I was sad to read of the passing of Mikhail Gorbachev (1931-2022). He always seemed like a decent chap, despite the words of those who blamed him for the turmoil that resulted from the dissolution of the Soviet Onion, that enforced, Russian-led Union also known as Empire.
Had the world's most powerful black market been more humanist, Russia might not have emerged as the shit show we know it for today. But markets don't have consciences; they have BIAs. Important to remember that Russian grudges run deep, and the sins of German (Nazi) grandfathers (see Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem) are alive and well in Russians my age -- the very people who hold political and economic power in Russia today.
In an earlier post I mentioned Amor Towles's A Gentleman in Moscow (2016). Readers will recall 1921 as the year the book's protagonist, The Count, was placed under house arrest at Moscow's Metropole Hotel. Earlier than that (a couple years ago), I posted a couple pieces on Isadora Duncan's autobiography My Life (1928), where the year 1921 figures prominently.
Here's a passage from the last page of My Life:
"In the spring of the year 1921 I received the following telegram from the Soviet Government:
'The Russian Government alone can understand you. Come to us; we will make your school.'
"From whence did this message come? From Hell? No -- but the nearest place to it. What stood for Hell in Europe -- from the Soviet Government of Moscow. And looking round my empty house, void of my Archangel, of Hope, and of Love, I answered:
'Yes, I will come to Russia, and I will teach your children, on one condition -- that you give me a studio and the wherewithal to work.'"
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