Daily Archives: July 5, 2007

Archives are often the first casualties of revolutions. When Tsarist Russia imploded in 1917, revolutionaries quickly raided the Okhrana’s archives. Police documents revealed that one of Lenin’s close confidants, Roman Malinovski was unmasked as an Okhrana spy. He was quickly taken out and shot.

War, Revolution, and Civil War reduced Russian central and local archival holdings to utter shambles. As A. S. Nikolaev, the director of the Soviet’s Head Administration for Archival Affairs, explained in the archival journal Istoricheskii arkhiv in 1919:

 

“Much calamity was caused to documents in October, November, December 1917 and January, February and March 1918, and the holdings are covered in wounds in office and archival depositories. Many institutions began to function as new institutions with new people. These people brought the belief with them that inane and useless work was made there and ..read more

I’ve tried not having a comments policy so that discussion can remain open. It is clear that it is time to end that experiment. It has come to a point that when you look at the substance of the comments there is nothing free or open about it. For the most part, the comments section has become a playground of childish snipping and constant flame wars by the same individuals. I’ve been concerned that this has turned people off from the site. Now, I’m sure that this is the case. Plus I no longer have any tolerance for it all. Therefore the comments policy is as follows:

Comments that are abusive and are insulting to readers will be removed by me without explanation. Repeat offenders ..read more

New amendments to Russia’s extremist law passed a second reading yesterday. The amendments which are touted as targeting nationalists and skinheads has raised alarm among political oppositionists who see it as yet another weapon in the State’s arsenal in preparation for the 2008 Presidential Elections.

Among others things, the bill has measures to fine publishers who print material deemed “extremist” up to $4000. Explains the Moscow Times,

 

The publishing industry could also be affected by a new provision that was added to the bill before its second reading. The provision says that if media outlets refer to groups that have been banned for extremism, the outlets must mention the fact that those groups have been banned. The provision appears similar to an initiative last year to prevent media outlets from referring to the unregistered National Bolshevik Party.

Newspeak in its ..read more