Mediaboss Marketing

From David Goldman (Spengler):

Now for the bad news: There wont be a Poland in 100 years. At a total fertility rate of 1.29, Poland will have one retiree per working-age citizen by 2075. Poland in fact has one of the worlds very lowest fertility rates, which means (in Mary Eberstadts way of looking at the problem) that it is losing its religion. President Trumps speech was magnificent, but it brings to mind Schillers dictum that history brought forth a great moment, but the moment encountered a mediocre people. Trump is doing the right thing, but we should remember that Europe is a case not for cure but for palliative care.

Spengler points out that its not just Poland. Look:

Africa doesnt have this problem. From The Economist:

By the end of this century, Africa will be home to 39% of the worlds population, almost as much as Asia, and four times the share of North America and Europe put together. At present only one of the worlds ten most populous countries is in Africa: Nigeria. In 2100, the UN believes, five will be: Nigeria, Congo, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Niger.

Although much could change in the next 85 years, none of those countries is a byword for stability or prosperity. A quadrupling of their population is unlikely to improve matters. If nothing else, the number of Africans seeking a better life in Europe and other richer places is likely to increase several times over.

Will Europe have enough people left to police its borders? Will it have the will to do so?

Follow this link:
Poland Survived Nazism & Communism - The American Conservative

During his stop in Poland this week ahead of the G-20 summit, President Donald Trump slammed communism as a cruel and wicked system that sought to crush the Polish people's freedom, faith, history, identity, and even humanity. But despite the murderous tyranny that enslaved the nation for so long, Trump said the communist butchers were unable to crush their faith in God and that crying out to Him was ultimately the key to restoring freedom in Poland.

Trump's eloquent words revealed an understanding on the evils of communism that is lacking among wide swaths of today's Western political class. However, the U.S. president also claimed communist savagery was no longer a threat to Poland or to Europe. "This continent no longer confronts the specter of communism," Trump said. In reality, the criminal conspirators behind communism remain a serious threat to Europe and the world. They rule the most populous nation in the world today. And communist criminals are still alive and well in Poland itself, too.

Still, Trump's July 6 speech in defense of faith, freedom, family, and Western civilization was moving. I am here today not just to visit an old ally, but to hold it up as an example for others who seek freedom and who wish to summon the courage and the will to defend our civilization, Trump said, showering the Poles with praise. The story of Poland is the story of a people who have never lost hope, who have never been broken, and who have never, ever forgotten who they are.

Though its borders were erased for more than a century, as a nation, Poland is more than one thousand years old, Trump said. And throughout its history from helping to save Christian Europe from an Islamic invasion at the 1683 Battle of Vienna to beating back the murderous Soviet army in the 1920 Miracle of Vistula the Polish people have a long and proud tradition of resisting oppression. But in 1939, despite a long and valiant fight, the proud Poles faced an impossible challenge.

That year, Adolf Hitler's mass-murdering National Socialist (Nazi) regime invaded Poland from the West. And from the East, Joseph Stalin's mass-murdering International Socialist dictatorship, which at that time was friendly with Hitler under the Nazi-Soviet Pact (also known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact), invaded as well. Thats trouble, Trump said. Thats tough.

Under a double occupation the Polish people endured evils beyond description: the Katyn Forest massacre, the occupations, the Holocaust, the Warsaw Ghetto and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the destruction of this beautiful capital city, and the deaths of nearly one in five Polish people, Trump continued, adding that the Nazis murdered millions of Polish Jews, along with countless others, during the brutal occupation.

But in 1944, as the Nazi and Soviet armies were preparing for battle in Warsaw, where Trump spoke, the citizens of Poland rose up to defend their homeland, he said, describing conditions at that time as hell on earth. We salute your noble sacrifice and we pledge to always remember your fight for Poland and for freedom, Trump declared.

