21th of May 2015

Today in the class of Social Sciences...

At first, the teacher Paqui has said the person who that had to do the journal... Then we have seen some photos of the mummification of Lenin, Stalin (some attacks to the Stalin's mummy) and Ho Chi Minh.


http://esp.rt.com/actualidad/public_images/c81/c813925ddd9cb2842572a092fec84542_article430bw.jpg

http://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/view/88583-lideres-mundiales-embalsamados-chavez-muerte

Then we have spoken about the penis of Rasputin, and the teacher said there were persons who pay to see the Rasputin's penis...

http://www.local-life.com/st-petersburg/articles/rasputins-penis

After, the teacher has explained "Stalinism" (1927-1953) all about the period under Stalin's government.

About the economy, Stalin changed the orientation of the economy policy. His priority was to transform the USSR into and industralized power. He imposed:

- Collectivization privization of all private properties

- Centrally planned economy: the State controlled and planned economy through the Gosplan (MInistry of Planning). They elaborated de Five Year Plans.

- Priority to heavy industry to the detriment of light industry.

Results: quick industrialization of the USSR but to the detriment of a permanent  lack of consumers'goods and consolidation of black market.

Former Gosplan ( State Commite for planning, building in Moscou). 

http://archimaps.tumblr.com/post/23935491634/the-gosplan-garage-moscow

Then the teacher has explained the cult of Stalin personality: he was presented as the father and the savior of the USSR in propaganda.

And after this, the repression persecution and repression of the all those suspected of critizing the régime

- Stalinist purges in the 1930 killed around 700.000 people

- Many other were sent to the forced labour camps (Gulag)

And finally, we have seen some manipulated Stalin and Franco's photos.

http://todayinsocialsciences.blogspot.com.es/2012/05/vanishing-bolsheviks-and-other.html

http://todayinsocialsciences.blogspot.com.es/2012/05/vanishing-bolsheviks-and-other.html

We have copied some vocabulary:

-Spanish: español (adj)

-Spaniard: español (noun person)

-mummified: momificado

- ritten: podrido

-Five Years Plan: Plan Quinquenal

-to carry out: llevar a cabo

-to persecute: juzgar, procesar

- heavy industry: industria pesada

- light industry: industria ligera

-supportive: solidario

- selfishness: egoísmo


Bye!

Monday 18th May, 2015

Hello everybody!!!

Today, the beginning of our Social Sciences lesson has consisted in the continuation of the point "D" of the Russian Revolutions, which is called Stalinism. The last day, we studied the "Lennin's Succesion" and today we have studied how the government of Stalin was like:

The economy in Stalin's government had the following characteristics:
-Collectivization: everything became State property.
-Planification: Centrally Planned Economy through the Five Years Plan and priority of heavy  industry to the detriment of light industry and consumer goods.

We've also learned this: propaganda was used to exalt or present Stalin as the father the savior of the USSR. This is the cult of Stalin's personality.

The most interesting thing was the repression of the opossition, another important feature of Stalinism:
-All the people who were suspected of critizicing or opposing the Communist Party were arrested and in many cases executed or sent to the GULAG.
-Stalinist Purges: in the 1930s around 700,000 people were executed.

After the explanation of Stalinism and finishing the unit, Paqui has given us the Art projects. I've had an 8!! I'm so happy with my mark and everybody has had very good marks, and we've enjoyed a lot doing the projects. Tomorrow we have the exam, I'm so nervous.


Byeeee!!



Source: www.taringa.net

Vanishing Bolsheviks and other manipulated pictures

Last Thursday we saw several manipulated photographs in the USSR during Stalin´s rule. Here you have some other pictures and links: 

Four, three, two, one...

Source:  http://myweb.lmu.edu/rrolfs/commissar02b.html

The original picture was taken in Leningrad in 1926 and it showed, Antipov, Stalin, Kirov and Shvernik. Kirov was executed in 1934 and Antipov in 1941. Shvernik survived until 1970, but was erased when Brodsky painted Stalin´s portrait in 1949. 

