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Today #Russia celebrates the 23rd of February, the so-called Men’s Day, The Defenders of Motherland Day, the Day of The Soviet Soldier. It is one of the most sacred holidays in Russian militaristic culture, the pomp and fanfare around which is rivalled only by the 9th of May celebration.
But what is the 23rd of February really? Why this date specifically?
Let me tell you how it started.
On February 18, 1918, Austria-Hungary begins an attack on the whole Eastern front.
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The newly formed Stalin’s “Red Army” retreats, allowing the capture of cities Narva and Pskov and being thrown back to Saint-Petersburg (Leningrad). A detachment of Baltic sailors lead by Pavel Dybenko steal a German train and drive in deep into Russia, stopping only in Samara, effectively fleeing the frontlines.
A courier delivers a dispatch to Russians on the 23rd, containing an ultimatum. The Brest peace treaty is signed on conditions dictated by the Germans.
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Years later, in 1938 Stalin orders the following redaction to be introduced in historical archives: “Our soldiers have categorically repelled the enemy’s attempts at capturing Narva and Pskov. The 23rd of February became the birth date of the Glorious Red Army which dealt a humiliating defeat to the German imperialists.”
This is the holiday that’s revered across #Russia to this day. They are celebrating an historical lie, an perverted, farcical falsification, manufactured by Stalinists.
@danielbsmith
As I go back in time I'm struggling to find examples of positive influences.
They installed a Communist regime in Romania and plunged it into unspeakable poverty.
They installed a Communist regime in Korea and plunged the North into unspeakable poverty.
They installed a Communist regime in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia and sentenced those peoples to degradation for decades.
They upheld Castro's commie regime and plunged Cuba into poverty.
But they describe all these as positives.
@Vonzales Honest question: Is anything in Russian culture not based on a lie or cultural appropriation or similar? What is honest or good?