With the Nazis defeated, Poland was instead enslaved by communists led by Stalin's brutal regime one of the most murderous and barbaric in human history. Through four decades of communist rule, Poland and the other captive nations of Europe endured a brutal campaign to demolish freedom, your faith, your laws, your history, your identity indeed the very essence of your culture and your humanity, Trump observed, slamming communism but without noting the key role of Western establishment globalists in betraying Poland into slavery.

Yet, despite unspeakable brutality, through it all, the Poles never lost that spirit, Trump said as the crowd applauded enthusiastically between chants of Trump's name. Your oppressors tried to break you, but Poland could not be broken, he added. Through it all, the Polish people's unshakable faith in God is what got them through, the president observed.

On June 2, 1979, a million Poles gathered at Victory Square for their first mass with Pope John Paul II, himself from Poland. That day, every communist in Warsaw must have known that their oppressive system would soon come crashing down, Trump said. They must have known it at the exact moment during Pope John Paul IIs sermon when a million Polish men, women, and children suddenly raised their voices in a single prayer.

A million Polish people did not ask for wealth, Trump continued. They did not ask for privilege. Instead, one million Poles sang three simple words: We Want God.

And that, Trump suggested, was the key.

In those words, the Polish people recalled the promise of a better future, Trump said. They found new courage to face down their oppressors, and they found the words to declare that Poland would be Poland once again.

Praising the incredible crowd and the faithful nation, the American president, who received a hero's welcome in Poland, said he could still hear the voices of those brave Poles echoing through history. Their message is as true today as ever, he said. The people of Poland, the people of America, and the people of Europe still cry out We Want God.

Reasserting their identity as a nation devoted to God, Trump said that the Poles, through their powerful declaration, came to understand what to do and how to live. You stood in solidarity against oppression, against a lawless secret police, against a cruel and wicked system that impoverished your cities and your souls, he said. And you won. Poland prevailed. Poland will always prevail.

Indeed, today, even as the post-Christian West is mired in confusion and decadence, Poland remains firmly committed to God. Late last year, the nation even formally recognized Jesus Christ as the King of Poland, as well as its Lord and Savior, in the presence of Polish President Andrzej Duda and other top officials from both church and state.

Unfortunately, despite Trump's understanding of the evils of communism and the centrality of faith in God in resisting those evils, the American president claimed the danger to Europe from communism was over. But according to Soviet KGB defector Anatoliy Golitsyn, who worked in communist disinformation and deception operations, the danger is far from over.

After defecting to the West, Golitsyn warned of a long-range strategy being pursued by the international communist conspiracy involving supposed liberalization in Eastern Europe and ostensible collapse of the Soviet Union. Arguably the most important defector ever, virtually all of his predictions have come to pass, according to experts who have analyzed the issue.

In his 1984 book New Lies for Old, Golitsyn argued that the partial communist suppression of Poland's supposedly anti-communist Solidarity movement in the early 1980s was in fact part of the deception an effort to dupe the West into believing that the alliance represented genuine opposition. The movement's leader, Lech Walesa, who attended Trump's speech, was even identified in recently uncovered official documents as a KGB agent who worked for the Kremlin.

Eventually, according to Golitsyn, it may be expected that a coalition government will be formed, comprising representatives of the communists, of a revived Solidarity movement, and of the church, he wrote. A few so-called liberals might also be included. On the creation of a coalition government with those components, Golitsyn's prediction proved exactly correct.

Later developments also seem to have vindicated much of Golitsyn's warnings. In 1989, for example, Solidarity leader Walesa offered alarming comments in an interview with Soviet publication New Times. Let power remain in the hands of the Communists, he was quoted as saying, but let it be different. Let it serve the people better, respect the law and be accountable to society. We are prepared to cooperate constructively with such authorities.

More recently, former Soviet dictator Mikhail Gorbachev, speaking in London in 2001, approvingly referred to the European Union, of which numerous former Soviet nations are members, as the new European Soviet. Since then, numerous others have offered similar arguments. Russian Presidential Candidate Vladimir Bukovsky, a writer and lecturer, for example, recently warned that the EU is structurally very similar to the Soviet dictatorship.

