#Finnish Bolshevik

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"Because Finns predominated on the far left of the labour movement, their shared cultural and political ties could mitigate the antagonisms between rival organizations and leaders. The relationship between the OBU [One Big Union] and the IWW [Industrial Workers of the World] was not always antagonistic largely because the Finns predominated in both organizations. The IWW’s General Executive Board (GEB) kept track of the spread of organizations referring to themselves as the “One Big Union” throughout the world and reported their success in the various Wobbly papers. Space was also set aside in the IWW organ, the One Big Union Monthly, to list “the most important resolutions [of the meetings in Calgary], as a matter of record, and to allow of comparison with our own movement and similar movements in other countries.” It was suggested that the resolutions, in their entirety, would meet with a good response in the United States and provide an example of the success that industrial unionism could have.

Still, the GEB also advanced some criticisms of the OBU. The program of the Canadian One Big Union, it argued, was “sufficiently like the IWW program to make us forget the small differences.” A core principle of the IWW remained its resistance to political action. The Canadian (and Australian) adoption of political activism was seen as a characteristic of their newborn status. The GEB believed that over time this political focus would be abandoned, as it had been in the United States, “to save [their] life as an industrial organization.” Until that day, the OBU in Canada and Australia, having “both declared for industrial unions by means of which to take over the means of production and distribution,” could be regarded as allies.

Wobblies viewed Bolshevism as a great popular uprising against the upper class of the Old World. They looked to the continuing fight in Russia, as well as events in Germany and Eastern Europe, as inspirations for the fight in North America. They argued, however, that the Bolshevik revolution was still a political revolution and the culmination of political socialism. The method by which power had been obtained in Russia – the capture of the government and the replacement of tsarist officials with socialists – still fell within “the institutions we call ‘the state.’” The GEB argued that although the Bolsheviks and the IWW used the same expressions – “the abolition of classes,” “the abolition of capitalism,” “the socialization of the means of production,” “the establishment of the socialist republic” – they did not actually use them to mean the same things.

Even the Soviets, the central pillars of the new system in Russia, were viewed as “hasty” and, as a result, unable to properly take over the means of production. The growing tendency of the ruling party to resort to cooperative movements and direct state control was, the IWW argued, the root of the problems in Russia. “In short,” the GEB argued, “the Bolshevik revolution in Russia has not resulted in Industrial Democracy, but in a makeshift or temporary arrangement without stability, without any pretense of a final solution.”

The Bolshevik revolution did serve as an opportunity for the IWW to argue that

economic reconstruction of society cannot be accomplished by a government trying to order things with a high hand through laws and regulations, but has to be an organic outgrowth from the bottom, through the industrial organization of the workers at the place of work.

“Bolshevism,” it contended, “is the fire that clears off the old vegetation, ‘the brush.’ To plow, sow, reap among the charred stumps will be the immense task they will bequeath to us, the industrial organizers, the builders of the One Big Union.” Understandably, supporters of the Bolsheviks in the United States viewed the IWW as essentially revolutionary, yet “starting at the wrong end.” Their position was that the “revolutionary proletariat must first seize the power of the state.” The IWW countered by arguing that it would rather see “a gradual transition than a ‘revolutionary’ shock.” The IWW evidently believed that “as industrial evolution progresses the parliamentary state will become more and more inadequate for handling the problems of society.” The apparatus established by the IWW would assume control of these functions. Other left organizations in the United States, oriented more to the achievement of the dictatorship of the proletariat, advanced very different analyses.

Contradicting its prewar policy, most postwar intellectuals of the IWW viewed the “shocks of revolution” as

undesirable, because they cause bloodshed and suffering. On the other hand, we do not consider it advisable to destroy social organs, before we have the new organ ready which is to take its place. We think it is about time that men disabuse their minds of the idea that violence is absolutely necessary or desirable for social change.

Public consent, these Wobblies argued, would be the necessary precondition of radical change – and not vanguard-orchestrated mass action “à la Bolshevik.” Socialists and workers, it was argued, need only look to Canada and Australia and to the fifteen unions the IWW had organized “over the last 12 years” to see success. In addition, where were the revolutionists to come from? Did any plans exist concerning how the revolution would progress and what the next step would be for power to be obtained? “Social changes are not made,” the GEB argued, “in the wink of an eye, like changing your shirt.”"

- Michel S. Beaulieu, Labour at the Lakehead: Ethnicity, Socialism, and Politics, 1900-35. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2011. p. 77-78.

[the-revolutionary]

I feel so nervous posting about my story here but here we go! Apologies in advance for any typos!

I drew Maria and Anastasia as they are depicted by me in my story, which is work in progress! Here, they, as well as the other members of OTMAA, are vampires.

This is a small coloured sketch of Maria and Anastasia sitting together at a table. I am NOT good at side profiles so I’m surprised to see Anastasia’s turned out relatively ok.

Brief story summary

To explain, in this world, vampirism has been ‘normalised’ as a part of society and how vampirism works is very complex with both its natural and supernatural characteristics, but that’s a whole other topic in itself, though I will mention that some vampires have enhanced supernatural abilities!

