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#ussr (former soviet union)
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Stained glass windows in the administrative building of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
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The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant was one of the largest in the Soviet Union and the poster child of the Soviet nuclear power industry. As such, little expense was spared on details like these windows.
The Soviet Union often used motifs in abstract art to promote Communism and laude their successes.
For more info, check out my reblog of this post.
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maribellablack · 5 months
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"My tenderness, my happiness, what words can I write for you? How strange that although my life’s work is moving a pen over paper, I don’t know how to tell you how I love, how I desire you. Such agitation — and such divine peace: melting clouds immersed in sunshine — mounds of happiness. And I am floating with you, in you, aflame and melting — and a whole life with you is like the movement of clouds, their airy, quiet falls, their lightness and smoothness, and the heavenly variety of outline and tint — my inexplicable love. I cannot express these cirrus-cumulus sensations."
- Vladimir Nabokov's love letter to his wife, Véra ❤️
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earlrobson · 9 months
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How can you be anti imperialist if you are a leninist? soviets colonized so many indigenous people like sami, karelians, veps, evenks, komis, khantys, nenets etc not to mention entire countries like Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine etc. isn't colonization part of imperialism?
Being a Marxist Leninist doesn't mean uncritically supporting everything the USSR did. It was absolutely imperialist in the later years of its existence, and there were some ethnic cleansings that happened under Stalin that are inexcusable.
Being a Marxist Leninist isn't about worshipping any country or leader, it's about using scientific socialism and dialectical materialism to further the communist movement. I will push back against false propaganda (the Ukrainian famine was not intentionally caused the the Soviet government for example) but I'm also perfectly willing to critique things they did that were bad.
Lenin was unequivocally a hero in my view. Stalin is a very complex figure, as he did a lot of good. He beat back the Nazis, he dramatically improved the quality of life for the Soviets, and he made immense contributions to theory. On the other hand, he recriminalized homosexuality and ordered ethnic deportations.
Communists have a term for when a socialist state does imperialism: "social imperialism". We're aware that this has happened and stand against it.
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pinkribbonmarxist · 9 months
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"The Chains Break - This Is The Echo Of Our Revolution!" - Viktor Koretsky Soviet Union, 1968
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neversound · 1 year
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Rokossovsky, Marshal of the Soviet Union and Poland, one of the most famous commanders of World War II. He holds the marshal's scepter in his right hand, and the Polish white eagle rests on his left hand.
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soviet-amateurs · 1 year
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Moscow Students at the work camp 1988
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alliluyevas · 1 year
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was talking to @xenowlsome about 19th century novels we were into as kids and she was like “oh i really loved the headless horseman but i can’t remember the author” and i said “i’m struggling but it’s on the tip of my tongue. all i can think of is ichabod crane but that’s the character” and she goes “oh that’s not the headless horseman that’s a different story. i’m talking about the headless horseman. you know. it’s set in texas.” MA’AM THE WHAT? i’m  pretty sure sleepy hollow is not in texas!!!
anyway that’s how we discovered that this story is in fact called the headless horseman, set in texas, and apparently wildly popular in the former soviet union due to being the inspiration for a 1972 soviet western film.
another hit in the “often obscure 19th century european or american novels that are disproportionately wildly popular in the former soviet union” canon
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galliaestomnis · 1 year
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eckoxxa · 1 year
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New here…?
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endcolonizers · 6 months
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i attempted drawing communal housing from the ussr in the late 70s/ early 80s (used a photo for one building)!
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Soviet “Stilyagi” style hunters, hipster of their day
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The first video of the Chernobyl plant after the accident. The red glow inside the reactor building is the red hot graphite inside the core of the reactor.
To learn more, check out this post.
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maribellablack · 8 months
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I always use this quote when I'm having a discussion with older people about the difference between the generations... great amount of people who criticize newer generation in my country were born in the USSR... of course, they will never know what it's like to be really free and not be afraid of saying what's on your mind, to defend yourself, your beliefs and morals (except only the little amount of them, who fought for the independence we have today) ... they were born in the iron cage, therefore, flying will always be an illness for them, we who were born out of that cage will forever be strangers and sick for them, no matter how much we try, no matter what we do...
