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Civil War (1918-1920)

1917

• November-December:
• Decrees abolishing ranks, insignias, and hierarchical greetings in the army
• December:
• The Cheka is established to deter looting and sabotage

---

1918

• General
• Blok writes "Двенадцать/The Twelve" and "Скифы/Sythians"
• Gumilev writes "Костёр/Campfire"
• Maiakovskii writes "Левый марш/Left March" and Мистерия буфф/Mystery Buff
• Zamiatin writes Островитяне/Islanders
• January:
• The Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets drafts a constitution
• The Red Army is created
• Women are granted civil, legal, and electoral equality
• February:
• Church loses its property and rights of ownership. All church land, buildings, vestments, and utensils are nationalized
• Gregorian Calendar is adopted
• March:
• Brest-Litovsk Treaty is signed, ending Russia's participation in World War I
• General Krasnov attacks Pulkovo Heights near Petrograd; the capital is moved to Moscow
• General Iudenich attacks Petrograd
• General Denikin wages war in the Ukraine and Caucasus
• 7th Party Congress
• May:
• Uprising of the Czech Brigade, which starts the Civil War; British and Japanese land in Vladivostok; US (Arkhangel'sk) and French (Odessa) follow in the Summer; British troops land in Batum in December
• Large-scale industry is nationalized
• Nationalization of the theater and of the film industry
• 16 July:
• Murder of Nicholas II and the Royal Family
• August:
• Socialist Revolutionaries capture Kazan'
• Admiral Kolchak becomes "Supreme Ruler" of Siberia (Omsk)
• Fania Kaplan attempts to kill Lenin
• October
• The formation of VAPP (the All-Russian Association of Proletarian Writers
• November:
• WWI Ends

---

1919

• General
• Nabokov, Bunin, Merezhkovskii and Gippius emigrate to the West
• Maiakovskii writes "150,000,000"
• Comintern is founded
• March:
• 8th Party Congress
• April:
• French withdraw from Odessa
• May:
• Iudenich begins an offensive in the south (which fails in the Fall)
• June
• Treaty of Versailles is signed (June 28)
• Fall:
• Kolchak falls in Siberia
• Denikin leads the Don Cossacks to Orel, but is then repulsed
• October:
• General Iudenich moves from Estonia to Petrograd, but is then repulsed
• A foreign trade monopoly is instituted by the government

---

1920

• General
• Zamiatin writes Мы/We
• Bal'mont emigrates
• Central Committee opposes Proletkul't
• February:
• Kolchak is executed
• Allied blockade is lifted
• Vrangel' (who has replaced Denikin) takes the initiative in the Crimea
• The Poles occupy Kiev, and the Polish/Soviet War begins (1920-1922)
• October:
• US, British and French troops are withdrawn
• Vrangel''s campaign fails
• The Civil War ends
• The Famine begins (1920-1922).

---

1921

• General
• Gumilev is executed
• Blok dies
• Furmanov writes Красный десант
• March:
• Treaty of Riga, ending the Polish/Soviet War, is signed
• The Kronstadt Revolt takes place
• The Tenth Party Congress meets at which the New Economic Policy is adopted and the Party is substituted for the proletariat as the ruling body

---

1922

• General
• 11th Party Congress
• Treaty of Rapallo with Germany
• Khodasevich and Tvetaeva emigrate
• Khlebnikov dies
• VAPP is founded
• May:
• Lenin's first stroke
• Denationalization is begun
• December:
• Lenin writes his "Testament" or "Letter to the Congress"
• The triumvirate of Kamenev, Stalin, and Zinoviev lead the country (1922-1925)
• The "Scissors crisis" takes place (1922-1923)

---

New Economic Policy (1921-28)

1920

• General
  • Famine, drought and epidemics (1920-1922)
  • Bal'mont emigrates
  • Zamiatin writes Мы/We
  • Central Committee opposes Proletkul't
• January
  • Allied blockade lifted
• February
  • Bolsheviks shoot Kolchak
  • Allies lift blockade
  • A commission is appointed to prepare a plan for the complete electrification of the country
  • The Polish/Soviet war begins
• July
  • Second Congress of the Comintern
• October
  • VAPP (The All-Russian Association of Proletarian Writers/Всесоюзная ассоциация пролетарныx писателей) is formed
• November:
  • Vrangel' evacuates Crimea
  • End of Civil War

