Soviet Erasure of History

[TatarKhan]

The most efficient of the manipulation and coercion tools are revolutions and mass movements. Famous examples are the first republican movements and the various communist uprisings during the Cold War. The masses contrary to modern psychological operations are made to believe that they are the ones truly in power and are moving towards are viable goal (such as freedom or economic equality). As well known to the avid reader of contemporary history, these mass movements facilitate the most defining censures of human history.

This erasure of history will be explored in this post using the Soviet Union as a case example. The post will assume the following points for this analysis:

(1) The Soviet Union (and all of their ruling class/party cadres) were either appointed by external forces or were already part of those. (see Lenin-German connection, Politbüro / NKVD organisation, publicly available comments of certain uberrich people)
(2) The application of Marxist-Leninist thought and the subsequent inhumane atrocities was facilitated to experiment with a possible totalitarian system. (see stalinist industrialisation, NKVD, KGB, early communist education)
(3) The failure of the planned state economy in 1985-1991 was used to affirm the current free market capitalist system. The economic reforms in mainland China under the Dengist Committee (with the helping hand of the external forces; Western loans given to the CCP) was further initiated for that particular goal.
(4) China is now the prime example for the future. It is ruled by a totalitarian system completely governing all the citizens, run by a small elite kept afloat by external loans.

Soviet Book Burnings​

With the Leninist revolution in the Russian heartland and the consolidation of power, the communist elite first set their sights on the remaining centers of (non-conforming) knowledge. Keep in mind, the Romanovs were not independent either – as many Russians and Orthodox christians might claim – and had tried the exact same things, but then merely under a absolutist monarchy constraint by the technology of their time (see French invasion of 1812).

In the Russian Civil War, the burning of libraries (public and private) and the bombing of traditional education institutions (monasteries, mosques dating to premodern times) became common place. The conscripted peasant army believing they were fighting against the corrupt aristocracy was used to systematically destroy their own culture and history.

To quote The Guardian:

The communists burned untold numbers of decadent western books and writings in the Soviet Union from the 1920s on (...)​

Pictures of these events do not exist or at least are not publicly available. In comparison, pictures of book burnings in Hitlerite Germany are freely available. A coordinated scrubbing by mainstream historians may very well be possible.

To quote censorshipissues.wordpress.com:

This purge was followed by another in 1927, where sixty percent of all books were eliminated in most Soviet libraries. Yet again, in 1929 libraries were forced to censor their collections further by party demand. In the 1930’s book censorship in the Soviet Union did not stop; between 1930 and 1932, libraries lost sixty percent more of their stock that was already purged at least three times. During just one year in Moscow over 779,579 books were lost and most books were never reprinted.​

To quote further:

In 1923, a man named E. Proskuriakova outlined the characteristics of books that were considered “harmful” to the Soviet Union. On this list was: Failure to promote the worker’s class consciousness and willingness to work hard, religious propaganda, pro-tsarist ideas, opposition to revolutionary class struggle, and promoting national hatred. It was this same year that Krupskaia (Lenin’s wife) started a book purge which banned “Plato, Descartes, Kant, the Gospels, the Koran, the Talmud, Carlyle, Tolstoy and William James.” When ask for reasons why, Kruspskia replied, “The masses do not read Kant.”​

The last quote of Krupskaia stands in contrast to common communist propaganda (education for the masses campaign), rather it displays a profound smug elitist attitude (one might say a Freudian slip).


Soviet Propaganda "Which books interests you most?"
Source

Did E. Proskuriakova even exist? Taking into account the rigorous documentation of Soviet intelligence his name does not appear in any accessible historical publication. Secondly, why would Lenins wife be in charge of book burning and banning? She is described as an active CCCP member during the early Soviet Union and was supposedly installed as deputy education minister by her husband.


