#soviet state

How the Soviet police treated prisoners while publicly humiliating them.

Sergey Novikov

‘The Wall 7,16,45...”

“Confrontation with West gave rise to a special type of territorial unit in Soviet Union- "closed cities". They served science and defense needs of the country as nuclear weapon development (Arzamas-16) or disposal (Sverdlovsk-45) sites, home to the navy and missile forces. These cities were not mapped, had encrypted names and were called "mailboxes" on the analogy with classified institutes or manufacturing facilities situated in them, which didn't have a specific address but only a mailbox number, to where all post were sent. Residents of these cities have been told not to mention their place of living, to use name of the nearest major city instead (for example, Krasnoyarsk instead of Krasnoyarsk-26). Together with the collapse of the Soviet state another life began in the secret cities, they ceased to be secret. Nevertheless, borders remained closed for "outsiders", well-being (budget subsidies, low crime rate, high-level medicine and social services) forced residents wary of the first timid attempts to raise the issue of whether to retain barriers. There are 42 "closed cities" and 1.2 million people nowadays in Russia. To enter into this city you need a pass, an invitation from a near relative typically. Recent polls in "mailboxes" revealed that the majority of people are still against the radical change of territorial policy. They wait a crowds of homeless, criminals, migrants, deprivation of budget support as the most probable consequences of dismantling protective barriers. Closed city- kind of utopia, a dream where there is a request to "we." "We are others, and border is around us." I've created "The Wall-7,16,45…" project from the tails of memories of those cities residents, my own experience in visiting such places, being inspired by web forums chats, authorities rhetoric and social media threads. There are no photographs shot in the actual secret cities in the project. 2014-ongoing“

All of last week, Oyumaa and I worked directly at the Zorig Foundation on two main projects: developing the program for a democracy camp this summer (catered to Mongolian college students) and creating a working timeline of the events surrounding the Mongolian Democratic Revolution. The above link is a wonderful and concise explanation of what went down and how truly remarkable the event was. 

As many of you might know, Mongolia was a soviet satellite state for most of the 20th century--when democracy finally came, it was one of the most peaceful revolutions in history. Within a year of the first protest, democratic elections were held, spurred by hunger strikes and youth movements that asked for free press, for the recognition of human rights, and for a multiparty system. 

Despite the event being so significant, there are little to no official resources documenting the event. After combing through online resources, we headed to the Mongolian National History Museum to try to find more--and were limited even there in terms of a real timeline of events. Even the State Department Store bookstore didn’t have a single book dedicated to the topic! Because research on the event is so scant, the Zorig Foundation has undertaken a project to interview 150 key players in the revolution and create a four-part tv-series, illustrated book, and website dedicated to the topic. 

Read this article about a radical art collective called Voina and their subsequent censorship and abuse they've sustained from the Russian government.  

Too late Bukharin realized into whose hands he had fallen. In a letter which he made his wife memorize just before his arrest and execution, he said: I am leaving life. I am lowering my head ... I feel my helplessness before a hellish machine*. . .

He had helped erect a guillotine—the Soviet State; that had killed millions, only to learn in the end that its design had been made in hell. He had desired to be the Antichrist. He became instead its victim.

- Richard Wurmbrand, Marx and Satan, Living Sacrifice Book Company, p. 51