In the early hours of July 17, 1918, as the bodies were about to be disposed of, the Romanov children awoke as vampires and massacred many of their Bolshevik guards as a result, an incident later known in the plot as The Reckoning. The siblings, despite their extensive injuries, managed to survive and were rescued by the Czechoslovak Army, who worked with the White Army to spirit the siblings away from Russia to mainland Europe, where they would spend the next 4 years. On December 22, 1922, a now 18 year old Alexei and the sisters begin the main plot of the story by conducting a surprise invasion Northern Russia via the Finnish border.

OTMAA’s characters are actually poised as the antagonists, while a group within the Red Army in an organisation known as Varako are the protagonists, the main protagonist being a young vampire named Serhiy Makovsky, who has a childish and starry eyed perspective of the civil war. That doesn’t mean OTMAA are villains of course, although they are initially framed as such from most of the protagonist characters viewpoints.

Note: I’m aware I take a lot of creative liberties with the setting of my story and I’m fully aware of the real historical figures depicted within my story too. My story is historically themed fiction. One of the reasons for why I included OTMAA is because I’m INCREDIBLY fascinated with the siblings from real life history. I love researching them and their unique personalities! I really want to preface that I take the siblings’ historicity into HUGE account when writing their character counterparts for my story and I’m also conscious of the fact that even with all the possible effort, I am not perfect as everyone has their own interpretations of the Romanov siblings. I should mention that I am not a monarchist!

[redarmyscreaming]

On 6 December 1917, during the Russian Civil War, the Finnish parliament (Suomen Eduskunta) declared independence from Russia, which was accepted by the Bolshevik government of the Soviet Union on 31 December.

[otmaaromanovas]

Kenen lempinimi oli "Russa"? Anastasia mainitsi tästä henkilöstä kirjeessään sisarelleen Marialle vuonna 1918? Oliko se Anna Demidova?

Hello! I'm going to translate my answer into Finnish for you - I hope that it is accurate! The Finnish answer will be at the bottom of the post, so please scroll down to find it. (Hei! Käännän vastaukseni sinulle suomeksi - toivottavasti se on tarkka! Suomenkielinen vastaus on viestin lopussa, joten selaa alaspäin löytääksesi sen.)

This is a long post, so I hope that English readers will also find it interesting.

The question asks: "Whose nickname was "Russa"? Anastasia mentioned this person in a letter to her sister Maria in 1918? Was it Anna Demidova?"

The question refers to a letter written by Anastasia on 27 April 1918 [Old Style] to Maria, who had moved ahead to Ekaterinburg with their mother and father. The extract is a little difficult to understand fully as there are multiple versions of it.

Here is the extract in its original form, in Russian:

Тебя и Вас дорогих поцеловать и многое т. п., не буду распространяться, а Вы поймете. Мысленно давно. Русса, она хотя и мила, но странна и злит т. к. не понимает и просто не сносно. Я раз чуть не нагрубила, кретинка. Ну, я кажется достаточно глупостей написала. Сейчас еще буду писать, а потом почитаю, приятно, что есть свободное время. Пока до свидания. Всех благ желаю Вам, счастья и всего хорошего, постоянно молимся за Вас и думаем, помоги Господи. Христос с Вами золотыми. Обнимаю очень крепко всех… и целую…

This is an English translation, compiled by Sarah Miller for the Alexander Palace Time Machine - it does not state if she is the translator.

A kiss to you and to you dear ones and much else I won't enlarge on, for you will understand. Thought about it already some time ago. Russa, although sweet, is strange and makes one angry, for she doesn't understand and simply can't bear it. Once I was almost rude [to her], a real cretin. Well, it looks as if I've written enough silliness. Right now I'll write some more, and then I'll read it later, during free time, that is. For now, good-bye. I wish you the best, happiness, and all good things. We constantly pray for you and think, Help us Lord. Christ be with you, precious ones. I embrace all of you tightly and kiss you. A. 

Machine translations return the sentence about Russa as being "nice" but "strange and angry as she doesn't understand", or "strange and irritating because she does not understand". It also seems that the "real cretin" was Anastasia jokingly criticising herself for almost being rude.

Unfortunately, I cannot say for certain who 'Russa' is. However, I am certain that it was not Anna Stepanova Demidova. Anna went ahead with Maria, Nicholas, and Alexandra to Ekaterinburg, so Anastasia could not have been writing about her in Tobolsk.

From the testimony of Pierre Gilliard for the Sokolov Investigation (original French spellings of Russian surnames):

At this time the following persons departed from Tobolsk : The emperor and empress. Grand Duchess Maria Nicholaevna, Botkin, Dolgoruky, Tchemodouroff, Sedneff and Demidova. They were accompanied by six Rifles men and two officers—Matveieff and Nabokoff, as well as by soldiers of Iakovleff's detachment.

We do know that Anna Stepanovna Demidova was called 'Freylina' by the Bolshevik guards, and 'Nyuta' by the Romanov family. From Maria, writing from Ipatiev House in May 1918:

...Yesterday an extraordinary event happened: Nyuta and I washed Mama’s hair. Everything went well and her hair was not tangled, but I don’t know what is going to happen today and everything for sure is going to come undone… 

Maria also describes playing card games with Anna in Ekaterinburg and her reading letters from the family.

