Category Archives: News

Pussy Riot trial ‘worse than Soviet era’

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Mr Kydd

As you start this Year Thirteen course you may well have some idea that, as its title Russian dictatorships suggest, it wants you to think (and eventually write) in comparative terms.   You may well also have an idea that … Continue reading →

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Did Stalin have Lenin posioned ?

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Mr Kydd

“As a baby, Lenin had a head so large that he often fell over. He used to bang his head on the floor, making his mother worry… “ Well perhaps. Lenin’s early death certainly does matter to us however. It … Continue reading →

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Nothing lies like a photograph…

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Mr Kydd

If you don’t believe me then have a look at this image. Even the repression of the Mir can look glamorous in the right light. This series of extraordinary (just for you Zack) images from the earliest days of film do … Continue reading →

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Revision materials

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Mr Kydd

Thursday 7th June –Many thanks for coming to Revision today; we hope that it was helpful. Please  find below the key documents – should you want them in electronic form. June 2012 Revision Powerpoint Developments and Outcomes table Sample Essay … Continue reading →

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Pyotr Stolypin – “The last great hero of the Empire” ?

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Mr Kydd

Last week marked the 150th anniversary of the birth of Pyotr Stolypin. He remains very popular in Russia, and in 2008 a television poll voted him the second greatest Russian in history (although we should perhaps note here that Stalin came … Continue reading →

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The Revision Workbook

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Mr Kydd

As we move into  the revision season this document will prove helpful. It is a revision workbook. It is mainly designed for you to use in what were your coursework lessons. However, it obviously can be used at home as well. … Continue reading →

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Re -Stalinisation ? Russian publisher refuses to withdraw Stalin notebook from schools

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Mr Kydd

Following on from the previous post on Putin this article from today’s Guardian introduced me to a new term – re-Stalinisation. The dispute focuses on a new school text book which names Stalin as one of twenty Great Russians.  Miriam Elder … Continue reading →

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Enrichment opportunity – “The Man Without A Face”

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Mr Kydd

I am presently reading Masha Gessen’s horrifying and damming biography of Vladimir Putin – “The Man Without A Face”.  She describes him as a “small and vengeful man, prone to furious vendettas, fond of helping himself to other people’s property, … Continue reading →

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Nothing lies like a photograph…

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Mr Kydd

Or so they say. This BBC slideshow of photographs made on the eve of revolution by the Russian ariotocrat, Sergei Michaolovich Prokudin-Gorrskii can even make povertry look beautiful. It is of course literally a snapshot of a world that was about to … Continue reading →

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With Valentine’s Day approaching…

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Mr Kydd

A great opportunity here to buy your sweetheart something special for Valentine’s Day – Stalin’s death mask. Perhaps then you could wow her by discussing similarities and differences between Stalin’s and Witte’s industrialisation over that special meal. What more could a girl want…

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