A Russian Voyage of Empires
Guest: Edyta Bojanowska on A World of Empires: The Russian Voyage of the Frigate Pallada published by Harvard University Press.
August 17, 2019
Menu
Russian Socialists in the Struggle for Democracy
For the past few weeks, protests for fair elections in upcoming municipal polls have become weekly in Moscow and St. Petersburg as thousands have defied authorities to attend unsanctioned rallies. The police crackdown has been particularly harsh in Moscow. Protests on July 27 and August 3 resulted in over 2000 detentions. Images of police in riot gear wrestling citizens to the ground and beating peaceful protesters were reminiscent of the mass protests against election fraud in 2011-2012.
Members of the Russian Socialist Movement, a small Marxist, anti-Stalinist organization active in the Russian left, have been participants in local electoral campaigns and in the protests. Two RSM activists, Valeria Kovelishina and Ilya Budraitskis talk about the Russian Socialist Movement, their electoral work, the protests for democracy in Russia and what they might mean for the future.
August 10, 2019
Witnessing the Collapse of Communism
Roundtable discussion marking the 30th anniversary of the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. Participants include Timothy Garton Ash, Bridget Kendall, and Jens Reich.
August 2, 2019
Rasputin, the Man and the Myth (Rebroadcast)
Guest: Doug Smith on Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs.
July 27, 2019
The Evictors
Around Moscow, there’s a whole industry of so-called “black creditors” — microfinance institutions (or MFOs) that swindle and seize debtors’ homes. Ivan Golunov’s investigation for Meduza has discovered that almost 500 apartments have been seized from their owners over the past five years without so much as a court order. In fact, this scheme involves more than simply “squeezing” people from their homes. It is possibly part of a wider, international money-laundering system. Here’s Meduza special correspondent Ivan Golunov on the ins and outs of this industry.
July 19, 2019
Society
Russian Socialists in the Struggle for Democracy
For the past few weeks, protests for fair elections in upcoming municipal polls have become weekly in Moscow and St. Petersburg as thousands have defied authorities to attend unsanctioned rallies. The police crackdown has been particularly harsh in Moscow. Protests on July 27 and August 3 resulted in over 2000 detentions. Images of police in riot gear wrestling citizens to the ground and beating peaceful protesters were reminiscent of the mass protests against election fraud in 2011-2012.
Members of the Russian Socialist Movement, a small Marxist, anti-Stalinist organization active in the Russian left, have been participants in local electoral campaigns and in the protests. Two RSM activists, Valeria Kovelishina and Ilya Budraitskis talk about the Russian Socialist Movement, their electoral work, the protests for democracy in Russia and what they might mean for the future.
August 10, 2019
The Evictors
Around Moscow, there’s a whole industry of so-called “black creditors” — microfinance institutions (or MFOs) that swindle and seize debtors’ homes. Ivan Golunov’s investigation for Meduza has discovered that almost 500 apartments have been seized from their owners over the past five years without so much as a court order. In fact, this scheme involves more than simply “squeezing” people from their homes. It is possibly part of a wider, international money-laundering system. Here’s Meduza special correspondent Ivan Golunov on the ins and outs of this industry.
July 19, 2019
Russians on Trump (Rebroadcast)
Guest: Laurence Bogoslaw on Russians on Trump: Press Coverage and Commentary published by Eastview.
July 13, 2019
Soviet Anti-Americanism
Guest: Rósa Magnúsdóttir on Enemy Number One: The United States of America in Soviet Ideology and Propaganda, 1945-1959 published by Oxford University Press.
June 14, 2019
Peering Under the Rug: Sources of Information about Russia
Guests: Mark Galeotti, Kevin Rothrock, and Maxim Trudolyubov on making sense of Russia.
April 25, 2019
Transcript: Peering Under the Rug: Sources of Information about Russia
Partial transcript of the event “Peering Under the Rug: Sources of Information about Russia” at the University of Pittsburgh featuring Mark Galeotti, Kevin Rothrock, and Maxim Trudolyubov.
April 22, 2019
The Soviet Origins of Lamaze
Guest: Paula Michaels on Lamaze: An International History published by Oxford University Press.
March 20, 2019
Russian Nationalism
Guest: Marlene Laruelle on Russian Nationalism: Imaginaries, Doctrines, and Political Battlefields, published by Routledge, and her edited collection Entangled Far Rights: A Russian-European Intellectual Romance in the 20th Century, published by the University of Pittsburgh Press.
March 10, 2019
Transcript: Russian Nationalism
Partial transcript of my interview with Marlene Laruelle on Russian nationalism.
March 8, 2019
Lenders and Debtors in Imperial Russia
Guest: Sergei Antonov on Bankrupts and Usurers of Imperial Russia: Debt, Property, and the Law in the Age of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy published by Harvard University Press.
February 16, 2019