WEEKLY TRANSMISSION N°29 SOVIET PAPARAZZO:
THURSDAY 21st JULY 2016
SECRET PHOTO-DIARY OF A SPECIAL TRAIN CONDUCTOR
PWT 29-2016 CONTENTS : About Rail Transport in the USSR Self Portraits of a Soviet Paparazzo Nikita Sergeyevich Fidel in Siberia Leonid Ilyich Big Kiss
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n°2, detail
The e-bulletin presents articles as well as selections of books, albums, photographs and documents as they have been handed down to the actual owners by their creators and by amateurs from past generations. The physical descriptions, attributions, origins, and printing dates of the books and photographs have been carefully ascertained by collations and through close analysis of comparable works. When items are for sale, the prices are in Euros, and Paypal is accepted.
N°29 : SOVIET PAPARAZZO
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Thursday 21 July 2016
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n°13, detail
About Rail Transport in the USSR After the Russian Civil War, the Russian railways were not sustainable as congestions continued to increase. Gosplan economists advocated for the rationalisation of the railways, coupled with tariffs based on actual cost, which would reduce traffic demand and provide funds for investment. The leadership was unable to reach a conclusion and the rail system continued to deteriorate. The Central Committee ordered Lazar Kaganovich to solve the railway crisis in 1935. Kaganovich first prioritised bottleneck areas over other less-traveled areas; his second priority was investing in heavy traffic lines, and thirdly, the least efficient areas of the rail network were left to themselves. Soviet rail transport became, after the Great Patriotic War, one of the most developed in the world, surpassing most of its First World counterparts. Soviet trains usually carried coal, oil, construction material (mostly stone, cement and sand) and timber. Oil and oil products were one of the key reasons for building railway infrastructure in Siberia in the first place. Each train has a dedicated conductor, who checks the passport of each passenger on the train. After 1946, the People's Commissariat for Railways (Народный комиссариат путей сообщения (НКПС) became The Ministry of Railways (Министерство путей сообщения (МПС). It was divided into 32 agencies, which among them had millions of employees.
One very special employee was Nikolai Ivanovich Tkachenko. He was the conductor in charge of the unique train, which could transport the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Comrade Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev until 1964, then Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev.
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Thursday 21 July 2016
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Nikolai Ivanovich Tkachenko. Self Portrait with Train, No date (circa 1964). Vintage silver print, captioned in Russian, verso. 200 euros
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Thursday 21 July 2016
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Nikolai Ivanovich Tkachenko. Self Portrait with his Zorki Camera, Tallin, 6 June 1965. Vintage silver print, 125x175 mm, captioned in Russian, verso. 200 euros «Zorki (Russian: Зоркий, meaning sharp-sighted) is the name of a series of 35mm rangefinder cameras manufactured in the Soviet Union between 1948 and 1978. The Zorki was a product of the Krasnogorsk Mechanical Factory (KMZ), which also produced the Zenit single lens reflex camera (SLR). The first Zorki cameras were inexpensive Leica II copies just like the FED, but later models were considerably different from the Leica.»
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Nikolai Ivanovich Tkachenko. Nikita Khrushchev in Warsaw Station, 1963. Vintage silver print, 125x175 mm, captioned in Russian, verso : «Varshava, 10/I/1963». 200 euros «... during Khrushchev's last year in power, 1963-64... Polish leader Gomulka resisted three major initiatives by Khrushchev that might have sparked a direct confrontation between Moscow and Beijing and undermined Communist Poland's security: an initiative by Khrushchev in 1963 to grant Mongolia membership in the Warsaw Pact; the Soviet leader's attempt in 1963-1964 to conclude a nonproliferation treaty with the United States that would have arguably been directed against China; and Khrushchev's efforts to call a conference of the world's communist parties with a view to expelling the Communist Party of China (CPCh) from the international communist movement. Khrushchev responded to Gomulka's opposition by putting economic and political pressure on Poland and threatening to remove Gomulka from power. Gomulka, however, succeeded in holding out against the pressure...» (www.wilsoncenter.org)
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Thursday 21 July 2016
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Nikolai Ivanovich Tkachenko. Fidel Castro asks to Visit The Siberian Forest, Summer 1963. Two silver prints, 125x175 mm, captioned in Russian. 200 euros ÂŤAfter the Cuban missile crisis, in June 1963 Castro made a historic visit to the Soviet Union, returning to Cuba to recall the construction projects he had seen, specifically the Siberian hydro power stations. Castro also spoke about the development of Soviet agriculture, repeatedly emphasizing the necessity for using Soviet experience in solving internal tasks of socialist construction in Cuba. Castro asserted that the Soviet people "expressed by their deeds their love for and solidarity with Cuba". On the trip Castro and Khrushchev negotiated new sugar export deals and agricultural methods to solve the main problem in increasing the output of sugar.Âť
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Nikolai Ivanovich Tkachenko. Castro Returns to USSR, January 1964. Vintage silver print, 125x175 mm, captioned in Russian: «Forest, Kiev, 22 January 1964», verso. 200 euros «In January 1964, Castro returned to Moscow, officially to sign a new five-year sugar trade agreement, but also to discuss the ramifications of the assassination of John F. Kennedy;[196] Castro had been deeply concerned by the assassination, believing that a far right conspiracy was behind it but that the Cubans would be blamed.»
