Revolution Now a Bad Word      

   This fall, instead of glorifying the Great October Revolution of 1917, Russia will observe a holiday called National Unity Day. It commemorates an uprising that drove Polish occupiers from Moscow in 1613. That victory led to the founding of the Romanov dynasty (the czars.) 
 

(So, 100 years after dumping the last czar, Russians celebrate 

an event that led to the czars' 300-year reign. Hm.  - JD)  

   Putin has good reason not to be crazy about the idea of revolution. The example of civil unrest may not appeal to a leader who faced widespread protests against his own autocratic rule in 2011, as well as earlier this year. 

~

Author Ian Frazier visited an acquaintance in Moscow last March. 

She is Lyudmila Borisovna Chyernaya, who will be 100 this December. 

She was a journalist, author, and German-language, counter-propagandist 

during World War II. She monitored broadcasts from Germany and refuted them in broadcasts of her own. Goebbels himself called her "the Witch of the Kremlin." 

   Frazier: I asked her what she considered the single highest point of the last 100 years. Through a translator, she answered, "March 5, 1953. The happiest day of my life - the day Stalin died. All the Stalin years were bad." 

   "People may complain, but I tell you from experience that it can get much worse than this," she said.

Next week: Three final excerpts from Ian Frazier's article, 

focusing on today's Russia and why it matters.