A Look At The March Referendum: What Did it Mean for the Soviet State?

Openness and restructuring When Mikhail Gorbachev embarked on his crusade of reforms and unleashed the forces of “Glasnost” and “Perestroika” he had confidence in the nationality policy of the Soviet State, and therefore felt comfortable opening up Soviet society to a wide range of economic change and political discord. However, Gorbachev soon found himself in

45 Years of Unification: The liberation of Saigon

On this day 45 years ago, the People’s army of Vietnam along with the Liberation army of South Vietnam(Vietcong) captured Saigon the capital of the puppet state of South Vietnam and dissolved the Saigon government, officially marking the end of colonial domination of Vietnam and unification.

A Workers’ State, But a Peasant Nation: A Look Into the “Idealization” of the Russian Peasant and Village

From Tolstoy to Solzhenitsyn One of the most prevalent themes in Russian literature stretching back to the days of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky is the “idealization” of the Russian peasant and village. The life of Russian peasants has always been a meek one. Crushed by the burdens of Serfdom and forced to work the land for

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov: Celebrating 150 Years of Lenin

“Ulyanov’s short life is well known to men in every country among every race. But the longer biography of Lenin has still to be written, rewritten and retraced.” Vladimir Mayakovsky On April 22nd 150 years ago today, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was born to an upper middle class working family in Simbirsk, Russia. He would go

The Great Patriotic War: The Price of Victory

On the morning of June 22nd 1941 German troops came crashing across the Soviet border in Byelorussia, Ukraine and Lithuania, officially marking the start of operation Barbarossa, and the beginning of the Soviet people’s Great Patriotic War against the fascists invaders. Говорить Москва! Attention Moscow Speaking! The Soviet People were made aware of the start

Three Decades of Fundamental Construction

When Joseph Stalin published his article “A Year of Great Change” he was referring to the success of the first Five Year Plan launched at the beginning of 1928. In this first year the Soviet State saw success on three very important fronts. First off, the state and party were able to tighten labor discipline

Lenin’s last congress: Lenin’s report to the Eleventh Congress of the RCP(B)

The Eleventh Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) was held from March 27th to April 2nd in 1922. The congress was the last attended by Lenin in person and the second to last congress before his death in 1924. This post will analysis the Political Report of the Central Committee of the RCP(B) given

С Международным женским днём!

Happy Women’s Day! I would like to thank all the important women in my life for their invaluable place in my development. That includes my Great grandmother, Mother, my many grandmas and my girlfriend Trina! This day is also important in the history of the workers movement across the world, as it was first recognized

Stalin and His Time

“some call Stalin the left-wing radical, others call him the last Russian emperor, the great statesman, heir to Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great. Some consider him an internationalist, while others call him a national Bolshevik and a supporter of Russian great power. For some, he is a militant atheist, on whose orders churches were closed,

The Road to the Great October Socialist Revolution

Below is a short essay on the lead up to the Great October Socialist Revolution, the most important historical event in the history of the Soviet State. In the watershed of Russian history that was the 18th and 19th centuries, each one of these events, listed in chronological order, had an — if not equal