Stalin’s Heirs

On March 5, 1953, Joseph Stalin passed away and Russia wept. Stalin was considered a god, and without him the Russians felt they had no sense of direction. They feared a future without Stalin in it. In his autobiography, Yevgeny Yevtushenko wrote about visiting Stalin's coffin. He compared the massive crowd of tens of thousands of …

The Stylistic Rebellion of the Stilyaga

The rebellion of the Stilyaga was one of the most mediocre rebellions in Soviet Russia. They were either the children of the Soviet elite or were war orphans, and were able to afford to rebel through the way they dressed. The Stilyagi rebelled through their style of clothes and music because it was not a …

Water Stains of Socialist Realism

Socialist Realism was the primary method of writing used by Soviet writers in the 1930's, and, in his piece, Mass Attack on the Watershed, Maxim Gorky spearheaded the movement of Socialist Realism. The story, which focused on the construction of the Belomor Canal, was geared towards unifying the prisoners and the state. Many of the prisoners …

The Trio of Red Devils

Pavel Blyakhin wrote the script for The Little Red Devils in 1923. His story is all about these two children, Dunyasha and Mishka who are out for revenge for their father's murder. A Ukranian Separatist group, led by Nestor Makhno, raided the train station where Mishka worked with his father, while Dunyasha was bringing them their dinner. The …

The Real Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk is a Russian-realist story written by Nikolai Leskov. Published in 1865, it is known as one of Leskov's most famous works. The story is centered on Katerina Lvovna, whose status changed from poverty to a life of luxury and boredom when she married the merchant, Zinovy Borisych. This novella is about …