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The Great Terror in Leningrad: a Quantitative Analysis. THIS ARTICLE PRESENTS some preliminary empirical findings about the impact of the great terror in Leningrad (city and oblast'). The sheer scale of the purges makes a quantitative analysis of their impact viable, even within a very limited time span and within a defined geographical region. Leningrad itself offers an interesting case study because of its unique position as the Soviet Union's 'second city' (and former capital). It was an important political and administrative area, located on the borders of the Soviet empire. Its industrial base was relatively advanced, and the local economy had strategic importance for national defence and international trade. The city was surrounded by extensive agricultural regions, which were home to a varied population. The aim here is to offer an insight into the social composition of the victims of the terror, as well as the waves of arrests, trials and executions. As such, rather than attempting to determine who was responsible for instigating and perpetuating the Great Terror, or examining the impact of mass repression on Soviet society as a whole in the second half of the 1930s, this article addresses such historiographical questions as the scope and scale of mass repression and identifies those who were the victims of the purges. [1] The purges: historiographical debates
Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg was born into social confusion. He was jewish, gay, and his mother was a communist. Yet outside of this, he was also birthed within a generation that wallowed in chaos, both morally and emotionally. Before them had come the Industrial Revolution, which had begun the murder of "unity or wholeness" in American society; assembly lines and the breakdown of the workplace into "distinct and separable parts" had fragmented both the individual and the family. Yet it was the bomb that truly brought the deafening crush on American psycha, minimalizing mechanical wonders and becoming "the first true "human" leap in the intelligent understanding of how to control and shape the environment (Henrikson xi). However, to Ginsberg and others, nothing was closer to the anti thesis of the concept of human. Their parents had numbed themselves in order to adapt to the depression and two world wars, forcing them to rationalize the reality of post-war America with apathy and materialism and the empty values of consumerism. Ginsberg refused to believe this was the way of the world and began to write about a new generation who had placed new definitions in place of old notions that no longer applied. He and other writers began a To Allen Ginsberg, the problem was that in society the existence of the individual in isolation was naturally "more real" than society in general,
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China's Relationship With The West Nicola Reed There is great concern in the West about the issue of human rights in China. Is the West able to have any influence over this issue? . Pressure On China High-level visits to China from important political people such as the President, MPs and the Prime Minister, put extreme pressure on China and the government. As well as pressure, they also bring a mixture of criticism, praises, suggestions and proposals. President Clinton of the USA visited China in June 1998. While he was there, he made an impact on the country and the government and there were even suggestions that Mr Jiang was pondering the need for political reform. It was an achievement for Mr Clinton when the Chinese President took the unprecedented step of taking part in a press conference with Mr. Clinton, which was broadcast live on Chinese television. In 1997, Clinton used a "softer" approach on China to try to encourage them to sign a United Nations covenant on economic, social and cultural rights, obliging their country to protect people from discrimination. However, this rapprochement held a big risk for Clinton because a lot of people believed that he was being too "soft on China". So when he went to China in 1998, he used a different tactical approach. He decided to be very critical and direct, laying down his opinions very
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What were the causes of the disintegration of the Soviet Union as a socialist one party state? Firstly, it is important to highlight that the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 can be examined in two ways. It can be looked at in terms of the break-up of an empire; the reasons why the Soviet Union no longer exists as a federation of nations including Russia, the Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Armenia etc. Alternatively, it can be looked at in terms of reasons why the political system that governed the state collapsed. It is this latter perspective that will be examined in the course of this essay. While the former is no doubt an important question, it will only be considered to the extent that there is naturally a link between the government of a state and its component parts. Regional nationalism therefore shall only be examined in light of the effect it had upon the effectiveness and survival of the overall political structure. In the course of this essay, I shall attempt to determine the factors that contributed to the collapse of the Soviet system of government in 1991, and assess the validity of some existing theories put forward. Before this can be done, however, we must first establish exactly what the Soviet system was. The Soviet system has its roots in the 1917 Russian revolution, during which time the Tsarist regime was usurped by the Marxist Bolshevik party, who, over
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ASSIGNMENT 1 Question 1 There were many important reasons for why the peace movement grew so rapidly in the USA. The main reason was they learnt of all the atrocities taking place in Vietnam and what they men were doing. Many soldiers sent out were little older than 19, and many never returned. One of the worst war crimes that was discovered was in My Lai, on 16th March 1968. A platoon led by Sergeant William Calley was on a Search and Destroy mission, having been told there was a Vietcong headquarters and 200 Vietcong in My Lai. They were told all the villagers would be out at market so any people found would be Vietcong. The orders were to destroy all livestock, housing, old people, babies, children and women found as being suspected Vietcong. In the four hours from when the 9 gun ships touched down in My Lai, 175-500 people were shot to pieces and left where they lay. Most were working in the fields; many were killed by machine gun. Hardly any one escaped. After killing all the citizens, the soldiers searched the village but no Vietcong were found and a mere three weapons were all that were found. When this got back to America, the public were deeply shocked, and Sergeant William Calley was imprisoned for life. It was the clearest evidence the war had gone wrong. The Vietcong used guerrilla warfare from the start of the war to the end. The Americans weren't