Anna Demidova seems to have had a devoted relationship with the family, including the children. In his testimony for the Sokolov Investigation, Gibbes recalled that Olga, Maria, and Anastasia would sometimes go to Demidova's bedroom in Tobolsk to relax with the female entourage, where they shared "plenty of jokes and laughter."

Unfortunately, the other main sources about her personality come from Greg King and Penny Wilson's book The Fate of the Romanovs, which is plagued by a lack of referencing. They claim that Charles Sydney Gibbes, the children's English tutor, recalled Anna as "a woman of a singularly timid and shrinking disposition." King and Wilson claimed that Anna was in love with Gibbes, but the affection was not returned as Gibbes was gay - but not a single reference is provided for either claim. Neither is a readily available reference provided for Gibbes' quote about Anna being "timid".

Similarly, Christine Benagh states that when leaving for Ekaterinburg, Anna "confided to him, “I am so frightened of the Bolsheviks, Mr. Gibbes. I don’t know what they might do to us.”" Once again, not a single reference is provided.

To conclude: I cannot find anything about who Russa could be, I'm so sorry! However, I do hope that confirming that Russia was not Anna Demidova is helpful in some way.

IN FINNISH:

Kysymyksessä viitataan kirjeeseen, joka on kirjoitettu 27. huhtikuuta 1918 [vanhaan tyyliin] Marialle, joka oli muuttanut äitinsä ja isänsä kanssa Jekaterinburgiin. Otetta on hieman vaikea ymmärtää täysin, koska siitä on useita versioita.

Tässä on ote alkuperäisessä muodossaan venäjäksi:

Тебя и Вас дорогих поцеловать и многое т. п., не буду распространяться, а Вы поймете. Мысленно давно. Русса, она хотя и мила, но странна и злит т. к. не понимает и просто не сносно. Я раз чуть не нагрубила, кретинка. Ну, я кажется достаточно глупостей написала. Сейчас еще буду писать, а потом почитаю, приятно, что есть свободное время. Пока до свидания. Всех благ желаю Вам, счастья и всего хорошего, постоянно молимся за Вас и думаем, помоги Господи. Христос с Вами золотыми. Обнимаю очень крепко всех… и целую…

Tämä on englanninkielinen käännös (jonka olen nyt kääntänyt suomeksi), jonka Sarah Miller on koonnut Alexander Palace Time Machinea varten - siinä ei mainita, onko hän kääntäjä.

Suudelma teille ja teille rakkaat ja paljon muuta, jota en laajenna, sillä te ymmärrätte. Ajattelin sitä jo jonkin aikaa sitten. Russa, vaikka onkin herttainen, on outo ja suututtaa, sillä hän ei ymmärrä eikä yksinkertaisesti kestä sitä. Kerran olin melkein töykeä [hänelle], oikea kretiini. No, näyttää siltä, että olen kirjoittanut tarpeeksi typeryyksiä. Nyt kirjoitan vielä vähän lisää, ja luen sen sitten myöhemmin, siis vapaa-aikana. Toistaiseksi, näkemiin. Toivotan teille kaikkea hyvää, onnea ja kaikkea hyvää. Rukoilemme jatkuvasti puolestasi ja ajattelemme: Auta meitä Herra. Kristus olkoon kanssanne, rakkaat. Halaan teitä kaikkia tiukasti ja suutelen teitä. A.

Konekäännökset palauttavat lauseen Russasta ”mukavaksi” mutta ”oudoksi ja vihaiseksi, koska hän ei ymmärrä” tai ”oudoksi ja ärsyttäväksi, koska hän ei ymmärrä”.

Valitettavasti en voi sanoa varmasti, kuka ”Russa” on. Olen kuitenkin varma, että se ei ollut Anna Stepanova Demidova. Anna lähti Marian, Nikolain ja Aleksandran kanssa Jekaterinburgiin, joten Anastasia ei voinut kirjoittaa hänestä Tobolskissa.

Pierre Gilliardin todistuksesta Sokolovin tutkimusta varten (venäläisten sukunimien alkuperäiset ranskalaiset kirjoitusasut):

Tällä kertaa Tobolskista lähtivät seuraavat henkilöt: keisari ja keisarinna. Suurherttuatar Maria Nikolajevna, Botkin, Dolgorukki, Tsemodouroff, Sedneff ja Demidova. Heidän mukanaan oli kuusi kiväärimiestä ja kaksi upseeria - Matvejev ja Nabokoff - sekä Iakovleffin osaston sotilaita.

Tiedämme, että bolshevikkikaartilaiset kutsuivat Anna Stepanovna Demidovaa nimellä ”Freylina” ja Romanovin perhe nimellä ”Nyuta”. Maria kirjoitti Ipatjevin talosta toukokuussa 1918:

…Eilen tapahtui erikoinen tapahtuma: Nyuta ja minä pesimme äidin hiukset. Kaikki sujui hyvin, eikä hänen hiuksensa sotkeentuneet, mutta en tiedä, mitä tänään tapahtuu, ja kaikki menee varmasti pieleen…

Maria kuvailee myös korttipelien pelaamista Annan kanssa Jekaterinburgissa ja Annan lukevan perheen kirjeitä. Anna Demidovalla näyttää olleen kiintynyt suhde perheeseen, myös lapsiin. Sokolovin tutkimusta varten antamassaan todistajanlausunnossa Gibbes muisteli, että Olga, Maria ja Anastasia menivät joskus Tobolskissa Demidovan makuuhuoneeseen rentoutumaan naisseurueen kanssa, jossa he jakoivat ”runsaasti vitsejä ja naurua”.

