Stalin's ghost: the legacies of Soviet history and the future of Russia

Book synopsis: Orlando Figes (1959) wrote, inter alia, a standard work on the Russian Revolution, A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution, 1891-1924. . In his most recent work, The Whisperers: Figes report of the fate of ordinary Russian families who lived under the terror of Stalin Private Life in Stalin's Russia, does Figes' books have been translated into several languages, including in Dutch. In Telderslezing Figes went in the way the brutal Soviet regime individualism in Russia tried to destroy. In addition, the regime was extremely successful. Long after the Soviet domination existed among many Russians - even those who were too young to have experienced the Soviet regime deliberately - fear of losing freedom. Some people lived with the packed suitcases, so they could any time off, if needed. Figes explains in his account of how this deep-seated fear arose and could persist. There was also attention to the consequences of this development for contemporary Russia where the rule of law and democracy are increasingly being dismantled and the Soviet past is condoned and even glorified

Od svjedočanstava do prepričavanja i književnih adaptacija: Rusko „doba velike smutnje” u ranonovovjekovnoj Europi

The article focuses on the adaptation strategies used by Lope de Vega in his play El Gran Duque de Moscovia y emperador perseguido (1617). This tragedy, built on material acquired from travelogues, represents the first depiction of the Russian Time of Troubles in fiction. In it, one can follow Lope de Vega’s shift from preserving the factual details collected from different travel sources to creating his own Baroque story placed within a purely Catholic world, as opposed to reality. In doing this, Lope de Vega creates a fictional space filled with mystery and miracles, where Heavens can intervene and punish the guilty party, whereby restoring the original status quo. Key situations turn from illustrations of an alien world into much more general depictions, namely, that of a tyrant versus a legal monarch, and the will of a ruler versus the law. The shift into tyranny provides the story with a new narrative centre and, by following Lope de Vega’s emphasis on the “Muscovian story,” discloses its universal spirit.[1]Članak se bavi strategijama adaptacije kojima se koristio Lope de Vega u svojoj drami El Gran Duque de Moscovia y emperador perseguido (Veliki ruski knez, 1617.). Ova tragedija, proizašla iz putopisne građe, predstavlja prvi književni prikaz ruskog „doba velike smutnje“. U njoj se Lope de Vega odmiče od činjenica prikupljenih iz različitih putopisnih izvora i stvara vlastitu baroknu priču smještenu u čisto katoličko okruženje. Tim postupkom de Vega stvara izmišljeni prostor ispunjen misterijima i čudima u kojemu je krivac kažnjen zahvaljujući Nebeskoj intervenciji, čime se obnavlja ravnoteža i postiže izvorni status quo. U ključnim situacijama, opisi stranog svijeta Rusije apstrahiraju se u uopćene prikaze sukoba između tiranina i zakonitog monarha, te između samovolje vladara i zakona. Narativni pomak prema despotizmu stavlja sasvim nova pitanja u središte teksta pa se tako de Vegina „moskovska priča“ adaptira u novu, univerzalnu priču

Twin Imperial Disasters. The invasions of Khiva and Afghanistan in the Russian and British official mind, 1839–1842

This paper examines two linked cases of abortive Imperial expansion. The British invasion of Afghanistan and the Russian winter expedition to Khiva both took place in 1839, and both ended in disaster. These events were linked, not merely by coincidence, but by mutual reactions to intelligence received in Orenburg, St Petersburg, Calcutta, London, and Tehran. British and Russian officials shared similar fears about each other's ambitions in Central Asia, similar patterns of prejudice, arrogance and ignorance, and a similar sense of entitlement as the self-conscious agents of two ‘Great Powers’. By examining the decision-making process which preceded these twin cases of expansion, and the British and Russian attitudes to Central Asian rulers and informants, the paper provides not only a deeper understanding of what provoked these particular disasters, but also of the wider process of European imperial expansion in the early nineteenth century

The impact of alcohol consumption on patterns of union formation in Russia 1998–2010: An assessment using longitudinal data

Using data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, 1998–2010, we investigated the extent to which patterns of alcohol consumption in Russia are associated with the subsequent likelihood of entry into cohabitation and marriage. Using discrete-time event history analysis we estimated for 16–50 year olds the extent to which the probabilities of entry into the two types of union were affected by the amount of alcohol drunk and the pattern of drinking, adjusted to allow for social and demographic factors including income, employment, and health. The results show that individuals who did not drink alcohol were less likely to embark on either cohabitation or marriage, that frequent consumption of alcohol was associated with a greater chance of entering unmarried cohabitation than of entering into a marriage, and that heavy drinkers were less likely to convert their relationship from cohabitation to marriage

The Accidental Terrorist: Okhrana Connections to the Extreme-Right and the Attempt to Assassinate Sergei Witte in 1907

This article represents a case study in the relationship between the tsarist secret police (commonly known as the Okhrana in the West and okhranka in Russia) and acts of political terror perpetrated by the extreme-right in late imperial Russia. This specific case concerns the tangled web of conspiracy, propaganda and controversy that surrounded the attempted assassination of former-Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Sergei Witte, in 1907

The dominant ethnic moment: towards the abolition of 'whiteness'?

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