First, just to address Lenin's Hanging Order (1908), I had a moment after I finished reading it when I laughed. Why you might ask? At his instructions to kill 100 kulaks etc. to make a public show? Certainly not. Rather, I was wryly amused by how he signed the order. "Yours, Lenin." The Post-script was also a nice touch. There was such a juxtaposition of the serious (the killing bits) and the, almost, quotidian (his lack of formality).
Secondly, I was especially intrigued by Leigh's connection between the present and the past:
The violence of the Bolsheviks would become a commonly used tactic in the USSR and modern-day Russia. Although there is no longer a Kulak class, the intellectual targets have remained the same over the years.
Especially after having read Danielle's post which, ever so briefly mentions Anastasia, I couldn't help but think of an article I read about a month or so ago. Though I can't find the exact one, I found a few related ones here, here, here, and here.
Essentially, in late January of this year, Anastasia Baburova (Nastya), a Russian journalist, was lethally shot while walking in the company of human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov (the intended target). When a gunman walked up to them and shot Markelov in the head, killing him instantly, Baburova tried to attack/pursue the gunman who then shot her. She later died at a hospital. Sadly, she's not alone, nor are political assassinations a rarity in Russia today. (In a similar case in 2006, Anna Politkovskaya, another journalist from the same paper Nastya worked at, was found dead in an elevator. More here.)
What I find the most intriguing here are some parallels drawn between Russia in 1917 and Russia now.
-A government very intent on remaining in power (applicable both to Tsar Nicholas II and the provisional government. But look how it worked out for both of them.
-The targeting of intellectuals, in this case journalists and a lawyer.
-An out of touch, ruthless (and desperate?) upper class. According to the owner of the Novayagazeta (the paper at which Nastya and Anna worked), there is:
A tiny elite of officials, politicians and businessmen, who together have amassed vast fortunes running in to hundreds of billions....[who] will do anything to defend their wealth and power.
Last fall, I took Russian Lit with Scott and his Russian friend came in to talk with us about St. Petersburg. While she pointed out many similarities of the city to other Western European cities and was especially proud of signs of modernism (iPods, computers, etc.), Scott also gave us his impression which was far less...perhaps "optimistic" is the word.
And while it's interesting to make these connections, it's disappointing that even in the face of change, some things still remain the same.
(If you'd like to see the website of Novayagazeta, the paper where the murdered journalists worked, it's available in English here. They have a memorial up for Anastasia Baburova and Stanislav Markelov right now, including a fairly graphic picture of the murder scene. Not too much blood.)
I really enjoyed this post. Thank you.
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