And indeed, numerous Soviet-era communist criminals and murderers, who were never punished after the ostensible collapse of communism, are firmly embedded all throughout the EU's architecture to this day. More than a few critics of the EU have pointed out that fact in highly public comments.

It is true, of course, that the current leadership of Poland includes a number of Polish anti-communist heroes whose commitment to keeping tyranny and terror at bay is not and has not been brought into question. Many of them actually understand the Soviet strategy exposed in the West by Golitsyn. But that does not mean the threat is over, even in Poland.

Trump, though, focused on other threats to freedom and Western civilization primarily Islamic terrorism and extremism. Ironically, that threat, too, stems in large part from the Soviet regime. As outlined by defector and former head of the communist Romanian regime's intelligence service General Ion Mihai Pacepa, the communist conspiracy deployed thousands of communist agents across the Middle East to radicalize Muslims and use them as cannon fodder in waging war against the West.

As KGB Chairman Yuri Andropov told me, a billion adversaries could inflict far greater damage on America than could a few millions, he said. The details provided by Pacepa and other defectors make clear that the Evil Empire was crucial in the emergence of todays Islamic terror threat. More recently, vast amounts of evidence, including information revealed by defectors, shows that the Kremlin (along with other governments) continues to be involved in promoting, guiding, and fomenting Islamic terror.

Trump also pointed to another, more subtle threat to freedom that whether he realized it or not has a number of similarities and links to the machinery erected by international communism over the last century. This danger is invisible to some but familiar to the Poles: the steady creep of government bureaucracy that drains the vitality and wealth of the people, Trump said. The West became great not because of paperwork and regulations but because people were allowed to chase their dreams and pursue their destinies.

However, Trump vowed to fight back and defend Western values. Americans, Poles, and the nations of Europe value individual freedom and sovereignty, he said. We must work together to confront forces, whether they come from inside or out, from the South or the East, that threaten over time to undermine these values and to erase the bonds of culture, faith and tradition that make us who we are. If left unchecked, these forces will undermine our courage, sap our spirit, and weaken our will to defend ourselves and our societies.

The parts of Trump's speech exposing the evils of communism and touting the benefits of faith and freedom should be applauded by liberty-minded people everywhere. However, there is more to the threat against Western civilization, freedom, and Christendom than simply Islamism and bureaucracy. If liberty and independence are going to survive over the long term, Americans and others concerned about the future of liberty must work to educate their fellow citizens on the entire scope of the danger.

Photo of President Trump in Poland: screen-grab from a Whitehouse.gov video

Alex Newman, a foreign correspondent for The New American, is normally based in Europe. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow him on Twitter @ALEXNEWMAN_JOU or on Facebook.

Related articles:

Poland Officially Recognizes Jesus Christ as King

Polish Anti-Communist Hero Was Communist Agent, Documents Show

Trump Vows that, With God's Help, Cuba Will Soon Be Free

At Liberty University, Trump Invokes God as Source of Freedom

Poland's Election Crushes Left, Roils EU and Climate Alarmists

Poland: Bishops, Pro-Family Organizations Resist Redefinition of Gender

Globalists Using Muslim Terrorists as Pawns

The EU: Regionalization Trumps Sovereignty

Globalist Gorbachev Defends Putin; USSR Role in EU Revisited

EU in Final Phase of Destroying Democracy, Czech President Warns

See the original post here:
In Poland, Trump Cites Faith as Key to Ending Wicked Communism - The New American

With the C.P.U.S.A. reconstituted, virtually every Communist who had hailed Browder for years as the symbol of an Americanized Communism then shunned him. He was even forced to find a new dentist and a different insurance agent.