Valitettavasti muut tärkeimmät lähteet hänen persoonallisuudestaan ovat peräisin Greg Kingin ja Penny Wilsonin kirjasta The Fate of the Romanovs, jota vaivaa viittausten puute. He väittävät, että Charles Sydney Gibbes, lasten englanninopettaja, muisteli Annaa ”naisena, jolla oli harvinaisen arka ja kutistuva luonne”. King ja Wilson väittivät, että Anna oli rakastunut Gibbesiin, mutta kiintymys ei kostautunut, koska Gibbes oli homo - mutta kummallekaan väitteelle ei anneta yhtään viitettä, eikä Gibbesin Annaa koskevalle sitaatille ole luotettavaa viitettä.

Vastaavasti Christine Benagh väittää, että Anna ”uskoutui hänelle: ”Pelkään niin paljon bolshevikkeja, herra Gibbes. En tiedä, mitä he saattavat tehdä meille.”””. Jälleen kerran ei esitetä yhtään viittausta. Lopuksi: Olen yrittänyt etsiä ja tarkistaa kirjoja, mutta en löydä mitään siitä, kuka Russa voisi olla, olen pahoillani! Toivon kuitenkin, että sen vahvistaminen, että Russa ei ollut Anna Demidova, on jollakin tavalla hyödyllistä. Toivon todella, että suomenkielinen käännös toimi :)

SOURCES

Sarah Miller, 'Diaries and Letters - Lettters from Anastasia in Exile in English and Russian', Alexander Palace Time Machine (no date), https://www.alexanderpalace.org/palace/anastasiaexile.php [accessed 15 March 2025]

George Gustav Telberg, Robert Wilton, The Last Days of the Romanovs, (New York: George H. Doran Company, 1920), p. 29, 175, 44

Helen Azar, 'Empress Alexandra - "Mama" and her girls (OTMA)', paragraph beginning 'From the letters of Grand Duchess Maria Romanov', The Romanov Family, (18 August 2015), <https://www.theromanovfamily.com/empress-alexandra-mama-and-her-girls/> [accessed 15 March 2025]

Greg King, Penny Wilson, The Fate of the Romanovs, (New Jersey: John Wiles & Sons, inc., 2003), p. 64

Christine Benagh, An Englishman in the court of the Tsar : the spiritual journey of Charles Sydney Gibbes, (California: Conciliar Press, 2000), p. 179

[workersolidarity]

Watch "History of the Hungarian People's Republic PLAYLIST" on YouTube

Fantastic work by our comrade The Finnish Bolshevik. It is a series on the History of Socialist Hungary.

If you'd prefer reading the series, you can find it here:

Western Historians would have you believe an "Imperialist" Soviet Russia just went around at the end of WWII invading Eastern and Central Europe and setting up Soviet "authoritarian dictatorships" under Russian control.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

I will try to put together each part into seperate posts throughout the day or over the next few days, but I can't be sure I'll find the time to do that with all 10 or 11 parts.

Each part is not that long, roughly 30-40 minutes, and makes for easy viewing in chunks.

In the videos, The Finnish Bolshevik deep dives into the history of the Hungarian State, how Western Imperialist Powers installed a Fascist Dictatorship, the impact of World Wars 1 and 2 and their aftermath, Hungary's Socialist Revolution, and Hungary's transformation into a Socialist State becoming a satellite of the Soviet Union and much more.

[ridleymanequarterchop]

Germany

In case you are wondering why Germany is allowed to be a country

>Participates in the partition of Poland

>Literally colonizes their part of Poland, which everyone forgets about for some reason, and uses it as their racist testing ground

>Ethnically cleanses Poles living in Prussia in the 1890s

>Singled out as particularly vicious during the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion

>Colonization of their part of Poland serves as a model to early Zionists, including to this piece of shit who literally grew up there, saw what was happening, and still concluded that it'd be a good idea to spread this practice to Palestine

>Commits the Herero and Namaqua genocide

>Commits the Tanzanian genocide

>Sells massive amounts of weapons and ammunition to fanatical Ulster unionists were considering a potential uprising against the British government for not being racist enough before the First World War distracted everyone

>Has a major role in starting the First World War

>Commits the Rape of Belgium

>Helps revive Afrikaner nationalism by supporting the Maritz Rebellion

>Aids and abets the late Ottoman genocides

>Intervenes in the Finnish Civil War against the Reds

>Allows the stab-in-the-back myth to spread

>Sabotages the German Revolution by unleashing the Freikorps

>Intervenes in the Baltic states to repel the Bolsheviks and massacre leftists

>Immediately betrays the Baltic states and tries to recolonize them

>Massacres the leftists who bailed them out during the Kapp Putsch

>Passes laws meant to target the far-right, but then uses them on the far-left

>Sells chemical weapons to Spain and France to help them win the Rif War

>Finances Ukrainian ultranationalist terrorists in Poland

>Gives Hitler a slap on the wrist for the Beer Hall Putsch

>Puts Hitler in power

>Massively boosts Zionism via the Haavara Agreement

>Finances fascist movements worldwide

>Encourages Hitler to carry out the Night of the Long Knives

>Intervenes in the Spanish Civil War to crush the Republicans

>Starts the Second World War

>Commits and enables numerous genocides during the war

>Pays "reparations" to Israel after the war

>Creates the EU

>Cites the Holocaust to fanatically support another holocaust to an over-the-top extent

