this blog is about the union of soviet socialist republics, its arts and culture, its history, and the everyday lives of its people. an exploration of a nation that no longer exists – the world’s first major socialist experiment – and of the lives and the deeds undertaken by its citizens. mainly a gallery of sorts, anything from the soviet period.
abt: he/him, adult, socialist, ru speaker. this is a sideblog. banner
archived: @paxsovietica
this is primarily a history rather than political blog and i recognize wrongdoings of the soviet state.
extremely off topic but i have to show it somewhere. while looking for those images i came across an article from a few years ago from the religious information service of ukraine that's about some guy in russia who tried to report the song "the red army is the strongest" to the ministry of internal affairs for inciting religious hatred (for the lyric about destroying churches) and it was kind of funny to me (so naturally i decided to translate it.. see below cut). well, to be fair, communism is definitionally extremist to any bourgeois state, so he's not exactly wrong in this regard. the phrasing "there is a direct call to destroy religious buildings as well as buildings of the penitentiary system" is really funny to me though
The Krasnodar resident (who wished to remain anonymous) decided to find out how the law enforcement agencies combating extremism operate by submitting a request to investigate a line from the song "The Red Army Is the Strongest."
"This concerns a musical composition ('White Army, Black Baron...') written in the years of the Civil War by the composer Samuel Pokrass and poet Pavel Gorinstein (pseudonym Grigoriyev) and containing the following words: 'We are fanning the fans of a global fire, we will raze churches and prisons to the ground!' ... in the given text, there is a direct call to destroy religious buildings, as well as buildings of the penitentiary system" the Krasnodar resident's request stated.
As the author of the request explained, despite the electronic document management system, the response arrived in violation of deadlines established by law – the request to the Prosecutor General's office was submitted on 20 April, but a comprehensive answer was given only on 8 June, even though it is supposed to be given within a month. Only after the author wrote to the Prosecutor General's Office again, pointing out the delay in the response, he received a letter signed by Igor Alekseenko, the head of the Center for Countering Extremism of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Krasnodar Krai: "As a result of an investigation, the information regarding a violation of legislation was not confirmed."
"Mr. Alekseenko and the whole Center for Countering Extremism have demonstrated a negligent and superficial attitude towards their work. If a direct call to destroy churches does not incite religious and social discord, then what is extremism remains a complete mystery," the Krasnodar resident commented on the response.
The activist believes that the police ignored his request because in this particular case, it concerns a "call that resonates with law enforcement officials" rather than the modern opposition that the Center for Countering Extremism is fighting against.
"On the desks and offices of employees of the Center for Countering Extremism, the FSB, and all similar agencies, there are portraits of Dzerzhinsky, who in the beginning of the 1920s was engaged precisely in confiscation of church valuables and repressions of the clergy. So naturally the current successors of his work do not see any extremism in a call to raze churches to the ground," the activist continued.
confiscation of church valuables. first one is definitely from 1922, i think the last image is from earlier, 1918ish?
the 1918 decree on separation of church from state and school from church sought to establish the secular nature of the new state, granting religious freedom to individuals while stripping religious organizations of special privileges and nationalizing all of their property, while declaring that buildings and objects needed for worship can be used by religious societies. due to the volga region famine of 1921-1922, early 1922 saw a new policy of seizing church valuables (jewelry, gold, etc) from religious societies to fund relief efforts.
a song about french pilots who fought on the side of the soviets. it's a pretty interesting story. an exerpt from wikipedia:
The squadron claimed 273 enemy aircraft shot down (37 probable), with a loss of 87 aircraft and 52 pilots. About 5,240 sorties were flown, and the unit took part in 869 dogfights. It destroyed 27 trains, 22 locomotives, two E-boats, 132 trucks, and 24 staff cars. Forty-two of the squadron's pilots were killed, and 30 were flying aces. Four pilots (Marcel Albert, Marcel Lefèvre, Jacques André and Roland de la Poype) became Heroes of the Soviet Union. Forty-seven Axis planes were damaged, and eight train stations, five airfields, four garrisons and three factories were attacked.
lyrics translation + additional historical note under cut
I get emotional hearing French speech,
I remember years long past.
I was friends with the Frenchmen, I'll never forget our meetings,
Where the Neman flows.
There, French pilots, in rain and fog,
Landed blows on the enemy,
And Soviet lads in the ranks of the partisans
Fought in the Loire valley. *
(Chorus)
In the skies we flew alone,
We lost our comrades-in-arms,
And those of us who were fated to live
Must remember them and remain friends
What are you doing now, French brother?
Where do you walk now, where do you fly?
Wasn't it you I called out to: "Bonjour, camarade!"
And you answered me: "Hello, comrade!"
We warmed ourselves from the same flask in winter,
We watched each other's backs in flight,
And then you returned home to Paris
In the plane I gave you.
(Chorus)
I'll come to Paris, walk around all the houses,
Travel under the whole city underground,
I'll find a pilot from Normandy there,
We'll continue our old conversation.
We fought for a just cause, comrade,
We hate any other kind of war.
Don't be deceived, my French brother,
Remaining faithful to your oath.
(Chorus)
*many soviet pows were taken to france to be used for forced labor. some escaped and ended up fighting in the french resistance. one such hero was soviet ukrainian lieutenant vasyl poryk (posthumously hero of the soviet union, the only person to receive this honor for participation in the french resistance). after french and polish miners helped him and some of his compatriots escape, with the help of french communists he started to organize his compatriots to fight the nazi occupation. he was captured and tortured and managed to escape, but was unfortunately captured again a few months later and executed. i think this is a reference to people like this (who fought to free france from nazi occupation, mirror story to the french pilots who fought side by side with the soviets on the eastern front), but poryk and his comrades were active in a different region of france, i'm not sure which groups in particular the line in the song is referencing.