Public displays of Soviet control over C.P.U.S.A. policies were hard to miss. After years of attacking Franklin D. Roosevelt for fascist policies and denouncing the New Deal as an elaborate plot to deceive the working class, the C.P.U.S.A. was stunned in 1935 when the Comintern, alarmed by the growing menace of Nazi Germany, abruptly changed course and called for a popular front against fascism. In place of the Cominterns previous policy of treating any alliance with socialists and liberals as anathema, Moscows U-turn involved demanding that its constituent parties reach out to all and sundry to stop fascism.

Running for president in 1936, Browder offered indirect support to Roosevelt. Two years later, Communists who had formerly regarded Roosevelt as a harbinger of American fascism hailed the president for his calls for a democratic alliance against Hitler.

The hosannas for antifascism ended suddenly in 1939 with the Nazi-Soviet Pact. The same Communists who had lauded Roosevelt now denounced him again, this time as a warmonger for such policies as Lend-Lease aid to Britain. The somersaults demanded by Moscow continued when Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941: The C.P.U.S.A.s calls for peace were quickly replaced by demands that the United States do everything possible to aid the Allies.

Such major shifts in party line were only the most dramatic and public signs of fealty to the Kremlin. In 1938, at the height of the popular front policy, the C.P.U.S.A.s slogan Communism Is 20th-Century Americanism demonstrated its effort to prove its patriotism. But that same year, a C.P.U.S.A. representative in Moscow sent a secret letter warning that Comintern leaders thought the slogan ideologically incorrect and subversive. Without any discussion or debate, the party stopped using it.

While most of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who joined the C.P.U.S.A. over the years did so because they supported the policies or ideals the party promoted, a great majority quickly abandoned it after a policy reversal occasioned by a shift in Soviet foreign policy. Anyone who remained a Communist for more than a few years, though, had to be aware that the one constant was support for whatever policy the Soviet Union followed. Open criticism of the U.S.S.R. was grounds for expulsion. For all members of the C.P.U.S.A., the Soviet Union was the homeland of socialism, the first workers state, which had to be defended against the machinations of capitalism.

The C.P.U.S.A. dutifully spread the lies put out by Moscow. The party thus insisted that the show trials during Stalins purges had uncovered a vast capitalist plot against the Soviet leader. Party members dutifully repeated Soviet fabrications that Trotsky had been in the pay of the Nazis. Worst of all, many Communists applauded the execution of tens of thousands of Soviet comrades, denouncing those who were executed as bourgeois spies and provocateurs. When Finnish-Americans who had returned to Soviet Karelia in the late 1920s and early 30s to build socialism were purged, their American relatives were warned by party authorities to remain silent, and most did so.

Neither did the Communist movement limit its disinformation to Russian matters. In the 1960s, the K.G.B. secretly subsidized a left-wing publishing house in New York run by a former party member, Carl Marzani, that published the first book claiming that John F. Kennedys assassination had been arranged by a cabal of American right-wing businessmen and C.I.A. operatives.

It was not until 1956, when Khrushchev told Soviet Communists that Stalin had been a mass murderer, that American Communists were willing to believe what had been widely known for years. The persecutions of McCarthyism and the Cold War seriously depleted the ranks of the C.P.U.S.A., but it took the word of a Soviet Communist leader to destroy the faith in Communism that had sustained many Americans. By 1959, the C.P.U.S.A., which had once numbered nearly 100,000 members, was reduced to fewer than 3,000.

The C.P.U.S.A.s vulnerability had a great deal to do with its dependence on Moscow. For much of its existence, the party could not have functioned without Moscow gold. One of its first leaders, the journalist John Reed, was given more than a million rubles worth of czarist jewels and diamonds to smuggle into America to support the fledgling American movement. In the 1920s, Armand Hammer, the future head of Occidental Petroleum, used money derived from Soviet concessions to underwrite The Daily Worker and fund communist operations in Europe. Without Soviet money, the C.P.U.S.A. would not have been able to hire the hundreds of full-time organizers and support an array of front groups and publications that enabled it to outspend and out-organize its left-wing rivals.

