4 ms·

Well his Soviet escapades seem to suggest that not all of them were wholly humorous.

The_Colonel 3y ago
Can you be more specific? Which ones do you believe were serious?
thriftwy 3y ago
I believe these refer to the pre-Soviet state of affairs when the yard keeper (дворник) of an apartment block was basically subordinate to the city police - at least in the capital of St. Petersburg.
- ufocia 3y ago
  That was probably the case also during the Soviet era. It may well be the case even today.
  - thriftwy 3y ago
    I believe that during the Soviet era, almost every position will be "on the guard" not just the yard keeper (as depicted in "The Diamond Arm" of 1968). After the Soviet era, yard-keeping services are way understaffed to be useful for that, and also mostly rely on immigrant labor lately. Still, you can never be sure.
    - ufocia 3y ago
      I wasn't aware that Russia has immigrant labor, though I shouldn't have been surprised given their relative economic strength.
      - 082349872349872 3y ago
        Some music video commentary on russian immigrant labour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fix7P6aGXQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fix7P6aGXQ (Uzbek artist) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7pSztJFomE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7pSztJFomE (Circassian artist) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ugivNRYfjc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ugivNRYfjc (Russian artist — for the taxi driving character introduced at 3:30) these are all from about a decade back; there's no doubt been much more since...
        thriftwy 3y ago
        Notes from the Underground Internets.
        082349872349872 3y ago
        It is rather dark —an almost impenetrable night— in this crocodile, but at least it has USB-C charging and the 5G reception is excellent, so —thus far anyway— it hasn't affected my HN habit. (I must admit I ♥ the MC Doni lyric: "إن شاء الله или c'est la vie". Anyone know of a lyrical line that beats it, either with four languages, or scripts written in three different directions [r-to-l, l-to-r, u-to-d?], etc?)
      - chupasaurus 3y ago
        Tajikistan's embassy and consulates are situated in 5 out of 6 Western districts of Russia, guess why.
      - int_19h 3y ago
        Russia has enough immigrant labor to fuel the existence of things like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movement_Against_Illegal_Immigration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movement_Against_Illegal_Immig....
  - hulitu 3y ago
    Only in dictatorships. We don't have informants in democracies. We have phones. /s
some_random 3y ago
Reading this article and expecting him to be a prototypical anti-war writer only to see that he was at one point a COMMISSAR IN THE RED ARMY caused quite a bit of whiplash
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- ufocia 3y ago
  Central Europe was the place of a lot of complex belligerence at the time. Given his penchant for humor, I'm not surprised that he was a commissar. 'The Bolshevik Party established political commissars in 1918 to control and improve morale in the military forces." For all I know it could've been for self-preservation. I'm not trying to be an apologist for him. Rather, I'd like to encourage people to learn a bit more about him and his environment before jumping to conclusions based on a single point in his life.
- hulitu 3y ago
  Whoa. That surely discredits him.
ufocia 3y ago
"In 1911, he founded The Party of Moderate Progress Within the Bounds of the Law. He founded it with his friends in the Vinohrady pub called U zlatého litru (The Golden Liter) to parody the political life of that time." He didn't become a Communist until about 1918. The most you can say is that he had a complex life.

Can you be more specific? Which ones do you believe were serious?

I believe these refer to the pre-Soviet state of affairs when the yard keeper (дворник) of an apartment block was basically subordinate to the city police - at least in the capital of St. Petersburg.

ufocia 3y ago
That was probably the case also during the Soviet era. It may well be the case even today.
- thriftwy 3y ago
  I believe that during the Soviet era, almost every position will be "on the guard" not just the yard keeper (as depicted in "The Diamond Arm" of 1968). After the Soviet era, yard-keeping services are way understaffed to be useful for that, and also mostly rely on immigrant labor lately. Still, you can never be sure.
  - ufocia 3y ago
    I wasn't aware that Russia has immigrant labor, though I shouldn't have been surprised given their relative economic strength.
    - 082349872349872 3y ago
      Some music video commentary on russian immigrant labour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fix7P6aGXQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fix7P6aGXQ (Uzbek artist) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7pSztJFomE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7pSztJFomE (Circassian artist) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ugivNRYfjc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ugivNRYfjc (Russian artist — for the taxi driving character introduced at 3:30) these are all from about a decade back; there's no doubt been much more since...
      - thriftwy 3y ago
        Notes from the Underground Internets.
        082349872349872 3y ago
        It is rather dark —an almost impenetrable night— in this crocodile, but at least it has USB-C charging and the 5G reception is excellent, so —thus far anyway— it hasn't affected my HN habit. (I must admit I ♥ the MC Doni lyric: "إن شاء الله или c'est la vie". Anyone know of a lyrical line that beats it, either with four languages, or scripts written in three different directions [r-to-l, l-to-r, u-to-d?], etc?)
    - chupasaurus 3y ago
      Tajikistan's embassy and consulates are situated in 5 out of 6 Western districts of Russia, guess why.
    - int_19h 3y ago
      Russia has enough immigrant labor to fuel the existence of things like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movement_Against_Illegal_Immigration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movement_Against_Illegal_Immig....
- hulitu 3y ago
  Only in dictatorships. We don't have informants in democracies. We have phones. /s

some_random 3y ago

Reading this article and expecting him to be a prototypical anti-war writer only to see that he was at one point a COMMISSAR IN THE RED ARMY caused quite a bit of whiplash

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
ufocia 3y ago
Central Europe was the place of a lot of complex belligerence at the time. Given his penchant for humor, I'm not surprised that he was a commissar. 'The Bolshevik Party established political commissars in 1918 to control and improve morale in the military forces." For all I know it could've been for self-preservation. I'm not trying to be an apologist for him. Rather, I'd like to encourage people to learn a bit more about him and his environment before jumping to conclusions based on a single point in his life.
hulitu 3y ago
Whoa. That surely discredits him.

ufocia 3y ago

"In 1911, he founded The Party of Moderate Progress Within the Bounds of the Law. He founded it with his friends in the Vinohrady pub called U zlatého litru (The Golden Liter) to parody the political life of that time." He didn't become a Communist until about 1918. The most you can say is that he had a complex life.