Nikolai Bukharin

Stalin’s journey to the top could not be completed without allies. He found one with Kamenev and fellow pallbearer at Lenin’s funeral, Zinoviev who spoke out for him. His further rise to power is also attributed to Trotski’s decline “to take the fight to the ‘troika’ of Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenev” (Service, Stalin 223). Although Stalin did not chair the Politburo after Lenin’s death, he strategized in how to secure his future. According to Robert Service, Stalin replaced his rivals if they failed to show up with appointees to his liking. He also continued to build his group of supporters in the Central Committee where he first received his appointed position from Lenin. These supporters were loyal to Stalin and from them, he demanded efficiency…

Pravda was a daily newspaper that tried to prove labor activism and expose the working conditions in Russian factories. The first paper of Pravda was issued on May 5, 1912 in St. Petersburg by the Bolshevik's of the Russian Social Democratic Party. The paper was closed eight times in the first two years and every time it closed, the Bolsheviks reopened it under a new name "Worker's Truth," etc. Pravda represents Squealer in the book Animal Farm because Squealer tells lies to try to get everybody…

Mr. Molotov’s Life of War According to Nikita Khrushchev, “Molotov took the name hammer just as Stalin had taken the name steel, and Stalin did indeed use Molotov to smash his opposition into submission and to pound his own power base into shapes” showing that Molotov was a tool for construction that Stalin used as he saw fit. Vyacheslav’s original last name was Skryabin, but changed it to Molotov which literally meant the hammer. Molotov was arrested and banished twice in his lifetime, once…

Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake follows the story of a rebellious Bengali boy named Gogol who struggles to find his own identity. While searching for a new identity, Gogol sacrifices his former self and conforms to the beliefs of those around him, causing him to become disconnected from his family and his Bengali roots. The choices that Gogol makes, such as his decisions to change his name, push away from his family, and disconnect himself from his culture, establish the themes of identity, family,…

Gogol and Dostoevsky Theme Paper Nikolai Gogol and Fyodor Dostoevsky are two remarkable Russian writers. They both write about Russian society during the 1800’s. Gogol‘s “The Nose” is a short story about Kovaloff who is a Collegiate Assessor that has an obsession with rank and appearance and how he wakes up and discovers that his nose is missing and goes in search of it. Ivan Jakovlevitch, his barber finds a nose in his bread and immediately realizes that it is Kovaloff and tries to conceal it.…

In Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature like a Professor, Foster writes an entertaining guide of how to dig deeper into the metaphorical meaning of every piece of literature in hopes to inspire the minds of tomorrow not only to grow in their understanding of symbols but also to trust themselves and the knowledge they already have. In relation to Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake, Foster lends understanding to such common symbols like sex not being at all about the actual act but representing the…

The objective of this essay is to explore the origins of conflicts in Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Towles’ A Gentleman in Moscow. Although, both works differ drastically in tone and structure, the settings are comprised of similar elements. Still, the external effects of these tumultuous settings pale in comparison to the internal conflicts which ensue. As the reader accompanies the protagonists through their lives made of crucial decisions, the philosophical depth in both…

Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, born in St. Petersburg, Russia on 22 April 1899, was a Russian-American novelist who was also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin. Nabokov originally began writing in Russian and wrote his first nine novels in Russian. However, Nabokov achieved international prominence after he started writing in English. Vladimir's finest novel Lolita is also considered his most controversial work because of the criticism it received due to its deep and warped erotic theme.…

believed that “ No nigger woman ain’t never been treated no better, Naw suh! He worked like a dog for her and nearly killed himself saving her in the storm, then soon as he got a little fever from the water, she had took up with another man” (186). Society not knowing the entire truth is convinced Janie is at fault. Society 's perception of Janie is evidently different than who she really is. Thus, Janie is unable to express her true self as everyone else judges her based solely on her…

The comedy The Government Inspector was the first of its kind. It was a comedy made up of realistic characters meant to comment on society and promote change. The front page of Nikolai Gogol’s work begins with a popular saying, “If your face is askew don’t blame the mirror.” This quote sets up his purpose and message quite aptly. Gogol wanted his play to be a reflection of real life in Russia so his audience could see the skewness of Russian life. As a scholar once noted about Gogol, “His is the…