khrushov’s report on “The cult of personality” at the 20th congress of the CPSU, praised Stalin, and on the other hand, distanced themselves from the Soviet Union and demanded national independence. In the Soviet Union (obviously in Soviet Georgia) this topic has been avoided for decades; It did not have a wide response in public discourse. Lasha Berulava comments on the tragedy in the article “March 9, 1956 – Another Bood Drop of the dead Man” the following opinion is expressed:”Stalin,with his death, acted as a “dead body” and “organized the massacre of the capital of the Georgian people. This was March 9, 1956, when Georgians protested against the cult of Stalin; It was Stalin who wrote to Orjonikidze standing near Tbilisi surrounded by Russian troops:”Attack now, take the city, I will command you!” {Berulava, 2011:09}.In this article we will try to briefly discuss the events of March 9, 1956, which take place agaibst the background of the life of a boy from the village, Lento. Lento, as a “chronicler” of “Looker” events from afar, tries to remember the “shots” which camera in his hand. Lento does not appear to be the leader’s apologist either, but he still has trouble and loses his brother and sister in these “dumb” people.

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (s1) ◽  
pp. 893-911
Author(s):  
Ilgar Seyidov

AbstractDuring the Soviet period, the media served as one of the main propagandist tools of the authoritarian regime, using a standardized and monotype media system across the Soviet Republics. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, 15 countries became independent. The transition from Soviet communism to capitalism has led to the reconstruction of economic, socio-cultural, and political systems. One of the most affected institutions in post-Soviet countries was the media. Media have played a supportive role during rough times, when there was, on the one hand, the struggle for liberation and sovereignty, and, on the other hand, the need for nation building. It has been almost 30 years since the Soviet Republics achieved independence, yet the media have not been freed from political control and continue to serve as ideological apparatuses of authoritarian regimes in post-Soviet countries. Freedom of speech and independent media are still under threat. The current study focuses on media use in Azerbaijan, one of the under-researched post-Soviet countries. The interviews for this study were conducted with 40 participants living in Nakhichevan and Baku. In-depth, semi-structured interview techniques were used as research method. Findings are discussed under six main themes in the conclusion.


Author(s):  
Rita Bobuevna Salmorbekova ◽  
Dilshat Karimova

The article examines the problems of the population of the residential areas of the city of Bishkek based on the sociological study. An expert survey carried out in four districts of Bishkek is presented. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, more than 50 new residential areas appeared in the city. Naturally, new residential areas do not have sufficient infrastructure for the population to this day. The current situation with internal migrants in Kyrgyzstan violates the regional demographic balance and the rational distribution of the population across the country. The population is moving actively at the interdistrict and interregional levels. As a result, the main influx of internal migrants moves to Bishkek and Chui Region. The problem of researching the state of the new residential areas in Bishkek is relevant for modern Kyrgyzstan. However, the official statistical base does not cover all citizens living in new buildings, since most residents do not have a residence registration in the area. 75–80 % of the population does not have education and health services. In many residential areas, social facilities, roads, and communications have not been built yet, and the infrastructure as a whole is not developed. Ignoring the issue on the part of the state can lead to a social explosion, expressed by protest actions, exacerbation of social and interregional conflicts among residents of the given area. Based on this, it was necessary to conduct an expert survey among the representatives of the municipal territorial authorities of each district. The main problems of residents of the new residential areas were studied as much as possible.


BUILDER ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 293 (12) ◽  
pp. 46-51
Author(s):  
Svitlana Linda

Despite the short chronological span of the socialist era architecture heritage, it remains little investigated and underappreciated. Given the political and cultural isolation of the Soviet Union republics and strict architectural design regulations, there was a widespread belief that architects should not use innovative trends. This article exemplifies residential quarters in the historic Podil district, designed and built in the 1970s-1980s in Kyiv. They vividly demonstrate the postmodern ideas embodied in Ukrainian architecture. Methodologically, the article bases on the Ch. Jencks definition of postmodernism and in the comparison of his ideology with the implemented Kyiv project. It states that Kyiv architects proposed not typical Soviet construction projects but international postmodern architectural solutions. It proves that, on the one hand, Ukrainian architects had perfect qualifications to draw construction projects implementing advanced world trends of the time. But on the other hand, it highlights that postmodernism in architecture did not merely confine to Western Europe and the United States but also penetrated the Iron Curtain, exemplifying innovative architectural thinking which ran contrary to the modernist paradigm.