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Thursday 21 July 2016
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Nikolai Ivanovich Tkachenko. Anastas Mikoyan in Mourmansk, 26 April 1963. Vintage silver print, 125x175 mm, captioned in Russian, verso. 100 euros ÂŤIn 1956 Mikoyan helped Khrushchev organize the Secret Speech, which Khrushchev delivered to the 20th Party Congress, that denounced Stalin's personality cult. It was he, and not Khrushchev, who made the first anti-Stalinist speech at the 20th Congress. Along with Khrushchev, he helped roll back some of the stifling restrictions on nationalism and culture imposed during Stalin's time. In 1954, he visited his native Armenia and gave a speech in Yerevan, where he encouraged Armenians to republish the works of Raffi and the purged writer Yeghishe Charents. In 1957 Mikoyan refused to back an attempt by Malenkov and Molotov to remove Khrushchev from power; he thus secured his position as one of Khrushchev's closest allies. He backed Khrushchev because of his strong support for de-Stalinization and his belief that a triumph by the plotters might have given way to purges similar to the ones in the 1930s.Âť
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Nikolai Ivanovich Tkachenko. Khrushchev arriving in Ladoga, August 1964. Vintage silver print, 125x175 mm, captioned in Russian, verso. 100 euros ÂŤBeginning in March 1964, Supreme Soviet presidium chairman and nominal head of state Leonid Brezhnev began discussing Khrushchev's removal with his colleagues. While Brezhnev considered having Khrushchev arrested as he returned from a trip to Scandinavia in June, he instead spent time persuading members of the Central Committee to support the ousting of Khrushchev, remembering how crucial the Committee's support had been to Khrushchev in defeating the Anti-Party Group plot. Brezhnev was given ample time for his conspiracy; Khrushchev was absent from Moscow for a total of five months between January and September 1964.Âť (Wikipedia)
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Thursday 21 July 2016
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Nikolai Ivanovich Tkachenko. Leonid Brezhnev arrives, 1964. Vintage silver print, 125x175 mm, signed in ink, verso. 200 euros ÂŤBrezhnev and Nikolai Podgorny appealed to the Central Committee, blaming Khrushchev for economic failures, and accusing him of voluntarism and immodest behavior. Influenced by the Brezhnev allies, Politburo members voted to remove Khrushchev from office.In addition, some members of the Central Committee wanted him to undergo punishment of some kind. But Brezhnev, who had already been assured the office of the General Secretary, saw little reason to punish his old mentor further. Brezhnev was appointed First Secretary... Khrushchev was removed mainly because of his disregard of many high-ranking organisations within the CPSU and the Soviet government. Throughout the Brezhnev era, the Soviet Union was controlled by a collective leadership.Âť
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Thursday 21 July 2016
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Nikolai Ivanovich Tkachenko. Arrival in Ulan Bator Railway Station, January 1966. Vintage silver print, 125x175 mm. 150 euros ÂŤIn the socialist period, especially following the Second World War, most of the old ger districts were replaced by Soviet-style blocks of flats, often financed by the Soviet Union. Urban planning began in the 1950s and most of the city today is the result of construction from 1960 to 1985.[17] The Transmongolian Railway, connecting Ulaanbaatar with Moscow and Beijing, was completed in 1956 and cinemas, theaters, museums etc. were erected.Âť (Wikipedia)
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Nikolai Ivanovich Tkachenko. During Brezhnev's visit to Mongolia, Ulan Bator, January 1966. Vintage silver print, 125x175 mm. 200 euros ÂŤIn January 1966, with Leonid Brezhnev's visit to Mongolia, the two countries signed a mutual assistance treaty, paving way to Soviet military presence in the MPR. In February 1967, following weeks of worsening Sino-Soviet tensions, Moscow officially approved the stationing of the reorganised 39th Soviet Army in Mongolia. With Soviet encouragement, Mongolia increased its participation in communist-sponsored conferences and international organizations.Âť (Wikipedia)
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Nikolai Ivanovich Tkachenko. Mongolian Veterans Welcoming Brezhnev, Ulan Bator, January 1966. Vintage silver print, 125x175 mm. 100 euros ÂŤIt was under Chinese occupation that the Mongolian People's Party was founded and once again looked to the north, this time to Soviet Russia, for help. In the meantime, White Russian troops led by Roman Ungern von Sternberg had occupied Khuree in early March 1921, and a new theocratic government declared independence from China on March 13. But the Mongolian Revolution of 1921 broke out and Ungern and the remaining Chinese troops were driven out in the following months, and on July 6, 1921, the Mongolian People's Party and Soviet troops took Niislel Khuree. The People's Party founded a new government, but kept the Bogd Khaan as nominal head of state. In the following years through some violent power struggles, Soviet influence got ever stronger, and after the Bogd Khaan's death, the Mongolian People's Republic was proclaimed on November 26, 1924.Âť (Wikipedia)
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Thursday 21 July 2016
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Nikolai Ivanovich Tkachenko. The Big Kiss, No date (1964 ?). Vintage silver print, 125x175 mm. 100 euros
n°13, detail
“... What innocence, may I ask, is being played here when it is known that this virtuous damsel has already got a dozen illegitimate children?” “Call it what you will, incentives are what get people to work harder.” “If one cannot catch a bird of paradise, better take a wet hen.” “When you are skinning your customers, you should leave some skin on to heal, so that you can skin them again.” “Support by United States rulers is rather in the nature of the support that the rope gives to a hanged man.” (Nikita Khrushchev Best Quotes)
Number Twenty-Nine, Second Season, of the Weekly Transmission has been uploaded on Thursday 21st July 2016 at 15:15 (Paris time). Forthcoming uploads and transmissions on Thursdays : Thursday 28th July, Thursday 4th August, 15:15 (Paris time). serge@plantureux.fr
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