Stalins Purge The Greater Holocaust Essays - Old Bolsheviks

Stalin's Purge: The Greater Holocaust Joseph Stalin was ruler of the Soviet Union from 1929-1953. While he was in power the Great Depression devastated the world economy, the Nazis invaded the U.S.S.R., Berlin was cut off from the rest of the world, and the Cold War began. In many countries his philosophies were believed to be highly effective, but some of his actions are just being uncovered , and denounced, in ?Western? countries like the United States. One part of Soviet history, only now being recognized for what it really was, is the ?Great Purge? Stalin initiated to rid the Stalin(Groilers-Communism) country of all people who didn't support him as ?the supreme ruler of the Soviet Union?. Stalin was born on December 21, 1827 in Gori, Georgia, and given the name Joseph Vissarionovich Djugashvili. He adopted the name Joseph Stalin later in his lifetime. (World Book 825; Groilers-Stalin,Joseph) His father was an alcoholic, beat his wife, as well as, Stalin. Stalin's father died in a fight when his child was only eleven. His mother wanted Stalin to become a priest, so she sent him to seminary school when he was 14 years of age. (Groilers-Stalin,Joseph) At the school, Stalin learned about revolutionaries and became one himself. Eventually he quit school and became ?a full-time revolutionary? against the Czar and the Russian monarchy. He was arrested in 1904 and joined the Bolsheviks. Stalin was arrested and exiled four more times between 1906 and 1913. (World Book 825) When Stalin escaped from exile he met Lenin and joined the Bolsheviks. In 1912 he was appointed to the Bolshevik Central Committee. Arrested and exiled by the Czar in 1913, he returned in 1917 after the ?November Revolution?. (Groilers-Stalin, Joseph) Stalin was appointed secretary of the Central Committee in 1922 and became ?power hungry?. Before his death, in 1924, Lenin wrote a not saying that Stalin was reckless and needed to be removed from power. The leading Bolsheviks ignored the note and continued increasing the amount of power Stalin had. Between 1924 and 1928, Stalin used his position to remove his opposition from ?the Party?; he was the unchallenged leader of the Soviet Union by 1929. (Groilers-Stalin, Joseph) As leader of the Soviet Union he ordered the creation of the collective farms to aid in the rapid industrialization of the country. Poor management of the farms caused thousands of people to die in a famine; Stalin continued collectivization at an increased r! ate after the famine. (World Book 826) Stalin's purge began after the death of Sergei Kirov. It is believed that the ?murder was probably arranged by Stalin as a pretext for eliminating all opponents.? (Groilers-Great Purge) Stalin used Kirov's death as an excuse to charge Party members and Army generals with treason or conspiracy and sentence them to death. Almost all of the members of the Central Committee and the 17th Congress were killed or arrested; some were sent to labor camps known as Gulags. At first, the purge was secret; show trials in Moscow were evidence of the purge's existence, later on. The purge spread from high-ranking officials to people associated with Lenin and then to common workers and farmers. Anyone perceived as a threat to Stalin's power was killed. The ?officer-corps? were so Stalin would have total support in the lower ranks of the armed forces. (Groilers-Great Purge) Everyone was considered a suspect by the secret police. During this time Stalin began to produce his own personality ?cult?. Some people used this cult as a way to avoid being killed by the secret police. (Groilers-Stalin, Joseph) During the purge the secret police ordered spying on important industrialists. They also ordered neighbors to spy on each other, children to report on heir parents, children to watch their siblings, and adults to spy on their employers/employees. (World Book 826) With so may people being arrested or killed, or just disappearing, many began to lose faith in Stalin's leadership. Not many spoke openly spoke out against Stalin for fear of their lives and Western nations did not find out the true extent of the purge because it was not discussed in public. (Soviet Political System 28) One of the most adverse affects of the purge was that when World War

Memorable Martha Graham Quotes

Memorable Martha Graham Quotes Martha Graham  (1894-1991) was one of the best-known teachers and choreographers of modern dance. Selected Martha Graham Quotations All things I do are in every woman. Every woman is Medea. Every woman is Jocasta. There comes a time when a woman is a mother to her husband. Clytemnestra is every woman when she kills. You are unique, and if that is not fulfilled, then something has been lost. Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can. The body is a sacred garment. There is a vitality, a life-force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost. The body says what words cannot. The body is your instrument in dance, but your art is outside that creature, the body. Our arms start from the back because they were once wings. No artist is ahead of his time. He is his time. It is just that the others are behind the time. Dance is the hidden language of the soul. Dancing is just discovery, discovery, discovery. Nobody cares if you cant dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion. Dance is a song of the body. Either of joy or pain. I did not want to be a tree, a flower or a wave. In a dancers body, we as audience must see ourselves, not the imitated behavior of everyday actions, not the phenomenon of nature, not exotic creatures from another planet, but something of the miracle that is a human being. I am absorbed in the magic of movement and light. Movement never lies. It is the magic of what I call the outer space of the imagination. There is a great deal of outer space, distant from our daily lives, where I feel our imagination wanders sometimes. It will find a planet or it will not find a planet, and that is what a dancer does. We look at the dance to impart the sensation of living in an affirmation of life, to energize the spectator into keener awareness of the vigor, the mystery, the humor, the variety, and the wonder of life. This is the function of the American dance. Think of the magic of that foot, comparatively small, upon which your whole weight rests. Its a miracle, and the dance is a celebration of that miracle. Dancing appears glamorous, easy, delightful. But the path to paradise of the achievement is not easier than any other. There is fatigue so great that the body cries, even in its sleep. There are times of complete frustration, there are daily small deaths. We learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. One becomes in some area an athlete of God. It takes ten years, usually, to make a dancer. It takes ten years of handling the instrument, handling the material with which you are dealing, for you to know it completely. Misery is a communicable disease. In 1980. a well-meaning fundraiser came to see me and said, Miss Graham, the most powerful thing you have going for you to raise money is your respectability. I wanted to spit. Respectable! Show me any artist who wants to be respectable. Im asked so often at ninety-six whether I believe in life after death. I do believe in the sanctity of life, the continuity of life and of energy. I know the anonymity of death has no appeal for me. It is the now that I must face and want to face.

Medieval mysticism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Medieval mysticism - Essay Example Christian mysticism had something to do with direct experience with the divine in form of a vision of, or sense of union with God. Meditation, prayer or ascetic discipline usually accompanies it. In general, mysticism is a direct and immediate experience of the sacred, or the knowledge derived from such an experience. The experience is immediate and overwhelming, detached from the common experience of reality and is self-validating, without need of further evidence or justification. Outside the experience itself, one is incapable of expressing or understanding its essence. It is important to note that mysticism is not the same as magic, clairvoyance, parapsychology or occultism. Mystics are people who practice or believe in mysticism. They usually see their mystical experience as part of a larger task meant to bring human transformation and not as the terminus of their efforts. In Europe, mysticism flourished especially in Germany, Italy, the Low Countries and England from mid 13th to mid 15th century. Such mysticisms of that time are the ones referred to as medieval mysticisms. However, there is variation in the dating of the edges of these periods depending on different scholars. One of the most important sources of medieval mysticism is Saint Augustine of Hippo. He was born in the city of Thagaste, Algeria, to a Catholic mother named Monica and he has contributed to the western philosophy by promoting argument by analogy. He is also the most important figure in the ancient western church that produced works of high spiritual quality. In Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion, he is a doctor of the church known for his Christian mystical sermons and the patron of the Augustinian religious order. His ideas also influenced philosophers like Immanuel Kant and Blaise Pascal, and the reformation leaders such as Martin