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.3 (before 1940)

752 – Mayan king Bird Jaguar IV of Yaxchilan in modern-day Chiapas, Mexico, assumes the throne. 1481 – The largest of three earthquakes strikes the island of Rhodes and causes an estimated 30,000 casualties. 1491 – Kongo monarch Nkuwu Nzinga is baptised by Portuguese missionaries, adopting the baptismal name of João I. 1568 – Angered by the brutal onslaught of Spanish troops at Fort Caroline, a French force burns the San Mateo fort and massacres hundreds of Spaniards. 1616 – Treaty of Loudun ends a French civil war. 1715 – A total solar eclipse is visible across northern Europe and northern Asia, as predicted by Edmond Halley to within four minutes accuracy. 1791 – The Constitution of May 3 (the first modern constitution in Europe) is proclaimed by the Sejm of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. 1802 – Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city after Congress abolishes the Board of Commissioners, the District's founding government. The "City of Washington" is given a mayor-council form of government. 1808 – Finnish War: Sweden loses the fortress of Sveaborg to Russia. 1808 – Peninsular War: The Madrid rebels who rose up on May 2 are executed near Príncipe Pío hill. 1815 – Neapolitan War: Joachim Murat, King of Naples, is defeated by the Austrians at the Battle of Tolentino, the decisive engagement of the war. 1830 – The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway is opened; it is the first steam-hauled passenger railway to issue season tickets and include a tunnel. 1837 – The University of Athens is founded in Athens, Greece. 1848 – The boar-crested Anglo-Saxon Benty Grange helmet is discovered in a barrow on the Benty Grange farm in Derbyshire. 1849 – The May Uprising in Dresden begins: The last of the German revolutions of 1848–49. 1855 – American adventurer William Walker departs from San Francisco with about 60 men to conquer Nicaragua. 1901 – The Great Fire of 1901 begins in Jacksonville, Florida. 1913 – Raja Harishchandra, the first full-length Indian feature film, is released, marking the beginning of the Indian film industry. 1920 – A Bolshevik coup fails in the Democratic Republic of Georgia. 1921 – Ireland is partitioned under British law by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, creating Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. 1921 – West Virginia becomes the first state to legislate a broad sales tax, but does not implement it until a number of years later due to enforcement issues. 1928 – The Jinan incident begins with the deaths of twelve Japanese civilians by Chinese forces in Jinan, China, which leads to Japanese retaliation and the deaths of over 2,000 Chinese civilians in the following days. 1939 – The All India Forward Bloc is formed by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

[torillatavataan]

The Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (FSWR), more commonly referred to as Red Finland, was a self-proclaimed socialist state in Finland during the Finnish Civil War from January to May 1918. Red Finland/FSWR was an attempt to establish a socialist state, based on the legacy of Scandinavian-Finnish culture, socialist ideas originating from Central Europe, including plans to expand the Finnish territory. Their political visions included principles of democracy, but as Red Finland was primarily the formation of revolution and civil war, the acts of violence and warfare were emphasized in the policy. The Red Guards included a minor faction of Finnish Bolsheviks who supported association of FSWR to Soviet Russia. FSWR/Red Finland never gained a true status and form of state and republic as the Reds lost the Civil War on 5 May 1918. (x)

The Finnish borders on the map are incorrect.

Like Uhtua, North Ingria was right beside the Finnish border.

Map of states existing during penultimate collapse of Russia

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"...the activities of both the OBU [One Big Union] and the IWW [Industrial Workers of the World] in the Lakehead region did lead to increased surveillance by federal, provincial, and municipal authorities. The existence of the Monthly and other publications in the declassified files of American and Canadian archives indicates that authorities in both countries watched both organizations carefully. The RCMP and OPP [Ontario provincial police] were keenly aware that the IWW was indifferent to borders. Minnesota was an IWW stronghold in the United States. The Lakehead Finns, especially, were suspected of being influenced by cross-border radicalism. Suspected agitators were often arrested on both sides of the border. Worried about a possible repeat of Winnipeg in Northwestern Ontario, authorities identified the Lakehead as the centre of any potential problems and began to clamp down on the activities of all groups. Anything and anyone even remotely suspected of being revolutionary fell under surveillance. Suspected agitators were often arrested. The OPP in Northwestern Ontario worked closely with its American and RCMP counterparts in investigations involving the OBU and IWW. The proposed strike of January 1920, for example, saw RCMP, regional OPP, and District Intelligence Officers from St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Duluth all working together. Officials shared intelligence and coordinated their activities in an attempt to disrupt these organizations and arrest workers. The OPP concluded that the OBU and IWW were the same (even if they were in fact two separate bodies). They noted that most of the OBU organizers in the region had come from British Columbia and Minnesota. According to a plan adopted on both sides of the Minnesota-Ontario border, if a strike did occur, lumber companies would shut down and “try, and starve the strikers out.” Canadian and American authorities also worked together to stem the flow of socialist material between the two countries and to deport to Europe suspected Wobblies.