---

1921

• General
  • The Seraphion Brotherhood is formed
  • Vronskii begins publishing Красная новь/Krasnaia nov'
  • The poet Aleksandr Blok dies
  • Gulmilev is executed as a spy
  • Babel' begins his Одесские рассказы/Odessa Tales (1921-23)
  • Tvetaeva writes Версты/Versts
  • Zamiatin writes "Мамай/Mamai"
• March:
  • Treaty of Riga is signed, signaling the end of the Polish/Soviet War
  • The Kronstadt Revolt
  • Tenth Party Congress
  • NEP (denationalization except for large-scale industry, banking and foreign trade)
• October
  • Gor'kii leaves Russia

---

1922

• General
  • Maiakovskii and Brik create LEF (Левый фронт искусства).
  • Pil'niak's Голый год/The Naked Year is published
  • Zamiatin writes "Пещера/The Cave"
  • Pasternak writes Детство Люверс/Childhood of Liuvers
  • Zoshchenko writes Рассказы Назара Ильича, г. Синебюxова/Stories of Nazar Il'ich, Mr. Sinebriukhov
  • Belyi writes Котик Летаев/Kotik Letaev
  • Khlebnikov dies
  • Mandel'shtam writes Триста/Trista
  • Tsvetaeva and Khodasevich emigrate
  • The communist youth organization "Pioneers" is formed
  • State censorship is established
  • The Formation of the USSR
  • The Cheka becomes the GPU
• April
  • Stalin is chosen as General Secretary of the Communist Party
• May:
  • Lenin's first stroke
• December:
  • Lenin's "Testament" [Завещание Ленина] or "Letter to the Congress"
  • Lenin's second stroke
  • The Synod is dissolved; Patriarch Tikhon is arrested

---

1922-1923

• General
  • Trials of the Socialist Revolutionaries
  • Deportations of Kadets and Mensheviks
  • Furmanov's Чапаев/Chapaev is published
  • Pasternak publishes Темы и вариации/Themes and Variations
  • Trotskii publishes Литература и революция/Literature and revolution
  • Pereval is organized (1923-1932)
  • ЛЕФ/LEF is organized
  • 12th Party Congress

---

1924

• General
  • Triumvirate of Stalin, Kamenev and Zinoviev vs. Trotskii and the Opposition
  • 13th Party Congress
  • USSR Constitution ratified
  • USSR recognized by UK, France, and Italy
  • Eizenshtein films Strike, and Kuleshov films Необычайные приключения мистера Веста в стране Большевиков/The Incredible Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks
  • Pil'niak writes Машины и волки/Automobiles and Wolves
  • Pasternak writes Воздушные пути/Aerial Ways
  • The Symbolist poet Bruisov dies
  • Zamiatin's Мы/We is published in the West in English; "On Literature, Revolution and Entropy" is written
  • Sholokhov writes Донские рассказы/Don Stories
  • Fedin writes Города и годы/Cities and Years
• January
  • Death of Lenin
  • Beginning of the Lenin cult (Fundamentals of Leninism, Lenin Institute), Petrograd renamed Leningrad
  • Lenin Levy (workers into the Party)
• April
  • Patriarch Tikhon dies and is not replaced

---

1925

• General
  • Central Committee Resolution "On Party Policy in the Field of Literature"
  • Gladkov's Цемент/Cement and Bugakov's Белая гвардия/White Guard and "Собачье сердце/Heart of a Dog" are written. Eisenshtein's Бронзеносец Потемкин/Battleship Potemkin is released
  • Esenin commits suicide
  • Babel's Конармия/Red Cavalry is published
  • Vertov's Кино-глаз/Kino-eye is filmed
  • Frunze dies on the operating table
  • Trotskii is removed as war commissar
• April
  • Tsaritsyn renamed Stalingrad
  • 14th Party Conference: Stalin's slogan, "Socialism in One Country."

