From the work by Professor Dr. Igor S. Kon

The sexual revolution in Russia: From the Age of the Czars to Today.

It is usually thought that the Bolshevik crusade against sex began in the 1930s, as a part of the general process of Stalinist tightening of the screws on and suppression of the individual – and there is an element of truth in that contention. During the 1920s the USSR had allowed the existence of erotic art, sociological surveys, and biological-medical sex research. However, all of this, and particularly the “decadent” erotic art that was clearly at odds with “proletarian culture”, existed and developed despite the efforts of rather than with endorsement of the Party. It was simply that, given the times, the Party was unable to ban them and had to confine itself to half measures.

Nevertheless, it did combat them when it could. For example, in July 1924, a jount circular was issued by Glavlit (the censor’s office) and Glavrepertkom (the Main Committee for Control over Repertories and Performance), giving the following evaluation of the fox-trot, shimmy, and other popular Western dances that Russian young people had begun to copy: “As products of Western European restaurant culture, these dances are oriented on the very basest instincts. In their niggardly, monotonous movements they are essentially a ’salon’ imitation of the sex act and all manner of physiological perversion… Within the working atmosphere of the Soviet Republic’s attempts to reconstruct life and sweep away rotten petit-bourgeois decadence, dancing should be quite different – exhilarating, joyful, ennobling.”
This was only the opening salvo. The entire history of Soviet culture, from start to finish, consists of out-and-out campaigns and mandates in which sexophobia plays a leading part…

Read more

In the 1920s and 1930s hundreds of American socialists, blacks seeking a society free from racism, Jews who had fled the tsarist pogroms, Russian immigrants and their children, ordinary workers and recent college graduates were fascinated by the Soviet experiment. Between 1920 and 1925 nearly 22,000 American and Canadian men, women and families moved to Russia intending to remain there (Paula Garb, “They Came to Stay: North Americans in the USSR”). These idealistic Americans who went off to the USSR to build the world of the future were quickly introduced to Russian reality – and to Russian romance.

Read more

Before the revolution Bolsheviks had no define policy in regard to sexuality. The “sex issue” was for them mainly economic and sociopolitical and essentially boiled down to the problem of emancipating women and overcoming gender inequality. Sexuality was mentioned only in passing, especially in relation to the family.

Soviet legislation and social policy on issues of marriage and procreation in the 1920s were the most daringly progressive in the world. As early as 1918, women were accorded full equal rights with men in all and privet areas, including marriage and family relations. Women had the right…

Unfortunately, the realities of life that confronted the Bolsheviks immediately after revolution  were much more difficult than they had anticipated…

And the costs associated with the subsequent breakdown in marriage and family patterns – unwanted pregnancies, fatherless children, prostitution, the spread of venereal diseases – were great and provoked mounting concern…

Read more about the Soviet Sexual Revolution

Traditional Russian dolls dressed by popular fashion designers have gone on display in Moscow. The 31 dolls, known as Matryoshkas, had previously been auctioned for more than 700,000 euros to raise money for charity. The event drew hundreds of fashion lover

The doll has become a muse for some of the world’s most renowned fashion designers, including Roberto Cavalli, Ralph Lauren and Prada.

The designer-dressed Matryoshka stands 50 centimeters tall

Thanks to the designers’ creativity the nesting doll has undergone a major makeover: she’s lost weight and gained height. Now dressed for success, the Matryoshka has every chance of becoming a role model for fashionable women.

Read more and view photos

The modelling business, like no other business, has a Russian face. In more ways than one, the beauty of Russian women has conquered the world.

Beauty in Exile

The world’s first models appeared at fashion boutiques in the late 19th century. The owners of these shops started inviting pretty, well mannered girls to demonstrate the latest fashions to rich patrons. A fashion model at that time was not a walking doll: she had to communicate with visitors, telling them (oftentimes in several languages) about the apparel that she was displaying.

In the early 20th century, Russian aristocratic women who became emigrés – the princesses, baronesses and countesses who found themselves in dire straits and had to make a living – set a new standard. Strikingly beautiful and well educated, they were in great demand in Europe’s most famous fashion houses. By 1930, about one-third of Paris models were Russian.

Read more

But the joy for those just returned from a European vacation, or longing to be, is that the capital has some nice Art Nouveau surprises: tucked away amongst Moscow’s characteristic architectural cacophony is a rich bounty of Art Nouveau. Spotting it only requires a stroll through some of the city’s quietest streets and a bit of squinting at the skyline.

Moscow’s Art Nouveau hot spot is unquestionably the Gorky Museum (Malaya Nikitskaya Ul., 6). Unlike some house-museums of famous Moscow writers, this one has no chance of boring even those who cannot name a single title of Maxim Gorky’s works. With a bulging marble staircase that looks perpetually as if it is melting, wood paneling etched with spindly roses, monstrous stai­ned-glass windows, and more, the mansion offers a fair number of surprises, a dreamy confectionery of Art Nouveau’s best that Gorky himself, who was settled in the house by Stalin, absolutely despised.

Read more and view photos

National Altai holiday El-Oiyn -”national games, national celebration” – sprang up at the end of 1980s in a wave of the revival of national culture as a direct heir of the meetings of ancient Altai tribes. Absorbed the best elements of ancient national traditions the El-Oiyn is a young holiday at the same time, that meets modern conception about a national festival.

Initially the El-Oiyn was intended not only as a peculiar local “Olympic games”, a championship for national sport games, but as a national festival that contributes to revival of cultural-historic traditions.

The first El-Oiyn took its place in 1988 near a village Elo of Omgudai region, and it included such national sport games as “kuresh” (sash wrestling), “shatra” (national Altai checkers), “kodurger tash” (rock lifting), archery, equestrian sport, theatrical show, and performance of national singing and dancing bands.

Read more

The State Hermitage is one of the world biggest art and culture museum.
Founded in 1764, the Hermitage comprises eight departments: the Primitive Culture, the Culture of Antiquity, the Culture of the East, the History of Russian Culture, the Numismatics, the West European Culture, the Department of Science and Education, and the Restoration Department.
There are over 350 halls in Hermitage. The museum keeps about 3 million monuments of culture and art. Empress Catherine II initiated the collection of the Hermitage. In the end of the 19th century the museum was opened to public.
Paintings of such great masters as Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Raphael, Rembrandt, Poussain, Manet, Renoir are in the ownership of the Hermitage. The Hermitage is famous its collection of Scythian golden articles.

Read more

St Petersburg has been the cradle of three revolutions: one in 1905 and two in 1917 (in February and October)

In the Soviet period November was considered to be the month of the Revolution, and 7 November (25 October old style) was a red-letter day in the calendar. Hundreds of thousands of people joined in demonstrations, meetings and parades in honor of the Great October Socialist Revolution…

These days 7 November has been renamed the Day of Harmony and Reconcilation, and causes few palpitations. However the memory of those revolutionary days is preserved.

7 November Parade in 1984

Read more