Pre-Viewing

Context

Life in Pripyat Before, And the Morning After, the Chernobyl Disaster (Atlas Obscura)
Photo Gallery: Central Asia's Wild Soviet Architecture (Wired)
Collection: Soviet Architecture (Arch Daily)
From Marie Curie to the Demon Core: When Radiation Kills (Discover Magazine)

Vocabulary

roentgen -- a unit of measurement for radiation (this is no longer the unit used by scientists today)

RBMK reactor -- an early nuclear power generator controlled by graphite and water

apparatchik -- a Soviet bureaucrat; a term with a strongly negative connotation that suggests corruption and inefficiency

KGB -- the Soviet secret police, known for spying on their own citizens and ruthlessly disappearing those who posed a threat to the state (Vladimir Putin was a former KGB agent)

Holodomor -- a genocide-by-famine instituted by the Soviet Union that killed millions of people (estimates range from 3 to 12 million) in the Ukraine from 1932-33

Lenin -- the founding head of the Soviet Union who established the philosophical basis for communism in Russia

Stalin -- the dictator of the Soviet Union from 1922 -- 1952 who established some of the most brutal functions of the state

Activity: Soviet Propaganda

Step 1: Consider this definition of "propaganda" from Merriam Webster's Dictionary:

the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person

Step 2: Choose one of these Soviet propaganda posters from PBS and analyze it using the SPACECAT method.

Step 3: EITHER create your own Soviet-style propaganda poster using these instructions as a guide -OR- find an example of government-sponsored propaganda from beyond the Soviet Union and analyze it using SPACECAT.

Activity: Samizdat

Skim this article, "The Material Existence of Soviet Samizdat," which looks at self-published resistance texts in the Soviet Union along with this article, "A Brief History of Zines," which considers homemade publications in the United States. In a thoughtful paragraph, consider the parallels and divergences between the two genres as they use language to make an impact on the world.

Text: Pravda

Read the following article from The New York Times about the closing of Pravda ("Truth"), the official Soviet newspaper:

Page updated

Report abuse