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…

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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.

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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…

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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.

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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.

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Why do some international marriages end on divorce and what are causes of it? Probably somebody will point on the cultural difference, language problems and so on that produce misunderstanding between people. But all that problems are not uncommon in the marriages between people of the same nation, who speaking same language can not understand each other (or are not able, or just simple do not want).

Even reading through the articles about divorces, that are written by Russian and Western specialists, I have not noticed so big difference in causes (only in rating of causes) between international divorce and “same nation” divorce. And we all know the reasons of divorce very often involve a combination of factors and can be quite complicated.

Why I have started this thread? I remember a Russian documentary about International dating and marriage “The American tears of Russian wives”. I have found the documentary in the Internet and watched it again.

In spite of the fact that the documentary is three years old it can be a good warning for a people who are involved in international dating (and even not international), the warning about the most guileful enemy of people (men and women) in the dating process – delusions (fantasy and self-deception), that can cause not only divorce but more terrible tragedy in the future.

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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.

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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.

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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

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Writers of the Golden Age of Russian prose were, as a rule, born and brought up in their family estates. Leo Tolstoy, who reached pan-European popularity as a novelist and philosopher, was not an exception: a count himself, he was an heir of the noble Volkonsky family. The grandfather from his mother’s side, Prince Nikolay Volkonsky, once bought an estate near Tula, about 200 km from Moscow; this large estate later became the home of the Tolstoys, most famously among them, Leo. The estate was maintained until the 1917 revolution. But its value for our generation is not limited to a model prosperity; what impresses and even intrigues is how Tolstoy implied his philosophical views here, from the position of landlord. Moreover, several rooms can be described as real sanctuaries of literature, the very places where Tolstoy wrote most of his novels. Read more and view photos