Once upon a time in Russia...

The beginning of November for me is associated with the 1917 Russian Revolution. As a child born into a family with diverse political views, I always question lots of stuff from the history of my country.

For example, I was always puzzled with the revolutionary “Newspeak” – with the words and the names that flooded the towns and villages in almost every town in the former USSR. I kept asking: “Is it really necessary to name the streets after Lenin or after the Red Army?

That was not necessary, of course, but that was the order of the authorities to keep the uniformity “on the long road to Communism”. In 1991, the USSR collapsed and, surprisingly, I was not a fan of changing the names of the streets and cities back. Because to lose them now will mean saying goodbye to the period of long and remarkable history which, after all, was not always that bad.

So, for your reading enjoyment, I decided to make up a list of the top 10 Communist names of streets.

1. Lenin Street. As one of my American friends says: “It’s easy to find the center of a Russian city. Just ask where the Lenin Street is.” And he is 90% right. Lenin Street or Lenin Square is almost always in the center of the town. If it is not there – it is definitely one of the main highways leading to it. One example is Leninsky Prospekt (“Lenin Avenue”) in Moscow. It all happened right after Vladimir Lenin’s death – the Central Party Committee issued a decree to commemorate the leader in the names of cities and towns. But in his life – in spite of the many tragic deeds Lenin committed – he was not a person to expose himself. In many moments he kept a very low profile due to all the party organization work he was doing.

2. Karl Marx Street. Of course you can’t fail in remembering the guy who managed to see the “ghost of communism” way back in the middle of the 19th century. Again – like in the case with Lenin – it is in the center of the city. In some towns it is a place for local theatres and post offices.

3. Engels Street. Friedrich Engels was a long-time associate of Karl Marx. And that’s the reason you can seldom find this street in the center. Usually it was located in the working class suburbs.

4. Oktyabrskaya Street (October Street). According to the old calendar the 1917 Revolution took place in October – hence the name. It is the street of sports venues, banks and schools. In some cities, Oktyabrskaya is the place of monuments to prominent revolutionaries and associates of Lenin.

5. Sovetskaya Street. The word “sovet” means “council” in Russian. It means councils of workers and peasants that were supposed to rule the country. In fact – they never did. The Communist Party grabbed hold of the power and never let it go. Maybe that’s the reason that you can seldom find this street in the center of the town.

6. Krasnoarmeyskaya (“Red Army”) or Krasnogvardeyskaya (“Red Guard”) street. One of the few names that cause debates. In many cases, the Red Army is the good example of bravery and military craft. But I do not understand why in five cities in various parts of the country Red Army Street leads to local detention centers – city prisons. I hope it’s just a coincidence.

7. Kommunisticheskaya Street (the street of Communism). The name showed the ultimate goal for the whole USSR. In Moscow there were two streets like this – Big Kommunisticheskaya and Small Kommunisticheskaya. The small one was renamed in 2005 after Stanislavsky – the founder of the modern Russian theatre. The big one still keeps the name, but Moscow authorities plan to change it soon. In one small town the authorities overdid it slightly. They called the street that leads nowhere Kommunisticheskiy Tupik (Communist Deadend). It immediately became the subject of many jokes.

8. Komsomolskaya (Komsomol) Street. It commemorates the Youth Communist League. Tradtionally, it is the place for colleges, universities and schools. In some cities in Komsomolskaya you can find houses for young families.

9. Pionerskaya Street. It is named after the communist children organization. This street is the place of schools and children libraries.

10. 7 Noyabrya Street (The Seventh of November street). It commemorates the date the 1917 Revolution took place (on the ninth according to Julian calendar). I was born on this street in my hometown of Oryol. And my parents still enjoy their life there.

I will come back to some other remarkable examples in the names of Russian streets and cities (not just Communist) in one of my next columns.

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I like to watch rugby. It’s been 13 years since the moment I saw the game for the first time. And that was in the place which is famous for cold winters and vast forests – in Siberia!

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Warm days are fading away. And all you want is to get the last portion of it in full swing. I know such a place where you can really get lost in the past and enjoy nature. But you’ll derive pleasure from it only if you love history and like trains. So go to the “Cuckoo Museum” near the city of Pereslavl.

Cuckoo (in Russian – Kukushka) is a small steam locomotive used in narrow-gauge industrial railway. Its whistle sounds like a bird, so that’s why they called it that. There – in the forests and swamps of Mother Russia - people worked really hard collecting turf. It was widely used in Russia as fuel for electric power plants as well as fertilizer on collective farms. And the Cuckoo train was the only kind of transport to bring the turf out. Later on it was reloaded onto larger trains.

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