Focusing on the period of unprecedented infl uence of popular science in Yugoslavia following the Second World War, the article examines a combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches to linking science and Marxist philosophy of science against the backdrop of the dramatic political and cultural changes that were taking place in early socialist Yugoslavia.
The social and political transformations Russia underwent in the 20th century were also reflected in the sphere of imagery. This also refers to the imagery of movement and means of transport. The process of linking the imagery of means of transportation with the political doctrine in force is mostly visible in the period of Soviet rule, in particular in the interwar period when the foundations of this rule were laid. Then, aviation was to become one of the strongly ideologized means of transport. The ideologization process occurred at various levels, starting from onomastic procedures through advertising and linking aviation and Soviet rule within artistic and literary conceptualisations. In Soviet culture, an aeroplane or a rocket were not merely means of transport but the means by which the expansion of communist ideology globally was supposed to be facilitated.
The article contains an analysis of Boris and Gleb novel written by a contemporary Russian writer Y. Buida. The analysis is realized in reference to certain postmodern tendencies in literature. The author emphasizes mainly the dialogic character of postmodernism and depicts particular features of the movement in post-Soviet culture. Specifically, the dialogic character of the novel is realized through multilayer interferences of culture codes which suit the idea of chaosmic reality by Deleuze and Guatarri. Correspondingly, the dialogue is also displayed by the eclecticism of genders and styles.
The paper describes the political use of symbols of childhood and orphanhood in the current policy of the Russian authorities. At the beginning of the Bolshevik regime, homeless children (bezprizorni) became a subject of interest for the security apparatus organized by F. Dzerzhinsky. At that time, A. Makarenko developed his innovative pedagogical approach. These activities were designed to create a “new Soviet man”. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia again faced the problem of homeless children. After several years, however, children and orphans are now being used as a symbol of vulnerability in the government policy of the Kremlin. As an answer to the so-called “Magnitsky Act”, the Russian authorities implemented the “DimaYakovlev law” prohibiting adoptions of Russian children to the United States. In addition to this, the child as a symbol of innocence and vulnerability is an invariant element in the policy of the Russian authorities. This combines symbolism associated with bravery, dedication and sacrifice, allowing justification of the current political course of power in Russia.
The aim of this study is to analyse the geopolitical position of independent Poland after World War I and the state of her relations with neighbour states, and the policy of building alliances with France and Romania. In view of border conflicts with Lithuania and Czechoslovakia as well as the constant German and Soviet threat, the reborn Polish state was forced to seek for allies in the West. The alliances with France and Romania could not however reduce the danger for Poland emerging from Soviet-German cooperation basing on the treaty of Rapallo from 1922. Also the treaty of Locarno from 1925 in which Polish borders were left without guarantee was seen as a failure of Polish diplomacy. The inconvenient geopolitical position of Poland, and the aggressive policy of the Third Reich and the Soviet Union resulted in the Hitler-Stalin Pact from 23rd of August 1939 and the partition of Poland.
This jubilee article commemorating the centenary of the Battle of Warsaw (1920) is an attempt to examine the presentation of this decisive battle of the Polish-Soviet War. Also known as the 'Miracle at the Vistula', it became one of the most popular foundation myths of the reborn Polish state, shaped and fed to the public opinion by both historiography and personal accounts of its participants. This article focuses on a series of dramatic battlefield reports in the mass circulation daily 'Ilustrowany Kurier Codzienny'.