Also, I could have drawn a really good parallel to this quote from the bible, but I'm kinda tired for that...
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iisthepopeoffools · 10 months
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My take on the Soviet Union: by the standards of which a bourgeois revolution might be judged, it was successful. It destroyed the old reactionary autocracy and, on average, improved the standard of living for its people (while also repressing them). However, as a Marxist or a socialist revolution, it was an utter failure, except insofar as it prevented capitalism from being seen as the only option in world politics while it existed. No liberatory system was enacted. Instead, the means of production were given not to the workers but to a class of barely accountable bureaucrats. The USSR established a disciplinary society with Fordist alienation of labor and a prison system and forced institutionalization system that was heavily weaponized against those that couldn't be properly disciplined. And, for all this, the USSR never came close to achieving communism - instead, its bureaucratic state apparatus ossified and stagnated until both internal and external pressure shattered it and ruthless gangster capitalism came to take its place.
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inapat16 · 10 months
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Soviet union films that you should check out
Viy (Вий) (1967)
The film was directed by ukranian directors Konstantin Yerchov and Georgi Kropachyov in 1967. The film is an adaptation of Nikolai Gogol's short story Viy, published in 1835. The story is about an encounter between three young men freshly out of the seminary in Kiev and a witch, to whom they take shelter after wandering off into the plain. The witch sets her sights on one of them, Thomas, who is not fooled and tries to catch her at her own game. In revenge, she pretends to be dead, and Thomas is forced to watch over her body in a chapel for three days. After what, Thomas’ soul is promised to heaven. But things don't go according to plan, and the corpse comes back to life at night, to torment the young clerk. 
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Gogol's story is rooted in the rich folklore of Ukraine, but from the outset it is an anti-clerical manifesto. This vein can be felt in the film adaptation, which sticks very closely to the text. Indeed, anti-clericalism was one of the main spearheads of the Soviet regime, which meant that the adaptation project was widely welcomed by the authorities. What is interesting, however, is that the film delves into Ukrainian cultural history and gives a fantastic portrait of medieval Ukraine. One can see this especially in the duel between Christianity and older local beliefs, and particularly through the character of the witch as she invokes the demon Viy, king of the gnomes, as Thomas is trying to perform exorcism on her. 
The film is on the side of horror, but paradoxically it is less through the evocation of monsters than through the character of the witch herself. The power of Natalya Varley's gaze is heightened by the stillness of the shots and the silence, building up the film's horrific tension. The ambivalence of this character, who oscillates between looking like a young girl and an old woman, tends to deconstruct the vulnerability of female characters in cinema. It is she who triumphs in the story, simply by virtue of her powers, which enable her to destroy the man who was standing up to her. In relation to the context of the film's production, this character is truly unsettling just as magnetic. 
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The character of the young clerk is also very interesting. Far from being a hero, he has many flaws, including alcoholism and cowardice. The use of diy special effects with proto-green screen attempts to make the character's flaws more palpable on screen. He is very much inspired by the characters of Gothic novels, and his destiny only confirms this. 
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As for the figure of the devil Viy, it encapsulates both the power of folklore and the fatality that mows down in its path all individuals who do harm to society. It is Thomas's greedy and selfish quest for salvation that causes his downfall. Beyond these considerations, the staging of the demonic saraband is remarkable. Many of the special effects, such as the green screens mentioned above, and the analogue processes used in the sets and costumes are brilliantly executed. And in a way, they set the standard for the representation of monsters in cinema, since relatively similar processes will be found in other films later on, such as Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings saga (2001-2003). 
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Link to watch the film : https://youtu.be/4YmQn6q36HQ 
J.A Lenourichel
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bemmelanonymous · 11 months
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Anyone who loves freedom owes such a debt to the Red Army that it can never be repaid
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