Krupskaia (left), Lenin (middle, with cat), unnamed American journalist (right)
Source

The more likely scenario is that this destructive process was fully controlled by the ruling class with the personalities Proskuriakova and Krupskaia merely functioning as strawmen. These book burning lists possibly predated even the revolution itself.

A corresponding process was later initiated in China during the Cultural Revolution. The target of the Maoist forces were not merely cultural and historical goods, but especially personal genealogy books (displaying family heritage, as it was commonplace in China). One can assume that this was an deliberate attempt by the elite to render an identification of their operatives as impossible.

Why you might ask? There was lots of intermarriage between British (East India Company) imperialists, Italian immigrants and the Chinese ruling class from the Qing dynasty onward till the Kuomintang rule. This intermarried class was mostly based in Hongkong, Beijing and Macao. You can guess whose descendents rule modern day China.

YouTube Documentary about an Italian man growing up in rural China


Fully europeanized Hongkong (in 1868)
Source

Wikipedia Source (Chinese Book Burning)

Burning of the Solovetsky Monastery​

One major recorded event during the Soviet consolidation was the bombing and destruction of the Solovetsky monastery. This particular monastery is located on the Solovki island in Northern Russia. During Tsarist rule there was an attempt by British forces to conquer the island in 1854 (by firing artillery from battleships).


British bombing of the island (1854)
Source


Modern day reconstruction
Source

The Soviet looting and subsequent burning of the monastery caused unimaginable amounts of literature and cultural-religious artefactes to get lost. The priests and teachers were either deported or shot on the spot. An early Soviet gulag was then constructed on the monastery grounds.


Gulag building (museum style, open for sightseeing)
Source

Soviet Invasion of Central Asia​

During the Russian Civil War Soviet forces under General Frunze were dispatched to destroy the supposed reactionary forces in Central Asia (mainly muslims, also cossacks). Although there were not many White Russian forces located in this region, this military operation was accompanied by excessive burning and looting in the few bigger settlements of the Kazakh plains. The main target was the former Tsarist province of Turkestan, divided into several Turkic muslim khanates. These included the prestigious cities of Islamic thought, Khiva and Bukhara dating back to the Islamic empires of old.


Source Modern Day Bukhara


Source Imperial Bukhara Palace (1909, colorized)

The Soviet forces employed a similar reconquest strategy as in Central Russia. First these historic cities were bombed to the ground (especially targeting historical mosques and Turkic imperial buildings). Second the buildings were secured through human wave attacks, people of importance (teachers, elders) were then identified and executed on the spot.


Source Burning of Bukhara 1920

The third and last step was the systematic burning of historic books. Records dating back to the Early Middle Ages, scientific books written in the 15th century et cetera, an imaginable number of books, all gone. If complete records of the Tatars existed, these were probably it.

Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan​

A similar picture can be found analysing the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. To quickly summarize Afghanistan is a construct with its borders being drawn by the Great Game between Great Britain (British Raj) and Imperial Russia. Naturally – before the meddling of external powers – this region was not divided by artificial borders and thus people could freely travel through. One can therefore assume that many books were copied or carried over into modern day Afghanistan.


Source German-made map (1835)

Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan in 1979, supposedly to assist the communist revolutionaries in suppressing local revolts. Keep in mind, these local revolts started after the communist rulership air-bombed a protest in the city of Herat (killing 50,000). As a quick side note, Afghanistan is home to the largest rare earth mineral deposits in the world (a natural target for outside powers).


Source Soviet invasion plans

Thus orchestrated by the KGB and executed by its Afghan copy KhAD an elaborate system of state repression and torture was put in place. Book burnings and library confiscations became commonplace.