---

1926

• General
  • Dmitrii Furmanov dies
  • Lenin's "Testament" is published in the New York Times
  • Procedures for marriage and divorce are simplified significantly, even beyond those established in 1918
  • Bulgakov's Дни Турбиныx/Days of the Turbins is staged
  • OBERIU is founded
  • Третья мещанская/Bed and Sofa by Avram Room is released
  • Pil'niak's "Повесть непогашенной луны"/Tale of the Unextinguished Moon is published

---

1925-1928

• General
  • Oberiu is established (1926-1930)
  • Stalin and Bukharin vs. Left Opposition -- Kamenev, Zinoviev, and Trotskii (all ousted from Politburo)

---

1927

• General
  • Communist revolt in China is crushed
  • Olesha's Зависть/Envy, Fadeev's Разгром/The Rout and Maiakovskii's "Xорошо/Good" are published
  • Platonov's Эпифанские шлюзы/The Sluices of Epiphany, and Pasternak's Лейтенант Шмидт/Lieutenant Shmidt are published
  • Zamiatin's Мы/Wе ("corrupted text") is published in Czechoslovakia
  • The constructivist Izvestiia building is completed
  • Sologub dies

    Новый Леф/New Lef is organized (1927-28)

• October:
  • 10th Jubilee; Eisenstein's Октябрь/October
  • Concern for Thermidore
• December:
  • 15th Party Congress: Defeat of the Opposition
  • The Opposition is expelled. Trotskii and others are placed in internal exile

---

1928

• General
  • Sholokhov's Тиxий Дон/Quiet Flows the Don begins to be serialized; Maiakovskii's Клоп/Bedbug is written, as is I'lf and Petrov's Двенадцать стульев/Twelve Chairs
  • Bulgakov begins Мастер и Маргарита/Master and Margarita, Platonov finishes Чевенгуре/Chevengur
  • Tynianov writes Арxаисты и новаторы/Archaists and Innovators
  • VAPP becomes RAPP
  • Trotskii exiled to Alma Ata
  • Stalin begins his battle with the Right Opposition -- Bukharin, Rykov and Tomskii.
  • NEP ends
  • First Five Year Plan is declared
• May
  • Shakhty Trials take place

---

1929

• General
  • Pil'niak writes "Krasnoe derevo," Maiakovskii's Bania is completed (and staged in 1930), and Котлован/The Foundation Pit by Platonov is completed (though not published)
  • Bakhtin's seminal text Проблемы творчество Достоевского/Problems of Dostoevskii's Poetics is published
  • Vertov's Человек с киноаппаратом/Man with a Movie Camera is filmed
  • Platonov writes "Усомнившийся Макар/Doubting Makar"
  • Bulgakov's plays are banned from the stage
  • The Gor'kii Institute is founded
  • Trotskii is deported
  • Bukharin is ousted from the Politburo
  • Lunacharskii is replaces as the Нарком просвещения (Minister of Enlightenment)
  • RAPP begins its program of slandering "fellow travelers [попутчики]." Zamiatin, and Pil'niak and Erenburg are especially singled out in the press

---

1929-1932

• General
  • First Five Year Plan
  • Forced Industrialization and collectivization; liquidization of "Kulaks"

---

First Five-Year Plan (1929-1932)

1929

• General
  • Pil'niak writes "Красное дерево"/Mahogany, Maiakovskii's Баня/The Bathhouse is completed (and staged in 1930), and The Foundation Pit by Platonov is completed (though not published)
  • Bakhtin's seminal text Проблемы творчество Достоевского/Problems of Dostoevskii's Poetics is published
  • Vertov's Человек с киноаппаратом/Man with a Movie Camera is filmed
  • Platonov writes "Усомнившийся Макар/Doubting Makar"
  • Bulgakov's plays are banned from the stage
  • The Gor'kii Institute is founded
  • Trotskii is deported
  • Bukharin is ousted from the Politburo
  • Lunacharskii is replaces as the Нарком просвещения (Minister of Enlightenment)
  • RAPP begins its program of slandering "fellow travelers [попутчики]." Zamiatin, and Pil'niak and Erenburg are especially singled out in the press
  • The Central Committee condemns the right
  • New Entities of Proletarian Hegemony
    • Red Professors
    • The Communist Academy
    • The League of Militant Godless
    • The Komsomol
    • Varnitso -- The Communist Association of Scientific Workers
    • RAPM -- The Russian Academy of Proletarian Musicians

