Today in Writing History December 15, 1905: The Pushkin House was established in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to preserve the cultural heritage of Alexander Pushkin, (6/6/1799–2/10/1837). Pushkin was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era. He was influenced by Enlightenment writers and thinkers, like Diderot and Voltaire. He spoke out in support of social reform, and wrote poems, like “Ode to Liberty,” leading to the government exiling him from the capital. In 1920 the Pushkin House was renamed the Institute of New Russian Literature, with the main objective of preparing authoritative "academic" editions of works by Pushkin, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, and others.
"We can see the division of the globe into grievable and ungrievable lives from the perspective of those who wage war in order to defend the lives of certain communities, and to defend them against the lives of others — even if it means taking those latter lives."
💥 Christmas is coming and my book is coming too! This monthly post about The urban life of workers in post-Soviet Russia discusses my approach of building a discursive strategy. It explains how I was choosing epigraphs and what books and authors influenced my writing style.
Today in Labor History December 7, 1905: A General Strike of 150,000 workers began in Moscow, at the climax of the 1905 Russia Revolution. The strike escalated into a general uprising, with thousands of workers taking up arms against the imperial government. At least 400 workers died. The revolt was based in the apartment of writer, Maxim Gorky. Militants made bombs in his study and ate in his kitchen. On December 10, socialist revolutionaries bombed the headquarters of the Moscow Okhrana (secret police). By December 12, the rebels held six of the seven railway stations and many neighborhoods. On December 15, they assassinated the head of the Okhrana. However, the Imperial Guard brought in reinforcements on the 15th. They shelled the proletarian district of Presnia, home to 150,000 textile workers, and ultimately quashed the rebellion.
The investigation I've been waiting for (including a nice visualisation):
A breakdown of all complaints filed against bloggers and musicians by Ekaterina Mizulina (Safe Internet League) - from formal complaints to social media posts - and what happened next.
Interesting investigation by Novaya Gazeta Europe demonstrating that, of the 1.3 million pro-war Russian social media posts (VK) they analysed, almost half were copy-pasted, and the majority were posted by state employees.
The findings are not surprising given what we know about Russian online information manipulation. Nonetheless, it's yet another cautionary message to not interpret Russian social media posts as authentic speech.
The Red Mirror: Putin's Leadership and Russia's Insecure Identity
What explains Putin's enduring popularity in Russia? In The Red Mirror, Gulnaz Sharafutdinova uses social identity theory to explain Putin's leadership. The main source of Putin's political influence, she finds, lies in how he articulates the shared collective perspective that unites many Russian citizens.
The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin
“A riveting, immensely detailed biography of Putin that explains in full-bodied, almost Shakespearian fashion why he acts the way he does.” –Robert D. Kaplan
Putin's bestselling biographer reveals how, in the space of a generation, Russia surrendered to a more virulent and invincible new strain of autocracy.
Very grateful to receive the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) Early Career Award for my research on the visible and invisible mechanisms of information control in authoritarian states
Such awards tend to reinforce the idea of 'individual excellence' in academic research and push collaboration to the background. I'm immensely grateful to my co-authors, collaborators and network.
The best research emerges when we think together #TeamScience
Stalin in Power: The Russian Revolution From Above, 1928–1941
This book forms the second volume of Tucker's biography of Stalin, the first volume of which is Stalin as Revolutionary. The author shows that Stalin was a Bolshevik of the radical right whose revolution cast the country deep into its imperial, autocratic past.
The Inside Story of Putin's War on America and the Election of Donald Trump
The incredible, harrowing account of how American democracy was hacked by Moscow as part of a covert operation to influence the U.S. election and help Donald Trump gain the presidency.
How the West's obsession with Vladimir Putin prevents it from understanding Russia
It is impossible to think of Russia today without thinking of Vladimir Putin. More than any other major national leader, he personifies his country in the eyes of the outside world, and dominates Western media coverage of it to an extraordinary extent.
Today in Labor History November 17, 1947: Revolutionary and author Victor Serge died. Serge lived in Paris in the early 20th century, where he was loosely associated with the Bonnot gang of anarchist bank robbers, and where he collaborated with Raymond Callemin on the newspaper L’anarchie. He was in Barcelona during their anarchist uprising and contributed to the CNT’s newspaper, “Tierra y Libertad.” He went to Russia in 1918, initially in support of the communists. However, he quickly became disillusioned with the repressive, autocratic rule, criticized the party and was imprisoned. He wrote numerous books, including the classic “Birth of Our Power” and his autobiographical “Memoirs of a Revolutionist.”
Putin's War on Ukraine: Russia’s Campaign for Global Counter-Revolution
Eight years after annexing Crimea, Russia embarked on a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Vladimir Putin viewed this attack on a neighbour as a legacy-defining mission, which sought to restore a central element of Russia’s sphere of influence and undo Ukraine’s surprisingly resilient democratic experiment.
Today in Labor History November 16, 1849: Russian authorities gave a death sentence to author Fyodor Dostoevsky for anti-government activities linked to a radical intellectual group called the Petrashevsky Circle. He and his colleagues were lined up before the firing squad when, at the last minute, a cart arrived with a letter from the Tsar, commuting their sentence. He still had to serve 4 years hard labor in Siberia. Dostoevsky alludes to his experience before the firing squad in his 1868-1869 novel, “The Idiot.”
🇪🇺 🇷🇺 The European Union has proposed banning the export of machine tools and machinery parts that Russia uses to make weapons targeting Ukraine, according to documents seen by Bloomberg.
Sasha Skochilenko, a 33-year-old artist and musician charged with spreading false information about Russia's armed forces after replacing supermarket price tags with slogans protesting against the invasion of Ukraine, reacts inside an enclosure for defendants during a court hearing in St. Petersburg, Russia, on November 8.
🇷🇺 A rare look inside a covert Russian-led operation to get strategic technology protected by European export controls into the hands of the state - FT