Category Archives: Week 9 Comments

Thanks for those comparisons between China and the Soviet Union. That makes a lot of sense. And I agree on the double burden — the key word there is “burden.” It’s from a later period, but one of the most famous indictments of this era is a novella by Natalya Barnaskaya called “A Week like Any Other” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natalya_Baranskaya). You can find it on the web pretty easily. It will make you tired. Continue reading →

This post fits so nicely with this discussion of the changing roles of women in the Post-Stalin period: http://blogs.lt.vt.edu/ghemmigson/2014/10/27/to-free-or-not-to-free/
Abortion raised so many contradictory concerns — at a time when the government was vigorously pro-natalist (due to the war casualties), it’s odd that they would re-legalize abortion. And yet legalizing abortion did signify liberalization and increased personal freedoms. There are lots of good nuggets in this post. I especially like the poster aimed at men. Continue reading →

Citing the US government on the Secret Speech was a great idea!
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I agree that the classic movie with Omar Sharif should be on everyone’s Top Ten list! Citing Pasternak’s rejection letter from Novyi Mir is brilliant! I’d love for us to talk about this in class. It’s such an important milestone in Soviet cultural politics, and it’s an amazing document. If they had really wanted to repress the novel, they would have done so with a short note – but this detailed critique of the novel as not being sufficiently Soviet actually gave people some sense of what is about – and probably made them want to read it. It’s a powerful novel, regardless of the politics. Continue reading →

My bad. I made a quick edit.
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What a great comment! It really puts the technological rivalry of 20thc Super Powers in perspective.
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Good points in this post and in these comments! Check the reference to the article from the Current Digest, though. There were actually multiple “academic towns,” with the one in Novosibirsk being the most prestigious. The article refers to the construction of one in Minsk — which is on the other side of the country. Continue reading →

Good insights in this post, and the quote from the Current Digest is excellent. On the military police disguised as medical personnel, my guess is that the Soviets wanted to confuse the Hungarians about the level of domestic dissatisfaction with the re… Continue reading →

Great post! I wonder if Khrushchev would have spoken so harshly about Stalin in his speech to Congress if he’d known how China would react. If the two countries had remained friends, I wonder how different the world would be today. Continue reading →

Its interesting how easily he succeeded in changing the views of the public for ‘de-Stalinizaton’ considering how manipulative Stalin had been. Most people originally thought that everything Stalin did was right, he was a public icon. Cool addition about the secret speech! Continue reading →