Dmitrov. Kropotkin returns

An event important for every anarchist happened on Saturday, September, 6 in Dmitrov, north of Moscow. Museum dedicated to Peter Kropotkin was finally opened. 

It is located in the house where the prominent Russian anarchist spent the last years of his life. Dramatic history of the house was once described in the article named “Dmitrov: the Long Returnof Kropotkin” by Piotr Ryabov. The latter came to the opening ceremony demonstrating a badge with the house likely associated with the foundation of the museum in the early 1990s.

Peter Kropotkin moved to Dmitrov in 1918 after the quarters assigned to him in Moscow were requisitioned by the Bolsheviks. As Jane Burbank wrote in her “Intelligentsia and Revolution”:

In Dmitrov, forty miles north of Moscow, Kropotkin and his wife subsited on the produce of their garden and the aid offered by Kropotkin’s many admirers. He was helped in his old age by anarchist friends from Russia and abroad and by the local peasants, who revered their new neighbor. Isolated from Russian politics and contacts with the West, Kropotkin devoted his time to writing and to activity in his new community. Life in Dmitrov offered him a chance to take part in the local communal organizations. He became a member of the Dmitrov Union of Cooperatives, the town’s self-organized government, and defended it against the encroachments of Soviet authorities until the destruction of the union and arrest of all its leaders in November 1920. 

VDNKh. Attempt of Revival

The Soviet version of consumerism shaped by the needs of a state-controlled economy meets nowadays “walk, relax, consume” lifestyle in Moscow VDNKh, the Exibition of the Achievements of the National Economy.  In the USSR the exhibition provided a space in which Soviet people could witness a new, utopian reality that was believed to be imminent. Today VDNKh is going to become the trendiest place in Moscow. Parks’ renovation which is considered to be a part of a citywide attempt “to make Moscow more liveable” reached the most important public showplace for Soviet economic ideology. This way VDNKh will be the northern analogue of Gorky park with different hip amusements that usually attract crowds of people.

The place designed solely to boost the glory of the State is unlikely to be left without any ideology (regardless of the “walk, relax, consume”). Those who are in charge of the VDNKh revival haven’t worked out any philosophical program yet. So famous Moscow journalist Sergey Mostovshchikov did it instead. Mostovshchikov, a former editor of “Stolitsa” (“Capital”) and “Bol’shoy gorod” (“Big City”) city magazines, suggested philosophy and methodology of “neovandalism”. Compared to normal vandalism neovandalism “doesn’t destroy the previous concepts”. A contrario, it creates “lots of new amazing substances”, which are completely meaningless. Thus it helps to involve young, energetic, sensible people into processes that have no goals and result in nothing, Mostovshchikov explains sarcastically. In new VDNKh, for example, these substances could be represented by falafel academy, wi-fi factory, co-working palace, ziggurat building and other “amazing” things. Let’s live and see…
In the authorities' quest  for profit three of northeast Moscow's most popular recreation spots will be merged to form the largest park in the city. VDNKh, with the neighboring Botanical Gardens and Ostankino Park will cover territory of about 540 hectares. Upon completion, the estate of Ostankino will have a scenic landscape resembling parks of the late 18th and early 19th centuries while at the same time being fully equipped for modern use. In addition to a skatepark, it will have a horse-riding track, children's playgrounds, sports grounds and a boat station. Imagine sports grounds in a Palladian villa!

Despite the renovations VDNKh  still keeps the spirit it took on in the 1990s: a strange mixture of emerged capitalism and social realism, a commercial instruction and a festive atmosphere. In VDNKh one can see dramatic sculptural fountains, exotic pavilion facades, ponds, gardens as well as kiosks, stalls, shops and cafes. Rockets neighbor sheaves of wheat, apple gardens coexist with pompous architectural ensembles, an orthodox church is close to the monument dedicated to a soviet scientist and so on. 

Priamukhino. Academic conference

This year the Priamukhino Readings devoted to Bakunin’s bicentennial invited participants from across the globe. People from Belgium, Brazil, Japan, Italy, France, the USA, “from the four winds” came to Mikhail Bakunin’s birthplace.

