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Sofia Petrovna (by Lydia Chukovskaya)
Sofia Petrovna (1963)
"Kolya was sentenced to ten years imprisonment in Yertsevo, later transferred to Kolyma where he died after two months. Natasha hanged herself when her husband was deported. Alik was tortured and shot by NKVD. I am the last of the family" - excerpt from Sofia Petrovna
One of the most revolutionary novels written in the Soviet Union and one of the most popular in this country and beyond its border, used in 1970s to undermine hardline influences in the Communist Party Sofia Petrova was written by a Russian author Lydia Chukovskaya during 1930s and published on 1963[1] in Moscow. It is notable as one of the few surviving accounts of Great Purge written during that era based on author's experiences from 1938-1939 period. Book shocked Russian society and Western countries as even in United States no one but small group of men believed that Khrushchev would be able to allow book which in other circumstances would be classified as counter-revolutionary and her author shot or transported to Siberia labor camps. Communist Party of the Soviet Union was divided about issue to Sofia Petrova to this point that even part of Politburo under Mikhail Suslov's lead began to silently criticize such a liberal policies naming them as destabilizing force for the October Revolution's ideas and sign of weakness. Author of the book gained fame in the Soviet Union and beyond as outspoken critic of Stalinist branch of Marxism-Leninism to this point that she was invited to White House by President of the United States Richard M. Nixon during his second term.
[1]This is not as implausible as it seems to be. Sofia Petrovna was nearly published in OTL on 1963 but was pulled before it could be released due to a changing political climate. In this timeline we have seen Brezhnev dead and rising Anastas Mikoyan - the same guy who introduced hotdogs and hamburgers to the Soviet Union thirty years earlier.
[2]When ascending upon Presidential seat Richard M. Nixon gave revolutionary inaugural speech that criticized use, trials and production of a nuclear weapons in the world and said he was willing to reduce nartional stockpiles of A-bombs if other world leaders do the same step.
Sofia Petrovna (1963)
"Kolya was sentenced to ten years imprisonment in Yertsevo, later transferred to Kolyma where he died after two months. Natasha hanged herself when her husband was deported. Alik was tortured and shot by NKVD. I am the last of the family" - excerpt from Sofia Petrovna
One of the most revolutionary novels written in the Soviet Union and one of the most popular in this country and beyond its border, used in 1970s to undermine hardline influences in the Communist Party Sofia Petrova was written by a Russian author Lydia Chukovskaya during 1930s and published on 1963[1] in Moscow. It is notable as one of the few surviving accounts of Great Purge written during that era based on author's experiences from 1938-1939 period. Book shocked Russian society and Western countries as even in United States no one but small group of men believed that Khrushchev would be able to allow book which in other circumstances would be classified as counter-revolutionary and her author shot or transported to Siberia labor camps. Communist Party of the Soviet Union was divided about issue to Sofia Petrova to this point that even part of Politburo under Mikhail Suslov's lead began to silently criticize such a liberal policies naming them as destabilizing force for the October Revolution's ideas and sign of weakness. Author of the book gained fame in the Soviet Union and beyond as outspoken critic of Stalinist branch of Marxism-Leninism to this point that she was invited to White House by President of the United States Richard M. Nixon during his second term.
[1]This is not as implausible as it seems to be. Sofia Petrovna was nearly published in OTL on 1963 but was pulled before it could be released due to a changing political climate. In this timeline we have seen Brezhnev dead and rising Anastas Mikoyan - the same guy who introduced hotdogs and hamburgers to the Soviet Union thirty years earlier.
[2]When ascending upon Presidential seat Richard M. Nixon gave revolutionary inaugural speech that criticized use, trials and production of a nuclear weapons in the world and said he was willing to reduce nartional stockpiles of A-bombs if other world leaders do the same step.
- Tal Shiar
- Word Count: 370