Author(s):  
N.D. Borshchik ◽  

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


Author(s):  
Andrey A. Avdashkin ◽  
◽  
Igor V. Sibiryakov ◽  
Tatyana V. Raeva

The aim of the article is to examine the process of constructing the images of Stalin and Mao Zedong in the material of Soviet central newspapers on the themes of the Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC) and Soviet-Chinese friendship. Our focus on the techniques of such constructions allow for dealing with a number of research issues, such as which conceptions of the political leaders were rendered to the Soviet audiences and in which way was this implemented; was there a potential for dynamics in treating the subjects and if this was the case what were the factors that played a role in such dynamics. Data and methods. For our database of primary sources we have chosen the ”Ogonyok” issues published in the period between October 1949 and March 1953. The authors of the present article were interested in references in the magazine texts but also in the images of Stalin and Mao. Hence, the research lens of historical imagology allowed us to examine the images under study as complex synthetical constructions, the constructions that were impacted by inner and outer factors in play in the Soviet society itself, including its political culture, the specific features of representations in the sphere of internationl relations, etc. The illustrative material was used for the sake of further verification and detailization. Results. The ”Ogonyok” material on the theme of Soviet-Chinese friendship included a considerable amount of texts and their visual supplements, with Stalin and Mao as their central personages. The thematical distribution of the database has shown that its main themes are Soviet-Chinese friendship described in hierarchical terms as the ”teacher-pupil” relationship, the achievements of socialist transformation in China, etc. Conclusions. The personification of the images of the leaders of the USSR and the PRC was designed to promote the positive attitudes towards the main Soviet ally, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, to contribute to the legitimization of the USSR’s leading position not only in the Soviet-Chinese interaction, but in the whole of the Socialist world as well. Mao’s leading role in the transformations of the Chinese society confirmed to the Soviet audiences the correctness of the development model in the Soviet Union itself. Numerous presentations of the good will with which the Chinese side was ready to follow the ”Stalin recipe” in building socialism served as a marker that the ”great friendship” was under Moscow’s control.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 146-154
Author(s):  
Leonid L. Rybakovsky ◽  
◽  
Natalia I. Kozhevnikova ◽  

The article shows that due to the fact that Russia has the largest territory among the rest of the world, the richest natural resources, making it a self-sufficient, advantageous geographical position, as well as a kind of history of the creation and development of the state, in the past, and still causes hostile attitude to it a number of states. Thanks to sufficient human potential, Russia, constituting the core of a state united with other peoples in pre-revolutionary and Soviet times, was able to defend its homeland, even from such an enemy as Nazi Germany. The increase in the population of Russia has always been the most important factor in ensuring the security of the state. The paper provides a detailed description of the demographic development of Russia, both as part of the Soviet Union and as an independent state. The dynamics of the population of Russia is considered, on the one hand, in the group of countries with a predominance of the Slavic ethnos, and on the other hand, it is compared with the demographic dynamics of the English-speaking group of countries.


2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 709-729 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin Cavoukian

Russia's Armenians have begun to form diaspora institutions and engage in philanthropy and community organization, much as the pre-Soviet “established” diaspora in the West has done for years. However, the Russian Armenian diaspora is seen by Armenian elites as being far less threatening due to a shared “mentality.” While rejecting the mentality argument, I suggest that the relationship hinges on their shared political culture and the use of symbols inherited from the Soviet Union in the crafting of new diaspora and diaspora-management institutions. Specifically, “Friendship of the Peoples” symbolism appears to be especially salient on both sides. However, the difference between old and new diasporas may be more apparent than real. The Russian Armenian diaspora now engages in many of the same activities as the Western diaspora, including the one most troublesome to Armenia's elites: involvement in politics.


Author(s):  
Johann P. Arnason ◽  
Marek Hrubec

Problems of social revolutions and/or transformations belong to the classical agenda of social inquiry, as well as to the most prominent real and potential challenges encountered by contemporary societies. Among revolutionary events of the last decades, particular attention has been drawn to the changes that unfolded at the turn of the 1990s and brought the supposedly bipolar (in fact incipiently multipolar) world to an end. The downfall of East Central European Communist regimes in 1989 and of the Soviet Union in 1991 marked the beginning of a new era, originally characterised on the one hand by the relaxation of international tensions and on the other by the ascendancy of Western unilateralism. The twenty-fifth anniversary of the Soviet collapse prompts the authors of this book to reflect on revolutions and transformations, both from a long-term historical perspective and with regard to the post-Communist scene. The social changes unfolding in Eastern and Central Europe are not only epoch-making historical turns; their economic, social and political aspects, often confusing and unexpected, have also raised new questions and triggered debates about fundamental theoretical issues. Moreover, they have had a significant impact on developments elsewhere in the world, in both Western and developing countries.


Author(s):  
Geoffrey Hosking

Traditional interpretations of Russian society rest on a contrast between Russian authoritarianism and the liberties of Western societies. According to these interpretations, Russia right up to the twentieth century was a ‘patrimonial monarchy’ in which there was no distinction between sovereignty and ownership, so that the tsar's subjects were literally his slaves. There is no denying the highly authoritarian nature of the Russian state, and, in its twentieth-century hypostasis, its unique capacity to penetrate and affect the lives of ordinary people. But the image of slavery is overdone and partly misleading. At the base of the Russian power structure throughout the tsarist centuries was the village commune. The basic concept underlying the functioning of the village commune was krugovaya poruka, literally ‘circular surety’, but perhaps better translated as ‘joint responsibility’. This chapter discusses forms of social solidarity in Russia and the Soviet Union, focusing on the enterprise and the communal apartment as twin arenas of the daily lives of the majority of the country's townspeople.


Author(s):  
Simon Wickhamsmith

The chapter gives an account of the trials in October 1937 of the leading writers S. Buyannameh and M. Yadamsüren and shows the effect of the Soviet-style purges on literature at the time. Accusations of spying for the Japanese and of other counterrevolutionary activity meant that very few intellectuals and creative artists were untouched by the trials. Those who were – including writers such as D. Sengee, who was openly supportive of the Party’s trajectory – benefited by replacing those who were executed as well as those who had been removed from their positions. Among some younger writers, an interest in Socialist Realism resulted in an increase in texts about industrialization, the Young Pioneers, the ‘friendship’ between Mongolia and the Soviet Union, and the growing cult of personality surrounding Choibalsan.


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