The hottest Soviet history Substack posts right now

Massive social achievements and violent repression coexisted side by side, with everyday enthusiasm and large-scale projects happening even as purges and executions destroyed lives.
The motives behind the Great Terror remain unclear and puzzling; simple explanations like paranoia or routine power consolidation don't fully account for its scale and who was targeted.
Properly explaining the purges requires a wide historical perspective and diverse sources—archival records, biographies, and personal testimonies—to capture both political calculations and lived experience.

Keep your inner freedom no matter how long or harsh the imprisonment feels. That inner liberty can't be taken away by false charges or solitary confinement.
Standing up for democracy and truth is a brave and honorable act, even when the cost is imprisonment. Such resistance inspires others and preserves human dignity.
Those who use fear and repression to control others end up living as slaves themselves, bound by lies and coercion. In the long run, the moral victory belongs to those who resist.

Russian propaganda often portrays Ukrainian identity as Nazi to fit Putin's ideology
Russian leadership shifted source of legitimacy from building Communism to winning WWII
Putinism ideology combines respect for Stalinism, Russian Orthodox clericalism, and ethnonationalism

Soviet efforts in STEM education showed mixed results. They successfully promoted education for women and some minorities but struggled with significant under-representation of certain ethnic groups.
The Soviet Union's focus on broad access to quality STEM instruction helped elevate educational standards, but the emphasis on equity didn't always lead to equal outcomes for all ethnicities.
High-performance recognition and a strong commitment to STEM were central to the Soviet identity, but their rigid systems sometimes limited the potential of certain groups and led to brain drain as talent emigrated.

Vladislav Surkov is known as the Grey Cardinal of the Kremlin.
Surkov has a mixed heritage and his early career involved working for Khodorkovsky.
The introduction of market elements in the Soviet economy through measures like the Law on Cooperation led to hyperinflation and the rise of the oligarchs.

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Valentina Matvienko began her career in the Soviet Youth Committee and later transitioned to the Communist Party.
Matvienko gained notoriety for her ability to drink more than grown men, earning her the nickname Valya the Glass.
During Perestroika, Matvienko joined the Soviet unelected through the NGO quota and led the Committee to Protect Women, Family, Motherhood, and Childhood.

Russia’s 1917 upheaval mixed long-term inequality and wartime collapse with a spontaneous February revolt that was later seized by a small, well-organized Bolshevik party in October.
The Bolsheviks consolidated power through careful planning, political violence, and institutions like the Cheka, crushing rivals and imposing Soviet rule across diverse national and social groups.
The Soviet approach left a lasting legacy: chaotic 1990s privatization helped create oligarchs, and Putin revived security‑state instincts, favoring insider rule, secrecy, and suppression of dissent.