Polina Popova | University of Illinois at Chicago (original) (raw)

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Papers and Drafts by Polina Popova

This paper analyzes the 1928 collection Life and Technology of the Future as an example of the ut... more This paper analyzes the 1928 collection Life and Technology of the Future as an example of the utopian futuristic science fiction of the post-Revolutionary moment of early Soviet history.

The Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine left no one untouched by its effects and aftermath. Many peasa... more The Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine left no one untouched by its effects and aftermath. Many peasants and villagers – those who were still able to move their feet – came to places like Kharkov, Kiev, and Odessa in search for food, clothes, shelter, and work. They risked their lives, but many times – they risked something that was already taken. Sick with swollen bellies, many of them had nobody no help them in the city, but they still moved – often in order to save their children’s lives, often with no hope left.
This paper will argue that peasants from all over Ukraine came to the big cities like Kharkov and Kiev in order to survive or at least to leave their children there; thus, migration to the cities from the villages became one of the only ways of survival during the famine of 1932-33. The paper also highlights the important role that the railroad stations and the employers of the Soviet railroad played in the peasant survivals.
Surprisingly, peasant children had greater chances of survival if they were taken to the cities – and as will be demonstrated below, many parents or older family members tried to get to the city just to save their children, even if they knew that they themselves were doomed. Even though children were usually the first ones among peasants to die from hunger, those who survived were very physically strong and that meant that later these children were able to live longer than their mature family members.
Many adults, too, were able to save their lives, since in the cities it was easier to buy or steal some bread or to find a job. Young rural women had more chances, because very often they were able to find maid jobs without even having passports – and thus, to survive and to feed their families at least until the beginning of 1934 when the famine was over.
The urban environment of Ukraine in 1930s provided more opportunities for its residents and for the hungry ones to not only find food, but other goods that could be exchanged for food. Thus, fleeing to the cities like Kiev and Kharkov was one of the major ways for the starving peasants to survive.

This work’s main argument is that Trotsky was persistent in his references to Freud’s ideas regar... more This work’s main argument is that Trotsky was persistent in his references to Freud’s ideas regarding freedom of education and attitude to religion. The essay also argues that there was a strong intertextuality in the works of Freud and Trotsky and a particularly strong influence of Freud’s psychoanalytical theory on Trotsky’s latest works.

This paper analyzes the 1928 collection Life and Technology of the Future as an example of the ut... more This paper analyzes the 1928 collection Life and Technology of the Future as an example of the utopian futuristic science fiction of the post-Revolutionary moment of early Soviet history.

The Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine left no one untouched by its effects and aftermath. Many peasa... more The Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine left no one untouched by its effects and aftermath. Many peasants and villagers – those who were still able to move their feet – came to places like Kharkov, Kiev, and Odessa in search for food, clothes, shelter, and work. They risked their lives, but many times – they risked something that was already taken. Sick with swollen bellies, many of them had nobody no help them in the city, but they still moved – often in order to save their children’s lives, often with no hope left.
This paper will argue that peasants from all over Ukraine came to the big cities like Kharkov and Kiev in order to survive or at least to leave their children there; thus, migration to the cities from the villages became one of the only ways of survival during the famine of 1932-33. The paper also highlights the important role that the railroad stations and the employers of the Soviet railroad played in the peasant survivals.
Surprisingly, peasant children had greater chances of survival if they were taken to the cities – and as will be demonstrated below, many parents or older family members tried to get to the city just to save their children, even if they knew that they themselves were doomed. Even though children were usually the first ones among peasants to die from hunger, those who survived were very physically strong and that meant that later these children were able to live longer than their mature family members.
Many adults, too, were able to save their lives, since in the cities it was easier to buy or steal some bread or to find a job. Young rural women had more chances, because very often they were able to find maid jobs without even having passports – and thus, to survive and to feed their families at least until the beginning of 1934 when the famine was over.
The urban environment of Ukraine in 1930s provided more opportunities for its residents and for the hungry ones to not only find food, but other goods that could be exchanged for food. Thus, fleeing to the cities like Kiev and Kharkov was one of the major ways for the starving peasants to survive.

This work’s main argument is that Trotsky was persistent in his references to Freud’s ideas regar... more This work’s main argument is that Trotsky was persistent in his references to Freud’s ideas regarding freedom of education and attitude to religion. The essay also argues that there was a strong intertextuality in the works of Freud and Trotsky and a particularly strong influence of Freud’s psychoanalytical theory on Trotsky’s latest works.