Tag: Russia

Edward White: The Short, Daring Life of Lilya Litvyak; the world’s first female fighter ace

Lilya Litvyak became the world’s first female fighter ace, and is better known as the White Rose of Stalingrad On June 22, 1941, the Third Reich launched its ill-fated invasion of Russia. It was pestilential in scale; more than three million Axis soldiers swarmed Russia’s borders in a matter of hours, overwhelming Soviet defenses. Hitler… Read More Edward White: The Short, Daring Life of Lilya Litvyak; the world’s first female fighter ace

Dilip

Irina Rakobolskaya Member of the all-female Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment of the Red Army, dies at 96. RIP comrade

Irina Vyacheslavovna Rakobolskaya, physicist and second world war veteran, born 22 December 1919; died 22 September 2016 First posted October 17, 2016 Major Irina Rakobolskaya in the early 1940s During the second world war, Irina Rakobolskaya, who has died aged 96, was a member of the all-female Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment of the Red Army that… Read More Irina Rakobolskaya Member of the all-female Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment of the Red Army, dies at 96. RIP comrade

Dilip

The Maisky Diaries review – Britain’s high and mighty in conversation with Stalin’s man

Jonathan Steele For a man who once told his friend Beatrice Webb that he “disliked the profession of diplomacy”, Ivan Maisky was an unusually brilliant practitioner of the art of being an ambassador. Spending 11 years as Stalin’s representative in London, between 1932 and 1943, Maisky not only had his hands full in trying to… Read More The Maisky Diaries review – Britain’s high and mighty in conversation with Stalin’s man

Dilip

The Mask is Off. After Ukraine, imperialism is now the norm

NB: Whereas I agree with Professor Mehta’s arguments about the sinister significance of Trump’s treatment of President Zelenskyy; the following is where I disagree. He says the Russian invasion of Ukraine was only the second time since World War II that one country had claimed an entire other country… It was a war to erase… Read More The Mask is Off. After Ukraine, imperialism is now the norm

Dilip

The Bolsheviks & workers’ control: State & counter-revolution, by Maurice Brinton

The Russian Revolution in is entirety from 1905 to 1917 continues to be one of the great periods of history for the struggle for freedom by the working class against the capitalist class.  Maurice Brinton: The Bolsheviks and Workers’ Control A remarkable pamphlet by Maurice Brinton exposing the struggle that took place over the running… Read More The Bolsheviks & workers’ control: State & counter-revolution, by Maurice Brinton

Dilip

Reading Vasily Grossman’s ‘Stalingrad’ and ‘Life and Fate’

War heightens the kaleidoscope of temporality. That you might say is the premise of Grossman’s entire book. It is an effect of combat and of the proximity of death. There would be other such moments in World War II – Bagration, Normandy, and the Battle for Berlin come to mind. But perhaps never again, indeed… Read More Reading Vasily Grossman’s ‘Stalingrad’ and ‘Life and Fate’

Dilip