Following a tip from American authorities, the RCMP, for example, arrested William Salo of Fort William for possessing “socialist” literature. His Winnipeg lawyer, E.J. McMurray, described Salo’s actions as merely

stepping outside of the iron band that the government proposed to put around his mind, and desired to find out what was being done in the outside world, which the government endeavours to keep hidden from the eyes of the people of this country.

For McMurray, this was an issue of liberty and freedom from the growing intolerance of the Canadian government, which he compared to pre-revolutionary Russia. The case against Salo, he argued, was

a case of brainless police court jurisdiction, a performance by an immature mind on the magisterial bench that has made the justice of this land in many cases an object of contempt and enmity rather than a respected institution.

McMurray was also involved in the deportation case involving Sava W. Zura, a leading member of the Ukrainian League formed in April 1919. A resident of the Lakehead for over seven years, Zura’s bakeshop had been searched in late September and, after being apprehended by police at the border, he had been arrested and convicted for possessing “Bolsheviki” and IWW literature. Police in Fort William considered him the “main promoter” of “prohibited literature among the foreign element.” Workers in both cities rallied behind Zura, with Harry Bryan being the most notable voice. Despite the absence of prior transgressions and the testimony by many local residents as to his good character, Zura was sentenced to two years in Stony Mountain Penitentiary in Manitoba. Mrs. Zura was later apprehended by Immigration Department agents in Winnipeg, and was also interrogated concerning the evidence."

- Michel S. Beaulieu, Labour at the Lakehead: Ethnicity, Socialism, and Politics, 1900-35. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2011. p. 79-81.

[sensiblephilosophy]

Debate: Socialism vs Capitalism

This is a pretty good (long) conversation/debate.

[lightdancer1]

The USSR was literally setting up a Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic. The actual reason for the Winter War was rebuilding the 1914 borders of the Russian Empire, which is why they invaded Finland and partitioned Poland and annexed the Baltic states. There is literally no non-imperialist reason for the USSR to want anything to do with Finland. The reason stems from Alexander I annexing Finland and castrating Sweden by removing its balls.

Lenin did not let Finland dissociate itself, the Finns defeated the attempt of Red Finland to re-establish the Soviet Russian version of the old Tsarist province in a very bloody war and the Bolsheviks had enough sense to not try to annex a province full of very well-armed people who could have squelched their regime before it started if they really felt like it.

The presentation of Soviet demands for Finland also neglects that there was a span of a few months where the USSR 'merely' deported everyone it disliked in the Baltic states to fucking Kazakhstan (which is why more than a few Jews in the Baltic states avoided the Shoah...for the Gulag) and quietly abolished the armies and replaced them with Red Army garrisons and then a formal annexation. That would have been the same salami slice approach used in Finland.

In short, if your 'leftism' is Karamzin style 'Holy Russia one and indivisible and blessed autocracy' you're as much a Leftist as some Black Hundred putz slaughtering Jewish people and raping the women before he shoots them in the head.

gee i wonder what's gonna come up when i google lotta svard

hm. that doesn't look good. wonder who this guy is

oh. no correlation with nazis though. i'm sure this was just a coincidence. wonder if finland did anything in world war 2

[workingclasshistory]

On this day, 27 January 1918, revolution broke out in Finland as workers took over Helsinki with many of the country’s other large towns following in the next few days. Victor Serge recounted that: "the Red Flag was hoisted over the Workers' House at Helsinki. The city was rapidly captured, and the Senate and government fled to Vaasa. In a few days, almost without resistance, the Reds took over the largest towns, Abo, Viipuri and Tammerfors, and the whole of southern Finland… They introduced workers' control over production, which was relatively simple given the marked concentration of key industries: wood, paper and textiles. They were successful too in stopping sabotage on the part of the banks. Public life and production very soon resumed a practically normal existence." The ‘People’s Republic of Finland’ instituted numerous far-reaching reforms, including women’s suffrage, workers’ control, a maximum eight-hour working day, abolition of the death penalty, abolition of the old mode of land distribution and the emancipation of domestic servants and farmhands. However, to end conflict with the Central Powers in World War I, Finland, along with other territories, was surrendered to Germany by the Russian Bolshevik government in the March 1918 treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The following month counterrevolutionary White forces drowned the revolution in blood, slaughtering thousands of workers and socialists, and throwing tens of thousands more into concentration camps. According to Serge, for the rich the White terror was "a historical necessity. The victorious propertied classes are perfectly aware that they can only ensure their own domination in the aftermath of a social battle by inflicting on the working class a bloodbath savage enough to enfeeble it for tens of years afterwards. And since the class in question is far more numerous than the wealthy classes, the number of victims must be very great." Pictured: Finnish Red guards, 1918 https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/2195681690616969/?type=3

[nanshe-of-nina]

I saw a post yesterday about how a lot of Western people don't every know about Russification policies of Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union. This is pretty much true, as most history classes in history rarely focus on anything east of the Danube.

So, I’ve uploaded a bunch of academic articles relevant to such subjects. Be warned that this can include discussion of ethnic cleansing.