To quote from Afghanistan - The Soviet Invasion and the Afghan Response, 1979-1982:

The search of the apartment of Fahima Nassiry, a schoolteacher, was typical. “They cracked open the walls with the bayonets of their automatic rifles. They cut open all the mattresses. They broke the toilet. They poured out the cooking oil from the jars in her kitchen and tipped over bags of rice.” In a larger house search many more things were usually looked into. Anything that could incriminate the accused would be confiscated. Books—particularly the works of Sayyed Qutb and Mao—would be taken as proof of the accused person’s “guilt.” Under Khalqi and Parchami rule, private libraries were also confiscated. In most cases whole libraries were taken away; fortunately, my own library was spared. In 1973 the Parchami police had set the precedent of confiscating private libraries. At that time they confiscated the entire library of former Prime Minister Maiwandwal; among the works in the library were seven volumes in Maiwandwal’s handwriting on Afghan history.

In contrast with the Khalqi period, when detainees were treated violently during their interrogations, in the Parchami period torture became “part of a scientific system of intelligence rather than just a form of sadistic punishment.” Interrogation and torture were prolonged with the intention of forcing the detainee to implicate others. In theory, the interrogators were not to break detainees physically but to hurt them psychologically, breaking their personalities so they would admit to the crimes of which they were accused. In practice, though, interrogators did not observe these limits, sometimes going so far as to kill detainees. Among those who lost their lives under torture was the famous poet and journalist Ghulam Shah Sarshar Shamali, who, while under interrogation in Sadarat in 1982, was kicked to death.

To quote further from the same book:

(...) no Afghan under the regime was beyond its reach. It had the power and the means to torture men and women to the point of death with impunity. Although by law the execution of a prisoner after his trial in court was the prerogative of the head of state, KhAD determined the case one way or another. In the few cases when the head of state commuted death sentences to terms of imprisonment, he did so only with KhAD’s permission. KhAD was said to be a state within a state. This was true, but only partly. If the Kabul regime may be called a state, then KhAD was an agency above the state.

A state above the state? A torture agency working on behalf of the KGB (another torture agency)? Afghans -> Communists -> KhAD -> KGB -> Soviet Union?

Why was book burning and confiscation so important for the Soviet forces?
(1) To identify possible local intelligentsia (locals owning such literature do not comply and can teach this knowledge to the newer generations)
(2) To cut links between the past and the present (thus making the locals more compliant)
(3) To find and use Old World literature

What does that mean for the present? The application of repression might change, but its underlying methodology does not. As the Soviet system has suppressed and redefined reality as it seemed fit, similar structures (with the same end goal) may be build in the future.

This post was mainly written to display the importance of books in the modern age and past attempts at suppressing knowledge.

 

[Tomkat]

Great post TartarKhan. It's maddening to be honest how we live in such dystopian times. The world has become so schizophrenic. There are oases like SH, where the truth is available and collective memories like what you've posted here are perpetuated. And then there's the rest of the world that seems lucid and is portrayed as awake in things like commercials for Apple and diabetes medication. But it's just intentionally misleading surfaces. All veneer. How many nations, or tribes or cultures have been systematically destroyed. Turned into mad max post apocalyptic hell holes. Native Americans, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon...etc etc etc. And here in America, we get dumber by the minute. Dumbed down every minute of the day yet thinking we are smarter than any previous generation because we have iphones and no books. Tech skills but no brains or knowledge of the past, even the fake past that SH tries to unravel.

Didn't mean to rant, great topic,give us more!

 

[FarewellAngelina]

There was no invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union . The government of that country invited and welcomed the Soviet intervention, in response to the usual CIA shenanigans I suspect.

The Guardian is not a source of truth, it's just a newspaper with an agenda to uphold .

 

[TatarKhan]

There was no invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union . The government of that country invited and welcomed the Soviet intervention, in response to the usual CIA shenanigans I suspect.

The Guardian is not a source of truth, it's just a newspaper with an agenda to uphold .

1. Afghanistan was invaded against the will of the Afghan people.

2. The legitimate republican government was couped in the Saur revolution by the Soviet-supported Khalq faction.

3. The armed revolt started after the (initially peaceful) 1979 Herat uprising (which was suppressed through aerial bombing killing ten thousands of innocent civilians).