---

1930

• General
  • Platonov's Волга впадает в каспийское море/The Volga Flows into the Caspian Sea is published
• January
  • Central Committee decree "On the Tempo of Collectivization and the Governmental Means of Facilitating the Building of Collective Farms"
  • Central Committee decree "On the Fight Against Kulaks
  • Shklovskii renounces Formalism in Литературная газета/Literaturnaia gazeta
• March
  • Stalin's article "Dizzy with Success" is published in Pravda
• April
  • Maiakovskii commits suicide
• July
  • XVI Party Congress Upholds the Slogan "Five-Year Plan in Four Years"
• October
  • Party decision on the complete liquidation of private trade

---

1931

• General
  • I'lf and Petrov's Золотой телёнок/The Golden Calf is published, Pasternak writes Оxранная граммота/Safe Conduct
  • Zamiatin emigrates
• March
  • Work begins on the White Sea Canal [Belomor kanal]
  • VI Congress of Soviets establishes the "trudoden [workday]'" as a new system of payment for collective farm workers.

---

1932

• General
  • "Socialist Realism" is first mentioned in a speech by Izvestiia editor Ivan Gronskii
  • Ostrovskii's Как закалялась сталь/How the Steel was Tempered and Kataev's Время вперёд/Time Forward! are published
  • Kamenev and Zinoviev are sent to Siberia, but are soon allowed to return
• April
  • Central Committee directive "One the Restructuring of Literary-artistic Organizations"
• December
  • The system of internal passports that had been revoked following the Revolution is reinstated

---

1933

• General
  • The United States formally recognize the USSR
  • The White Sea Canal is completed
  • The emigre writer Bunin wins the Nobel Prize for Literature

---

1934

• General
  • Mandel'shtam is arrested for reading his poem about Stalin and is sentences to 3 years in exile
  • Andrei Belyi dies
  • Zoshchenko publishes his Голубая книга/Light-Blue Book
  • The Vasil'ev Brothers' Чапаев/Chapaev is released
  • The USSR joins the League of Nations
  • Birobidzhan becomes an autonomous Jewish state
• January
  • The Second Five-Year Plan accepted at the XVII Party Congress -- "Congress of Victors"
  • Stalinist Constitution is put into effect (and remains in effect until 1977)
• September
  • The first Congress of The Writers' Union
  • M. Gromov sets the world record for the distance flown in an airplane
• December
  • Kirov is murdered and is replaced by Zhdanov
  • Kamenev and Zinov'ev are arrested

    ---

The Great Purges (1933-1939)

1932

• April
  • Central Committee resolution "On the Reformation of Literary-Artistic Organizations"
• October
  • Kamenev and Zinoviev are sent to Siberia, but are soon allowed to return
• November
  • Stalin's wife N. Allilueva commits suicide
  • Museum of Religion is opened in Kazan Cathedral in Leningrad
  • Worker discipline is "strengthened" -- one may lose his job and apartment for a single shift missed
• December
  • Announcement that the First Five-Year plan is fulfilled in 4 years and 3 months

---

1933

• General
  • Belomor Canal completed
  • Second Five-Year Plan begins
  • Famine and unrest in Ukraine
  • The emigre Russian writer Ivan Bunin receives the Nobel Prize for literature in Paris

