Boris Leonidovich Pasternak was a Russian poet, novelist, and literary translator. Composed in 1917, Pasternak's first book of poems, My Sister, Life, was published in Berlin in 1922 and soon became an important collection in the Russian language. Pasternak's translations of stage plays by Goethe, Schiller, Calderón de la Barca and Shakespeare remain very popular with Russian audiences.
Emma Goldman (1869–1940) was an anarchist political activist and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the 20th century.
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five. He was a master of orchestration. His best-known orchestral compositions—Capriccio Espagnol, the Russian Easter Festival Overture, and the symphonic suite Scheherazade—are staples of the classical music repertoire, along with suites and excerpts from some of his 15 operas. Scheherazade is an example of his frequent use of fairy-tale and folk subjects.
My Disillusionment in Russia is a book by Emma Goldman, published in 1923 by Doubleday, Page & Co. The book was based on a much longer manuscript entitled "My Two Years in Russia" which was an eyewitness account of events in Russia from 1920 to 1921 that ensued in the wake of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and which culminated in the Kronstadt rebellion. Long-concerned about developments with the Bolsheviks, Goldman described the rebellion as the "final wrench. I saw before me the Bolshevik State, formidable, crushing every constructive revolutionary effort, suppressing, debasing, and disintegrating everything".
Vasili Nikitich Mitrokhin was a major and senior archivist for the Soviet Union's foreign intelligence service, the First Chief Directorate of the KGB, who defected to the United Kingdom in 1992 after providing the British embassy in Riga with a vast collection of his notes purporting to be written copies of KGB files. These became known as the Mitrokhin Archive. The intelligence files given by Mitrokhin to the MI6 exposed an unknown number of Soviet agents, including Melita Norwood.
Alexander Berkman was a Russian-American anarchist and author. He was a leading member of the anarchist movement in the early 20th century, famous for both his political activism and his writing.
The Polish Beer-Lovers' Party was a satirical Polish political party that was founded in 1990 by satirist Janusz Rewiński. Originally, the party's goal was to promote cultural beer-drinking in English-style pubs instead of vodka and thus fight alcoholism.
Fanya Anisimovna Baron was a Russian anarchist revolutionary who lived in America from 1911 to 1917 when she returned to her homeland to build a post-revolutionary society. In 1921, she was executed by the Cheka.
Social criticism is a form of academic or journalistic criticism focusing on sociological issues in contemporary society, in particular with respect to perceived injustices and power relations in general.
Angelica Balabanoff was a Jewish Russian-Italian communist and social democratic activist. She served as secretary of the Comintern from 1919 to 1920, and later became a political party leader in Italy.
Living My Life is the autobiography of Lithuanian-born anarchist Emma Goldman, who became internationally renowned as an activist based in the United States. It was published in two volumes in 1931 and 1934. Goldman wrote it while living in Saint-Tropez, France, following her disillusionment with the Bolshevik role in the Russian revolution.
Wendy Jane Dascomb is an American model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss USA 1969. As Miss USA, she represented the United States at Miss Universe 1969, placing in the top fifteen. Dascomb had previously been crowned Miss Virginia USA 1969, becoming the first woman from Virginia to be crowned Miss USA.
Virtuous pagan is a concept in Christian theology that addressed the fate of the unlearned—the issue of nonbelievers who were never evangelized and consequently during their lifetime had no opportunity to recognize Christ, but nevertheless led virtuous lives, so that it seemed objectionable to consider them damned. A Christian doctrinal formulation of this concept, though not universally accepted, is known that of the "Anonymous Christian" in the theology of Karl Rahner. In the Bible, Paul the Apostle teaches that "that pagans may not possess the Law but may nevertheless have the law engraved in their hearts [their conscience], and that Jesus judges people according to what is in their hearts ."
12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; 1316 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. —Romans 2:12-16
The Warsaw pogrom was a pogrom that took place in Russian-controlled Warsaw on 25–27 December 1881, then part of Congress Poland in the Russian Empire, resulting in two people dead and 24 injured.
The Bolshevik Myth is a book by Alexander Berkman describing his experiences in Bolshevist Russia from 1920 to 1922, where he saw the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917. Written in the form of a diary, The Bolshevik Myth describes how Berkman's initial enthusiasm for the revolution faded as he became disillusioned with the Bolsheviks and their suppression of all political dissent.
Yuval Noah Harari is an Israeli public intellectual, historian and a professor in the Department of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2014), Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (2016), and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century (2018). His writings examine free will, consciousness, intelligence, happiness and suffering.
David Conway is an Irish author and former musician. He was the original vocalist of the alternative rock band My Bloody Valentine, which he formed in 1983 with guitarist Kevin Shields and drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig. In 1987, during their minor underground success, Conway left the band and was replaced by Bilinda Butcher.
Sergey Semyonovich Zorin, was the party's First Secretary of the Leningrad City Committee, roughly equating to that of mayor. He held the position between November 1919 and February 1921. As such, he hosted the 2nd World Congress of the Comintern.
My Life is an 1896 novella by Anton Chekhov, set in a provincial southern Russian city like Chekhov's own hometown of Taganrog.
"Distant Colours" is the second single taken from the Manic Street Preachers' thirteenth album Resistance Is Futile (2018). It was released on 16 February 2018.
