The History of Repression

A photograph hung in the hallway of my childhood home in Chicago. It wasn’t hard to see, a Russian relic among family photos and quirky plaques of the 1980’s. You know the type: a wood slab etched with a warm inscription like Welcome to the [insert surname] Home, or a list of moral lessons disguised as house rules—If you open it… close it. If you make a mess… clean it up—or my personal favorite, If you break it… don’t try to fix it.   But as a child, a photograph of my great-grandfather Anatole Poraykoshitz intrigued me more than a list of aphorisms scrawled into part of a sawed-off tree trunk. Like a puzzle, I’d piece together the archaic image with lion-hearted stories told to me. Tales which elevated Anatole to general status in the tsar’s army. The rank of general fit with the ornamental uniform he wore, I thought. Or his straight posture indicated he might be a man, who against formidable odds escaped to the United States to avoid persecution by the hands of the...

Revolutionary novelist Victor Serge is one of the most compelling figures of Soviet history. First published in 1926 as Les Coulisses d’une Sûreté générale, Serge set forth a manifesto which exclaimed "the epoch of civil wars has begun." Following is an excerpt from Serge's nonfiction book " What Everyone Should Know About Repression ." In the Event of Arrest: At all costs keep cool. Don’t let yourself get intimidated or provoked. Don’t reply to any question without having a defence counsel present and without previously consulting with him. If possible, he should be a party comrade. If this isn’t possible, don’t say anything without really thinking about it. In the old days all the revolutionary papers in Russia published, in large type, the constant recommendation: “Comrades, make no statements! Say nothing!” As a matter of principle: say nothing. Explaining yourself is dangerous; you are in the hands of professionals able to get something o...