RUSSIAN EMPIRE

Between Russification and Divide and Rule: Russian Nationality Policy in the Western Borderlands in mid-19th Century

Between Subversion and Submission: The Integration of the Crimean Khanate Into the Russian Empire, 1783–1853

Circassians and the Politics of Genocide Recognition

Civilization and Russification in Tsarist Central Asia, 1860–1917

A Colonial Experiment in Cleansing: The Russian Conquest of Western Caucasus, 1856–65

The “Doubling of Hallelujah” for the “Bastard Tongue”: The Ukrainian Language Question in Russian Ukraine, 1905-1916

The Formation of the Finnish Polity within the Russian Empire: Language, Representation, and the Construction of Popular Political Platforms, 1863-1906

Identity and Geopolitics: Ukraine’s Grappling with Imperial Legacies

Imperialism in Slavic and East European History

Land Hunger and Nationalism in the Ukraine, 1905-1917

Linguistic Russification in the Russian Empire: Peasants into Russians?

Of Christianity, Enlightenment, and Colonialism: Russia in the North Caucasus, 1550–1800

Orientalism, Nationalism, and Ethnic Diversity in Late Imperial Russia

Poles, Jews, and Tartars: Religion, Ethnicity, and Social Structure in Tsarist Nationality Policies

Russian Armenia. A Century of Tsarist Rule

Russian Imperialism: Popular, Emblematic, Ambiguous

Russian Imperialism in Asia. Its Origin, Evolution and Character

Russian Settlements in Iran in the Early Twentieth Century: Initial Phase of Colonization

Russification and the Lithuanians, 1863-1905

The Russification of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and Arts in the Eighteenth Century

Russification: Word and Practice, 1863–1914

Ukraine or Little Russia? Revisiting an Early Nineteenth-Century Debate

Volga Tatars, Russians and the Russian State at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century: Relationships and Perceptions

SOVIET UNION

Bolshevik Language Policy as a Reflection of the Ideas and Practice of Communist Construction, 1919-1933

Class War or Ethnic Cleansing? Soviet Deportations of Polish Citizens from the Eastern Provinces of Poland, 1939–1941

An Empire of Substitutions: The Language Factor in the Russian Revolution

Ethnic Issues in the Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine

Ethnic Politics and Ethnic Conflict in the USSR and the Post-Soviet States

Equality, Efficiency, and Politics in Soviet Bilingual Education Policy, 1934-1980

Expanding the Use of Russian or Russification? Some Critical Thoughts on Russian As a Lingua Franca and the “Language of Friendship and Cooperation of the Peoples of the USSR”

The Origins of Soviet Ethnic Cleansing

The ‘Polish Operation’ of the NKVD: The Climax of the Terror Against the Polish Minority in the Soviet Union

The Polish Terror: Spy Mania and Ethnic Cleansing in the Great Terror

Racial Politics without the Concept of Race: Reevaluating Soviet Ethnic and National Purges

The Rehabilitation of Mykola Skrypnyk

(Review) Beyond Memory: The Crimean Tatars’ Deportation and Return 

The Russian Empire and the Soviet Union as Imperial Polities

The Russification of the RSFSR

Social Mobilization and the Russification of Soviet Nationalities

Soviet Apartheid: Stalin’s Ethnic Deportations, Special Settlement Restrictions, and the Labor Army: The Case of the Ethnic Germans in the USSR

The Soviet Deported Nationalities: A Summary and an Update

Soviet Nationalities and Dissidents: A Persistent Problem

Soviet Nationalities Policy and Dissent in the Ukraine

The Soviet Regime’s National Operations in Ukraine, 1929—1934

The Soviet War against ‘Fifth Columnists’: The Case of Chechnya, 1942-4

[warsofasoiaf]

Is there any truth that certain members of the Romanov family worked with the Nazi’s in hopes that Hitler would offer them the throne of a defeated and diced up Russia?

"In this grave hour, when Germany and almost all the nations of Europe have declared a crusade against Communism and Bolshevism, which has enslaved and oppressed the people of Russia for twenty-four years, I turn to all the faithful and loyal sons of our Homeland with this appeal: Do what you can, to the best of your ability, to bring down the Bolshevik regime and to liberate our Homeland from the terrible yoke of Communism."

Vladimir Kirillovich made the preceding statement on 26 June 1941 (four days after Barbarossa) in hopes of appealing to anti-communists within Russia to rise up against the Soviet Union. In 1942, Vladimir and his family were placed in a concentration camp in Compiègne after he had refused to make a statement that specifically encouraged White emigres to support Nazi Germany's war against the Soviet Union. Afterward, he worked with Boris Smyslovsky, a Finnish collaborator, to escape being captured by the Soviet Union. So it looked like he made a statement at the beginning and stopped speaking about it when it was clearer that it would not. So ultimately it seemed half-hearted and self-serving, motivated largely out of fear and self-preservation for himself and his family.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

[biryukzlodei-artblog]

I’m surprised how many people believe that any country would honestly type in their news "yeah, our ammo stocks are empty!" An egregious and obvious lie. Remind me how from 2014 till 2022 Ukrainian news also printed that Ukrainian soldiers are fighting pro-Russian rebels in Donbass with bare hands, how the Ukrainian military has nothing, how weak they are, etc. In 2022, we saw that this is not so. People have short memory.

