Tag Archives: Russia

Iran Admits Responsibility for the 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing in Beirut

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 4 October 2023

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Murder, Martyrs, and Mystery: The Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 31 August 2023

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A Note on Zhdanovism

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 7 August 2023

Andrey Zhdanov was one of the key figures in the Soviet Great Terror (Yezhovshchina) and, indeed, during Stalin’s reign more generally until his death in 1948. Zhdanov is perhaps best remembered for the strictures he imposed on Soviet cultural life in 1946, known as Zhdanovism (or Zhdanovshchina).

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NKVD Order No. 00447 (English Translation)

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 6 August 2023

The head of the Soviet NKVD, Nikolai Yezhov, issued Prikaz (Order) Number 00447 on 30 July 1937, a secret instruction soon signed-off by Joseph Stalin, which vastly expanded the scope and scale of the Great Terror within the Soviet Union. The 2008 book, The Road to Terror: Stalin and the Self-Destruction of the Bolsheviks, 1932-1939, by J. Arch Getty and Oleg V. Naumov, as translated by Benjamin Sher, contains nearly the full text of the order (pp. 473-80), which is reproduced below.

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The “First Red Scare”: America and Communism in 1919

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 5 August 2023

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Did Russia Ever Start a Democratic Transition? Can It?

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 16 July 2023

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Russian Terrorist-Revolutionaries: Ideology and Worldview

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 13 May 2023

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A Flawed Film Brings Attention to the Soviet Terror-Famine in Ukraine

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 28 April 2023

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The  Soviet Role and (the Lack of) “Justice” At Nuremberg

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 11 April 2023

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