And these are some links: 

- SOVIET RUSSIAN PHOTO CORRECTION: this is the website we visited last week.

http://englishrussia.com/2007/02/22/soviet-russian-photos-correction/

- THE COMISSAR VANISHES: THE FALSIFICATION OF PHOTOGRAPHS IN STALIN´S RUSSIA: interactive exhibition by the News Museum and Loyola University

http://www.newseum.org/berlinwall/commissar_vanishes/index.htm

http://myweb.lmu.edu/rrolfs/commissar01b.html

As we saw the other day, Stalin was not the only one to order the manipulation of photographs. Here you have again the manipulated pictures of Franco and Hitler´s interview in Hendaye (France) in 1940:

On the first picture, Franco with his eyes closed 

On the second one, Franco with his eyes open 

Source: http://lafotografiaprohibida.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/%C2%BFquien-es-quien/

On this picture they stuck the three figures over 

another picture of a train arriving to the station

  Source: http://lafotografiaprohibida.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/%C2%BFquien-es-quien/ 

And here Franco was "made" taller than he was 

and a decoration was added to his uniform. 

Source: http://lafotografiaprohibida.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/%C2%BFquien-es-quien/

Postcript: 

This is a curious piece of news appeared today (11th June) in the newspaper.The General Council of the Judicial Power press service has been erasing the images of a man who works as a bodyguard for Carlos Dívar, the president of the Council. This man is supposedly the one who accompanied him to his "business trips" to Marbella. Stalin´s methods are still alive! Here you have the information: 

http://blogs.elpais.com/despejen-la-sala/2012/06/stalin-pernocta-en-el-poder-judicial.html

Lenin´s succession and the ice-ax

As we have studied today, after Lenin´s death there were some transition years in which Stalin and Trotsky were the main leaders of two factions in fight for power. This is what  Lenin wrote about them in 1922 about Stalin and Trotsky: 

24th December

Comrade Stalin, having become Secretary-General, has unlimited authority concentrated in his hands, and I am not sure whether he will always be capable of using that authority with sufficient caution. Comrade Trotsky, on the other hand (...) is distinguished not only by outstanding ability. He is personally perhaps the most capable man in the present Central Committee., but he has displayed excessive self-assurance and shown excessive preoccupation with the purely administrative side of the work.

25th December

Stalin is too rude and this defect, although quite tolerable in our midst and in dealing among us Communists, becomes intolerable in a Secretary-General. That is why I suggest the comrades think about a way of removing Stalin from that post and appointing another man in his stead who in all other respects differs from Comrade Stalin in having only one advantage, namely, that of being more tolerant, more loyal, more polite, and more considerate to the comrades, less capricious, etc. This circumstance may appear to be a negligible detail. But I think that from the standpoint of safeguards against a split, and from the standpoint of what I wrote above about the relationship between Stalin and Trotsky, it is not a detail, or it is a detail which can assume decisive importance.

Lenin´s testament (1922)

Source: http://www.historyguide.org/europe/testament.html

In these transition years the President of the USSR was Alexei Rykov, who supported Stalin against Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev.  Rykov, Kamenev and Zinoviev were executed in 1938 during the Great Purge. Trotsky was assassinated by Stalin´s order in Mexico City in 1940. The killer was Ramón Mercader, a Spanish communist who worked as a Soviet agent. Mercader used an ice-ax to kill Trotsky and the story of this murder is very curious. Mercader visited Trotsky several times and gained his confidence. On the 20th August 1940 Mercader brought an ice-ax  hidden in his raincoat and waited for the right moment to kill Trotsky. Here you have a short video which reproduces the murder: 

And this is a picture of the famous ice-ax:

 Source: http://bohemiantraveler.com/2010/09/i-went-to-mexico-city-to-see-an-ice-axe/

On the link above you can find more information about the house where the murder was committed. Now it´s a museum about Trotsky. 

And here you have another link about what happened to the ice-ax: 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/jun/16/past.russia

After killing Trotsky, Mercader was arrested by Trotsky´s bodyguards, later judged and sentenced to 20 years prison in Mexico. Stalin decorated Mercader with the Order of Lenin, the most valuable decoration bestowed in the USSR. Mercader died in Cuba in 1978.