Discussion

1. Question about Nikita Khrushchev, “The Secret Speech”

Khrushchev say about Stalin as a leader that he did not act by persuasion by means of explanations and patient collaboration with people, but by imposing his conceptions and demanding absolute submission to his opinion. Anyone who objected to his conception or tried to explain his point of view and the correctness of his position was destined to be cut off from the ruling community and later destined to moral and physical annihilation (Barratt, & Slaughter, 1998).

2-3. Questions about the underworld music by Vysotskii and Severnyi:

This is not just a clarification of the objects of hunting. The context is such that even the seemingly meaningfully erased definition of “gray” (which, at the same time, may seem superfluous at first: meaning that wolves are sulfur, is well-known) turns out to be significant: they are bleeding from the last line of the refrain, stains red flags, snow. Together, they paint the slaughter scene in hard, eye-cutting gray-white-bloody tones. These color spots attract particular attention primarily because in Vysotsky's song poetry, words denoting color are very rare. The stronger, sharper is their impact, the more significant is their presence.

3. Why do you think songs like Arkadii Severnyi's “In the Clink” were not allowed to be performed at official (government-sanctioned) venues? (Before typing your answer, consider this: what was the sole criterion for measuring art works in the Soviet Union and to what extent did Severnyi’s work fit this guideline?)

yes, I think songs like Arkadii Severnyi's “In the Clink” were not allowed to be performed at official (government-sanctioned) venues because these are the government property. It should be kept for some secrets. The sole criterion for measuring art works in the Soviet Union is the past historical scriptures.

4-5. Questions about Stephen Handelman, “Thieves World” (excerpt from Comrade Criminal Russia’s New Mafiya) and “The Rise and Rise of the Russian Mafia” by BBC NEWS:

4. Based on the Handelman’s piece, explain how the new Russian mafia influenced Russia’s development in the 1990s: which socio-economic—criminal and not so much—activities did the Russian mafia conduct?

Hoodlums started to flourish amid the Brezhnev time when the Soviet economy was stagnating. Criminals known as "hoodlums in law" (vory y zakone) started to fill the hole, providing extravagances, for example, pants, cigarettes, vodka, biting gum and howdy fi hardware to the individuals who could bear the cost of them. The Soviet-period hoodlums stayed under the radar, realizing great they would finish up in the gulags on the off chance that they paraded their evil gotten riches (Handelman 1994).

5. According to Handelman and the BBC piece, what were the factors that might have resulted in the rise of the Russian mafia in the 1990s?

According to Handelman an BBC report, The Russian mafia is not a new concept however its prompt development and increasing readiness to use dangerous violence is disturbing law implementation officers international Criminals started to thrive throughout the Brezhnev age while the Soviet frugality was festering (Handelman).

6. Question about Aleksei Balabanov’s Brother (1997):

Does Danila believe that his actions are for the common good? If so, how does he justify his actions? If not, what is his motivation, then? How do we characterize him and his role as a hero?

After two years of military service in the Red Army, Danila Bagrov returns to civilian life. Soon he can not bear being confined to his hometown and decides to join his older brother, settled in St. Petersburg. He discovers that the young man, far from being the businessman he claims to have become, is in fact a hit man on behalf of the local mafia. Danila follows the same path. However, he does not lose his moral sense and continues to help the disinherited he meets on his bloody road.

References

McCauley M. The Khrushchev Era 1953-1964. Routledge; 2017 Aug 15.

Handelman S. The Russian'Mafiya'. Foreign Affairs. 1994 Mar 1:83-96.

Handelman S. When Crime-Fighting Fails: the Case of Russia. InSocial Capital and Social Cohesion in Post-Soviet Russia 2016 Sep 16 (pp. 134-147). Routledge.