 The participants in sweet Priamukhino harmony

The conference started on July 12^th and took place in the building of Priamukhino municipal school. To my mind it is quite honest to show the foreign guests not well-equipped campuses of some university but an ordinary Russian village school. So the listeners and the presenters made themselves snug on the long benches in the interior decorated with Russian motifs. The presenters gave their speeches in front of the audience with birch trees in the background. I hope the iconic wallpaper didn’t draw the attention away from the reports because the latter were really interesting.

Convention hall. 

Tatiana Bakounine's speech

The tone of the conference was set by Tatiana Bakunina, a granddaughter of the last owner of the Priamukhino estate, who left Russia forever in 1917. In her speech named “What does Mikhail Bakunin represent for me?” Tatiana said: “Anarchism to me is not a doctrine, it is a utopia: a goal or ideal to strive for. It is a way of life, a philosophical attitude that everyone lives and practices in their own way.” What a pleasure was to hear the words like those from the Bakunins’ descendant!

Priamukhino. Shaken harmony

The Priamukhino Readings, an annual conference held in the birth place of Russsian anarchist thinker Mikhail Bakunin, is a fine example of horizontal networking. The village of Priamukhino (Tver’ region) has hosted the Readings since the early 2000s. 

Priamukhino welcomes!

The conference is unique in that it exists apart from institutions like state universities and is held only by efforts of a small organizing committee. The latter manages to involve a wide range of scholars as participants and publish papers and speeches in annual collection of studies. 

A core group of the organizing committee

No doubt that the prospect of giving a speech or having a paper published is enough for a true scholar to get off the ground and take part in the conference but is it worth going so far? Priamukhino is 5-6 hours away from Moscow without direct transport connections. There are no comfortable hotels or even hostels there. The guests usually stay in a local boarding school or in izbas belonged to the organizers. However all these drawbacks can be recognized as benefits. Spending the weekend in Priamukhino is a good opportunity to face Russian rural life with its nature, sense of seclusion, remoteness from big cities and pastoral activities like sleeping in hay. But for those who usually come there the delights of country life are of minor importance than the village’s background.

Minsk: Shadows and Fog

В исторической и общественно политической среде все чаще звучат разговоры об идентичности: тут и там можно слышать про культурную идентичность, всякие identity crisises и identity formation, а уж про национальную идентичность даже с экранов телевизоров у нас говорят. Например, Путин - про формирование всероссийской суверенной идентичности. Коллега Путина Лукашенко тоже трудится над схожими проблемами: пытается срастить советские принципы коллективизма с идеями белорусской государственности и суверенитета. А на деле получается - "последняя диктатура в Европе".
Прошу прощения, но от этого штампа, придуманного Кондолизой Райс, некуда было деться во время последнего визита в Беларусь, тем более, он происходил уже после 19 декабря 2010 г. на фоне продолжавшегося заключения в тюрьме некоторых оппозиционеров.

In Minsk everyone is met by two towers of stalinist architecture that mark the entrance to the City

Утренний Минск это впечатление усилил. Было туманное раннее воскресенье. Народа даже на привокзальной площади было немного, а на выходивших с вокзала пассажиров из тумана выплывали два сталинских жилых дома, две башни, маркирующие вход в центр города. В Москве подобная архитектура в 1950-е годы тоже отмечала "городские ворота", например, на Калужском (современная пл. Гагарина) и Можайском (нынешнее пересечение Кутузовского проспекта и ТТК) шоссе.

В духе традиций позднесталинской архитектуры 50-х минские дома не лишены национальных мотивов.

А в память о войне их украшают фигуры каменных солдат, которые в тумане смотрятся особенно величественно и как-то печально.

Эти башни на улице Кирова готовят гостя к восприятию главной и самой помпезной части Минска - проспекта Независимости, начало которого - от площади Ленина до площади Победы - можно смело назвать заповедником сталинской архитектуры.
Цельность и масштаб послевоенной архитектуры Минска помогает белорусскому лидеру нации поддерживать советские традиции, а стороннему наблюдателю помогает явственнее ощутить политический дискурс современной Белоруссии. Ведь политика может артикулироваться не только вербально, но и опосредованно, через образы.
Таким выразительным образом не только Минска, но и всей Белоруссии можно считать одну из центральных столичных площадей - площадь Независимости. Хотя название декларирует суверинетет государства, сама идея этой площади абсолютно советская: масштабное начало центрального проспекта и место проведения военных парадов.