4. Only because the CIA financied certain armed groups does not mean that the struggle of the common people was illegitimate.

5. Thus not-CIA / against CIA does not mean good / moral. Neither does not-KGB / against KGB mean the same (or vice versa).

6. If the Soviet Union were the real good forces, why did the CIA not fill Google with pictures of Soviet book burnings (to discredit them)?

7. The Guardian is not a source of truth, neither is any other modern newspaper. (btw something contrary was never claimed)

8. Most agents of KhAD later joined the CIA-funded Republic of Afghanistan (post-2001) and served as high-ranking members of the Western government (which would be an indication that these operatives worked for the same external powers).
> Haneef Atmar, ex-KhAD (everything else scrubbed) four-time minister during Western-aligned rule Source

9. The Afghan war killed over one million people (btw something that was witnessed by millions of refugees, even communist publications of the modern day acknowledge this). It would be ridiculous to claim that all of these people were armed CIA-combantants.

Your argument - with all due respect - seems to not have a solid foundation.

 

[Nexus7]

Both suck the so called west who invaded all kinds of countries plus A´stan two times IIRC but that does not mean that the soviet invasion can be discounted as also an act of imperialism. If we assume these wars are at least partly real

 

[TatarKhan]

Both suck the so called west who invaded all kinds of countries plus A´stan two times IIRC but that does not mean that the soviet invasion can be discounted as also an act of imperialism. If we assume these wars are at least partly real

These wars were and still are real. Something that one can derive from the testimony of millions of refugees (including many Afghan people living in the UK). It is quite weird to assume that a faking of that magnitude could be facilitated. I would advise you to speak to Afghan people themselves, a large number (esp. 50+) still have a vivid memory of the invasion and its aftermath.

Both the West and the East (if you insist on the Cold War paradigm) had (and still have) imperialist ambition in Afghanistan. The existence of rare earth minerals was something that was very well known to the British and the Russians. Soviet policy papers even have outlined a possible de facto integration of northern Afghanistan to loot natural wealth (see the aforementioned book).

"that does not mean that the soviet invasion can be discounted as also an act of imperialism"
Both sides are in the same game, facilitated by big money and external powers. The Soviet invasions, the British invasions (of India, later Afghanistan...) and the US invasion (Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya...) are all acts of imperialism.

I would like to add here that this thread is not about the Afghan war, but the systematic erasure of history and cultural artefacts during the Soviet experiment. Similar techniques of erasure have been also used by Western powers (looting of Iraqi museums, bombing of Libya...).

 

[FarewellAngelina]

1. Afghanistan was invaded against the will of the Afghan people.

2. The legitimate republican government was couped in the Saur revolution by the Soviet-supported Khalq faction.

Why don't you find sources from both sides - you end up giving a distorted view of what may have happened . As I recall the Soviets were asked several times for help by the Afghan rulers . They did not invade - your use of that term is implying colonialism.
Your statements:

1. You know that how?

2. Revolutions are usually carried out with the will of the majority of the people

 

[TatarKhan]

Why don't you find sources from both sides - you end up giving a distorted view of what may have happened . As I recall the Soviets were asked several times for help by the Afghan rulers . They did not invade - your use of that term is implying colonialism.
Your statements:

1. You know that how?

2. Revolutions are usually carried out with the will of the majority of the people

That is again a distortion of what was presented by myself as an argument.

All of it is and was colonialism (sources are in the original post; I referenced Afghan / Western / Soviet historical sources).

In regards to the term revolution, you do realize that most of them are orchestrated by outside powers right? This was discussed multiple times within the framework of this forum (Hitlerite Germany, Soviet Union, French Revolution). How do you that the communist Saur revolution was supported by the people? (the astronomical number of civilian deaths suggests otherwise; if one had popular support, mass bombings into the literal stone age would not have been necessary)

The Soviet Union was never invited into Afghanistan, rather it was forced on the Soviet puppet government in Kabul. Shortly after the invasion Hafizullah Amin (the actual communist head of state) was killed in the Tajbeg Palace assault Source. Why would one kill a friendly foreign leader who supposedly invited ones forces into his territory?