---

1934

• General
  • Mandel'shtam is arrested for reading his verses about Stalin
  • The GPU becomes the NKVD under Genrikh Iagoda
  • Vertov directs Три песни о Ленине/Three Songs of Lenin
• January
  • Seventeenth Party Congress (Congress of Victors)
• April
  • Rank of "Hero of the Soviet Union" is created
• September
  • First Congress of USSR Writers' Union
  • Soviet pilot Mikhail Gromov set the World Record for longest non-stop flight
• December
  • Assassination of Kirov

---

1935

• General
  • Akhmatova begins her poem "Реквием/Requiem"
  • Dostoevskii's Бесы/The Devils is published. Its publication is attacked in Pravda. Gor'kii defends its publication
  • The Moscow Metro opens
  • The Special Security Commission is formed, including: Stalin, Ezhov, Zhdanov and Vyshinskii, who becomes Prosecutor General
• April
  • The Death Penalty is expanded to include children 12 years and older
• August
  • Aleksei Stakhanov over fulfills the norm by 14 times in the Donets coal mines
  • The 7th and final Comintern takes place
• November
  • Stalin pronounces "Living has become better, comrades. Living has become more merry" at the All-Union Stakhanovite Conference

---

1936

• General
  • Stakhanovite Year
  • Stalin Constitution is put into effect (replacing the 1924 constitution)
  • Lenin Museum opens in Moscow
  • Abortion is outlawed, divorce is made more difficult
  • Kuzmin dies
  • Aleksandrov directs Цирк/Circus
• July
  • Death of Gor'kii. Andrei Gide gives the eulogy
• August
  • "Trial of 16," including Zinov'ev and Kamenev (The right opposition). All are shot on August 25th
• September
  • Ezhov replaces Iagoda as Head of NKVD

---

1937

• General
  • Babel''s "Ги дэ Мапасан/Guy de Maupassant" and "Ди Грассо/Di Grasso" are published, as is Bulgakov's Театральный роман/Theatrical Novel
  • Nabokov writes Дар/The Gift
  • 100 year anniversary of Pushkin's death commemorated by the release of a new edition of his collected works
  • Vera Mukhina's monument "Worker and Collective Farm Woman" is completed and erected at VDNKh
  • Award of "Hero of Soviet Labor" is created
  • Boris Pil'niak is arrested
  • Valerii Chkalov makes a one-man flight over the North Pole
  • Evgenii Zamiatin dies "svoei smert'iu" [his own death/of natural causes] in the West
  • Vronskii, Il'f, Mirskii and Kliuev are purged
• January
  • The "Trial of 17," including Radek and Piatkov
• February
  • Ordzhonikidze commits suicide or is killed
• July
  • General Tukachevskii is accused of treason and shot -- Military trials follow

---

1938

• General
  • Eisenshtein's Александр Невский/Aleksandr Nevskii is released
  • Meierkhol'd's theater is closed
  • Aleksandrov directs Волга, Волга/Volga, Volga
  • Gerasimov paints "Stalin and Voroshilov in the Kremlin"
  • 5 to 8 million people are imprisoned. More than 3 million have been killed or have died in camp since 1937
  • Third Five Year Plan is begun
• March
  • The "Trial of 21," including Bukharin, Rykov, and Iagoda (March 2-13)
• May
  • Mandel'shtam is arrested in Voronezh in May. Dies in Vladivostok December 27
• October
  • The "Short Course of the History of the Communist Party" is published
• December
  • Beria replaces Ezhov as head of NKVD

---

1939

• General
  • Zoshchenko's Stories about Lenin/Rasskazy o Lenine is published
  • Fadeev becomes the First Secretary of the Writers' Union (1939-1954)
  • The movie Великий гражданин/Great Citizen is made about Kirov; directed by Ermler
  • Pyr'ev directs Трактористы/Tractor Drivers
  • Kuprin dies
  • Ivan Kataev is purged
  • Marina Tsvetaeva returns and is repatriated
  • 18th Party Congress
  • Stalin is named Time's "Man of the Year"
  • Outbreak of World War II
  • Meierkhol'd is arrested, then shot in 1940.His wife is murdered
  • Babel' is arrested
• August
  • Molotov/von Ribbentrop Non-aggression pact is signed with Germany
• November
  • USSR attacks Finland
• December
  • Stalin's 60th birthday is celebrated