From everything what I see, Europe is clearly preparing for war with Russia. The US is playing at being mean with Europe to pretend that they don't plan this proxy war, again.

Boring. Predictable. Millions will believe it.

They don’t even try to hide it but present it all as a break between the US and NATO. Especially with pics like this.

Libshits and pro-Ukrainians hates it, but who give a fuck about them. Now Americans will look like decent people who stay away from the war while "dumb Europeans keep killing each other and turn their continent into a mess". Common people today are cheering and hope for the quick peace because they are tired of war and want it to end anyhow already. They don't care that the war will happen again in 10 years because they can't realize it or just hope for the better. Naïve and gullible masses.

All this happened 100 years ago. First, the First World War to weaken or destroy the European monarchies and subjugate part of the continent to the US/UK interests. Then the revolution and civil war in the Russian Empire (according to rumors on English and German money. Lenin is Navalny who succeeded.), where European and American interventionists tried to seize Russia by force, but the Bolsheviks were able to kick them out. Then the Finnish-Soviet war, whereby the result the Americans and British believed that the USSR was weak and easy prey, and started to prepare Europe for the war with Russia. It has long been no secret how American and British companies and banks helped Hitler in his campaign against the USSR. Only the Euro-Reich failed but who cares, serious men in high offices and manors got their profit anyway and got away with it. If it worked once, it'll work forever.

"Let's end this war that would never have started if I were president!" — Trump, 22.01.25.

On December 18, 2014, US President Barack Obama signed the law "The Ukraine Freedom Support Act", previously approved by Congress, authorizing the transfer of weapons for Kiev, including lethal ones.

Since January 2017, when Donald Trump became president of the United States, the US Treasury has imposed sanctions on 212 individuals and companies associated with Russia.

According to these data, 136 individuals and companies are included in the sanctions lists due to the situation in Ukraine under the Law on Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

On March 1, 2018, the US Department of Defense announced that the Donald Trump administration had decided to supply Ukraine with 37 Javelin anti-tank missile systems and 210 missiles for a total of $47 million.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 8.4 (after 1900)

1914 – World War I: In response to the German invasion of Belgium, Belgium and the British Empire declare war on Germany. The United States declares its neutrality. 1915 – World War I: The German 12th Army occupies Warsaw during the Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive and the Great Retreat of 1915. 1921 – Bolshevik–Makhnovist conflict: Mikhail Frunze declares victory over the Makhnovshchina. 1924 – Diplomatic relations between Mexico and the Soviet Union are established. 1936 – Prime Minister of Greece Ioannis Metaxas suspends parliament and the Constitution and establishes the 4th of August Regime. 1944 – The Holocaust: A tip from a Dutch informer leads the Gestapo to a sealed-off area in an Amsterdam warehouse, where they find and arrest Jewish diarist Anne Frank, her family, and four others. 1944 – Under the state of emergency law, the Finnish Parliament elects Marshal C. G. E. Mannerheim as the President of Finland to replace the resigned Risto Ryti. 1946 – An earthquake of magnitude 8.0 hits northern Dominican Republic. One hundred are killed and 20,000 are left homeless. 1947 – The Supreme Court of Japan is established. 1964 – Civil rights movement: Civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney are found dead in Mississippi after disappearing on June 21. 1964 – Second Gulf of Tonkin Incident: U.S. destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy mistakenly report coming under attack in the Gulf of Tonkin. 1965 – The Constitution of the Cook Islands comes into force, giving the Cook Islands self-governing status within New Zealand. 1969 – Vietnam War: At the apartment of French intermediary Jean Sainteny in Paris, American representative Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese representative Xuân Thuỷ begin secret peace negotiations. The negotiations will eventually fail. 1972 – Ugandan President Idi Amin announces that Uganda is no longer responsible for the care of British subjects of Asian origin, beginning the expulsions of Ugandan Asians. 1974 – A bomb explodes in the Italicus Express train at San Benedetto Val di Sambro, Italy, killing 12 people and wounding 22. 1975 – The Japanese Red Army takes more than 50 hostages at the AIA Building housing several embassies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The hostages include the U.S. consul and the Swedish Chargé d'affaires. The gunmen win the release of five imprisoned comrades and fly with them to Libya. 1977 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy. 1983 – Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo, president of the military government of Upper Volta, is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Captain Thomas Sankara. 1984 – The Republic of Upper Volta changes its name to Burkina Faso. 1987 – The Federal Communications Commission rescinds the Fairness Doctrine which had required radio and television stations to present controversial issues "fairly". 1995 – Operation Storm begins in Croatia. 2006 – A massacre is carried out by Sri Lankan government forces, killing 17 employees of the French INGO Action Against Hunger (known internationally as Action Contre la Faim, or ACF). 2007 – NASA's Phoenix spacecraft is launched. 2018 – Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) expel the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from the Iraq–Syria border, concluding the second phase of the Deir ez-Zor campaign. 2019 – Nine people are killed and 26 injured in a shooting in Dayton, Ohio. This comes only 13 hours after another mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, where 23 people were killed. 2020 – Beirut Port explosion: At least 220 people are killed and over 5,000 are wounded when 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate explodes in Beirut, Lebanon.