Episode #10: Anti-Soviet identities in the USSR
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Andrei Tarkovsky on the set of Stalker.
In this ep Evgenia and I talk about Jewish nationalism and other identities that started cropping up in the Soviet Union in 1960s and 1970s, when disillusionment began to set in with the boomer generation. While some discovered Zionism and Judaism, others got baptized — like Evgenia’s dad and uncle did.
—Yasha Levine
PS: Evgenia mentioned an essay on socialist realism by a Soviet writer named Andrei Sinyavsky, who went by the pen name Abram Tertz. You can read it in English, along with his novel — The Trial Begins.
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This is awesome. You guys basically describe my father and that entire side of my family. I always think they're freaks, but this is a reminder of the rampant Zionist ideas that run through Soviet Jews. They emigrated to the US in the 70's, but despite that they were still successfully radicalized by Israel to the point that my sister literally went to Israel, as a US citizen and of her own free will to serve the Israeli army and live/work on a kibbutz. I always blamed this on solely holocaust trauma, but I appreciate expanding this context for a deeper understanding. For me, it's literally been a lifetime of undoing the brainwash, which frankly was intensified because of the Holocaust trauma. Not to give myself excuses, but growing up and being told traumatizing Holocaust stories at 5 years old and that Israel was the safe zone for us if anything bad ever went down, was a lot to unlearn --I'm still undoing the propaganda I've been taught.
Also I wanted to say on the point about Russian Jews converting to Christian Orthodoxy, this happens in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn too!! WHY? My best friend in high school, her Soviet Jewish parents literally converted and these days there are more priests (or whoever the heck they are) trying to convert Russian Jews on the street. It used to be solely Jews passing out free menorahs during the holidays, but there's been a shift as of late. I guess it's the effects of Russia reaching out to the emigre community. I always blamed it on channel 1, but I know that's probably a simplistic read. My aunts still live in Brighton and they're more Soviet, not religious in any way, and we are all baffled by it!
In that same Michael Parenti book I mentioned the other day, “Blackshirts and Reds” chapter 4 “Communism in Wonderland” there is some interesting stuff of Soviet dissidents, “reaction chic” worth checking if you ain’t read already. Plus a hilarious anecdote about Izzy Stone and Parenti