---

World War II (1939-1945)

1939

• General
  • Outbreak of World War II
  • 18th Party Congress. Only 59 of 1,966 of those present at the previous congress attend (1,108 had been arrested)
  • Meierkhol'd is arrested, then shot in 1940. His wife is murdered
  • Babel' is arrested
• August
  • Molotov/von Ribbentrop Non-aggression pact is signed with Germany
• November
  • USSR attacks Finland
• December
  • Stalin's 60th birthday is celebrated

---

1940

• General
  • Mikhail Bulgakov dies
  • E. Shvarts writes Тень/The Shadow, A. Tolstoi writes Xождение по мукам/Road to Calvary
• March
  • Finland signs a peace accord with Soviets, giving up Kareliia and Vyborg
• August
  • Murder of Trotskii by Ramon Mercador, a Stalinist agent, in Mexico

---

1941

• General
  • Marina Tsvetaeva commits suicide
  • Shostakovich writes his 7th Symphony, while living in blockaded Leningrad
  • Vasilii Lebedev-Kumach writes "Священная война/Sacred War"
  • Simonov writes "Жди меня/Wait for Me"
  • Pyr'ev directs Свинарка и пастуx/The Swineherd Girl and the Shepherd Boy
  • Kalatozov directs Валерий Чкалов/Valerii Chkalov
  • Isaak Babel' dies or is killed in prison
  • Patriarchate is restored
  • Return to Slavdom, Russian patriotism/nationalism, Orthodoxy
• February
  • Responsibility for internal affairs is assumed by the NKGB, replacing the NKVD
• June
  • June 22, Nazis invade the USSR under operation "Barbarossa"
• September
  • Germans begin blockade of Leningrad that will continue until January 1944
  • Germans begin offensive against Moscow
  • Over 33 thousand Jews are executed at Babii Iar outside of Kiev
• October
  • Germans take the Ukraine

---

1942

• General
  • Daniil Kharms is arrested and dies in Prison
• July
  • General Vlasov and others defect to the Germans and set up the "Russian Liberation Army"
• August
  • General Zhukov is appointed as commander of the armed forces
• November
  • Battle of Stalingrad begins (ending in February, 1943)
  • 25th Anniversary of the Revolution -- Signals a loosening of ideology

---

1943

• General
  • Mikhail Zoshchenko publishes his book Перед восxодом солнца/Before Sunrise
  • Simonov writes Дни и ночи/Days and Nights about the battle of Stalingrad
  • S. Mikhalkov and G. El-Registan write a new Soviet anthem; The "Internationale" becomes the Party anthem
  • Stalin restores the patriarchate; Sergei declares Stalin "divinely annointed" ruler
  • Stalin disbands the Comintern
  • Evgenii Shvarts writes Дракон/The Dragon
• March
  • Stalin is awarded the title of Marshall by the Supreme Soviet
• July
  • Battle of Kursk
  • Massive deportations of Kalmyks, Ingush, and other minorities
• December
  • The playing of the "Internationale" is replaced with a patriotic, state hymn

---

1944

• January
  • The Leningrad Blockade is broken
• June
  • D-Day
  • Illegitimacy is legally recognized. A tax is imposed on childless families
• November
  • General Vlasov, captured by the Germans in 1942, leads a pro-fascist, Russian force against the "tyranny of Stalinism."

---

1945

• General
  • The first half of Eisenshtein's film Иван Грозный/Ivan the Terrible is released. The second half is released only in 1958
  • Pasternak begins Доктор Живаго/Doktor Zhivago
  • Fadeev writes Молодая гвардияYoung Guard
  • Zochshenko writes "Приключения обезьяна/Adventures of a Monkey"
  • During the war 27 million Soviets die. 25 million are left homeless
• February
  • Meeting of Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt at Yalta
• April
  • April 17 -- Final offensive against Berlin
  • April 25 -- Russian and American armies meet on the Elbe
• May
  • May 8 -- Germans surrender
• July
  • The Berlin Conference takes place
• August
  • The United States ends the Land-Lease program to the USSR
  • The 4th Five-Year plan is announced