Later he was replaced by Babrak Karmal (someone more in line with Soviet communism), only then the formal invitation of the Soviet Union took (retrospectively) place (not even a formal declaration, rather the argumentation bases itself on a friendship signed in 1978 Source.

You claimed that an invitation took place, that is for you to proof.

You accuse myself of a distorted view, rather it is yours that is distorted.

I want to again repeat that the foreign meddling in Afghanistan is not the topic of this particular post. If some of you might want to discuss that particular topic please open a separate thread. It seems to me that some may be trying their best to dilute the main topic (the systematic burning of literature under communism).

Great post TartarKhan. It's maddening to be honest how we live in such dystopian times. The world has become so schizophrenic. There are oases like SH, where the truth is available and collective memories like what you've posted here are perpetuated. And then there's the rest of the world that seems lucid and is portrayed as awake in things like commercials for Apple and diabetes medication. But it's just intentionally misleading surfaces. All veneer. How many nations, or tribes or cultures have been systematically destroyed. Turned into mad max post apocalyptic hell holes. Native Americans, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon...etc etc etc. And here in America, we get dumber by the minute. Dumbed down every minute of the day yet thinking we are smarter than any previous generation because we have iphones and no books. Tech skills but no brains or knowledge of the past, even the fake past that SH tries to unravel.

Didn't mean to rant, great topic,give us more!

The best way to solve this is to compile your own library. As you wrote, one can neither trust online publications / PDF scans nor modern age literature. How does one know that Google Books is truthful? How do you know a book in your local shop is trustworthy?

Google now harvests public library books (esp. older ones) through mass PDF scans Source. The books which were already scanned are then sorted out of the publically available sections (of university libraries) and stacked into some backrooms archive.

Article about 25 million book scans in Google servers, not even open to the public Source

How do you know that available book scans are truthful? What if they are selected and manipulated? If tomorrow someone at Google would change some historical date (only for the first result site), how many people would notice that?

As you stated, the dumbing down of the population through dopamine control mechanisms (social media, phones, WWW) is already in full action. There are literal studies on how your brain shrinks with cell phone usage time. Children are not allowed to drink alcohol (logical of course as it is a nerve poison), but are allowed to use smart phones as they wish.

Nature review Gray matter differences
Nature publication Altered brain activity
Frontiers publication Gray Matter, Aging and Cell Phone Usage

 

[Tomkat]

Great response TK, wow that's incredible, 25 million book scans, I had no idea. And just think, that's 25 million titles not including multiple copies as I would assume was the case in past book 'cleansings'. Modern versions of control that dwarf those from the past, yet are seemingly so benign and undoubtedly framed as beneficial like some sort of seed repository. Instead of stores of knowledge and true history we have fluid ever changing electronic ticker tapes of whatever information is part of the current narrative, presented to us in ways that atrophy our brains. Our phones spell for us, give us directions, suggest words and phrases and with things like voice texting type for us. I remember driving cross country here in the US several times in the early ninetys alone with no cell phone. I had a map and quarters. I was literally a stronger person then, we all were. Again, super post.

Off topic, I'm still learning how to format here....my bad

 

[Jd755]

I always felt Afghanistan was a region occupied by tribes which sometimes worked together in loose alliances against the other tibes or any outsiders intent on "sorting things out". I know the British Army lost thousands of men attempting just such an endeavour.
Never quite sure why the Soviet leadership sent its army into the region and frankly couldn't believe it when the Yanks had a bash.
It would be interesting to figure out funded the rise of "the Taliban" and how its arranged in tribal terms. That might give quite an insight into what actually goes on why mistakes of the past keep getting repeated.p