---

"Zhdanovshchina" (1946-53)

1945

• General
  • The first half of Eisenshtein's film Иван Грозный/Ivan the Terrible is released. The second half is released only in 1958
  • During the war 27 million Soviets die. 25 million are left homeless
• February
  • Meeting of Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt at Yalta
• April
  • April 17 -- Final offensive against Berlin
  • April 25 -- Russian and American armies meet on the Elbe
• May
  • May 8 -- Germans surrender
• July
  • The Berlin Conference takes place
• August
  • The United States ends the Land-Lease program to the USSR
  • The 4th Five-Year plan is announced

---

1945-1948

• Massive defections of Soviet soldiers to the West

   

---

1945-1947

• Defectors are returned to USSR by Allies.

 

---

1946

• General
  • Boris Polevoi's Повесть о настоящем человеке/Story of a Real Man is written
  • Nurenburg Trials take place
  • First elections to the Supreme Soviet since 1937
• January
  • Beria is replaced as head of NKVD by Kruglov
• February
  • The Red Army is renamed The Soviet Army
• August
  • Zhdanov's attack on the arts begins. Zoshchenko and Akhmatova are especially singled out

---

1947

• General
  • The Academy of Arts of the USSR is created; Gerasimov is its first president
  • End of rationing
  • Cominform established
• February
  • Marriage of Soviet Citizens to foreigners is illegalized
• May
  • The Death Penalty is abolished

---

1948

• General
  • Cooperation on the return of defectors ends
  • Czechoslovakia joins the Soviet Bloc
  • Fedor Shurpin's painting "Утро нашей родины/Morning of our Motherland" is completed
  • Azhaev writes Далеко от Москвы/Far from Moscow
  • Boris Polevoi writes Мы -- Советские люди/We are Soviet People
  • The Pushkin Art Museum is closed. A Museum of Gifts to Stalin is opened in its place (in the same building)
• February
  • Zhdanov dies
• June
  • The USSR begins the blockade of Berlin (which lasts until May 1949)
  • Tension grows between the USSR and Yugoslavia
• October
  • Lysenko's ideas on overcoming and manipulating nature become widely accepted
  • The plan to "reconstruct nature" is accepted, under which canals are to be built, and forest land protected

---

1949

• General
  • Aleksandrov directs Встреча на Ельбе/Meeting on the Elbe and Chiaureli directs Падение Берлина/The Fall of Berlin
  • A campaign to expose "cosmopolitanism" is carried out in the arts and sciences
• September
  • The Soviets detonate their first atomic bomb
• December
  • Khrushchev becomes Moscow Party boss
  • Stalin's 70th birthday is celebrated

---

1950

• General
  • The Death Penalty is reinstated for spies, traitors and "wreckers" [вредители]
  • USSR and China sign Alliance treaty
• June
  • Stalin's article "Марксизм и вопросы языкознания/Marxism and Questions of Linguistics" is published in Pravda (June 20)

---

1951

• General
  • Andrei Platonov dies
• January
  • The decision is made to build the Don-Volga Canal (which is finished in 1952)
• March
  • Khrushchev announces his plan to gradually eliminate all villages and construct "agro-cities"

---

1952

• General
  • Campaign against "cosmoplitanism" is begun. Numerous prominent Jews are executed
  • Zamiatin's Мы/My is published in-full in the West
• October
  • The 19th Party Congress supports the implementation of the 5th Five-Year plan (already in effect since 1950)

---

1953

• General
  • Beria is arrested and shot
  • Bunin dies
  • Pomerantsev writes "Об искренности в литературе/On Sincerity in Literature" and it is published in Novyi mir; Bergol'ts publishes "Conversations about Lyrics" in Literaturnaia gazeta
• January
  • The "Doctors' Plot" is uncovered. They are implicated in Zhdanov's death, and in plotting the murder of other high officials
• March
  • March 5, Stalin dies. Initially, Georgii Malenkov assumes power; Khrushchev is First Party Secretary

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