Beginning in the late 50s and continuing into the late 80s, the K.G.B. delivered millions of dollars to the C.P.U.S.A. through two brothers, Jack and Morris Childs, both of whom were actually working for the F.B.I. as double agents. These subsidies, carefully monitored by the F.B.I., kept the C.P.U.S.A. alive as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Soviet Union. In return, the longtime party leader, Gus Hall, faithfully supported every Soviet foreign policy initiative, ranging from the U.S.S.R.s conduct during the Cuban missile crisis to the crushing of the Prague Spring in 1968 and the partys subsequent denunciations of Eurocommunism.

Several hundred American Communists carried their devotion to the Soviet Union even further, working, mostly without recompense, for Soviet intelligence agencies. Virtually all of the approximately 500 Americans who served as Soviet spies between the 30s and early 50s, including senior government officials like Alger Hiss, Harry Dexter White and Laurence Duggan, were either Communists or Communist sympathizers. The C.P.U.S.A. had a clandestine apparatus that cooperated with the K.G.B. and the Soviet intelligence directorate, vetting potential recruits and occasionally suggesting useful sources. Three successive party leaders Lovestone, Browder and Eugene Dennis knew and approved of this relationship.

That the leaders of an American political party always under attack for its Soviet connections would take the incredibly risky step of actually working with Soviet intelligence speaks volumes about the ultimate loyalties of the American Communist Party. Rank and file members might have had no idea of such behavior, but anyone who remained in the C.P.U.S.A. for more than a short spell had to be aware that criticism of the Soviet Union was not tolerated. Those who stayed in the C.P.U.S.A. through one of its many changes of line knew that fealty to the homeland of socialism took precedence over any other allegiance. The dream of those who believed in an Americanized Communism was killed by this lie.

Harvey Klehr, an emeritus professor of politics and history at Emory University, is the author of numerous books about American Communism and Soviet espionage.

This is an essay in the series Red Century, about the history and legacy of Communism 100 years after the Russian Revolution.

Read more from the original source:
American Reds, Soviet Stooges - New York Times

Gary Bettman longs for parity and Adam Silver strives for excellence. This is the fundamental difference between the NHL and NBA and their respective commissioners, and that difference is never more clear than right now in the aftermath of each final and on the eve of free agency.

But for all the faults of Bettman and the NHL none more short-sighted than limiting revenue by constantly undercutting big-market teams through more ways than the salary cap it is still a preferable system. The NHL Players Association has fought tooth and nail for more freedom, but look to the NBA to see what too much player freedom can look like.

There are, what, 20 teams in the NBA that have absolutely no chance to sign a big-name free agent? And apparently you need three or four stars now just to be in the conversation for making a conference final. Forget actually winning a championship.

So lets say youre the general manager of the Nuggets or Blazers, or a fan of the Kings or the Magic now what? Is the only way to build a winner by tanking, picking a terrifically talented and totally inexperienced kid in the draft, and then hoping that people want to come play with him?

How many NBA players are getting max contracts who dont deserve them, too? Then they have these opt-out clauses, so they pretty much can go play wherever they want. From what I can gather, Chris Paul didnt just demand a trade from the Clippers, but demanded he be sent to the Rockets. He said either he was going to opt out of his contract and sign with the Rockets as a free agent, meaning the Clippers would get nothing in return, or hed opt in and they could trade him. Hows that for owner Steve Ballmers $2 billion investment?

Meanwhile, the NHL salary cap enforces a strict system of communism. Last season, 25 of the 30 teams spent within $4 million of the $73 million cap, which goes up to just $75 million this season. The Predators, out of small-market Nashville, were a blast to watch while losing just four games in the first three rounds before losing to the Penguins pseudo-dynasty in the Stanley Cup finals. The Predators also had the seventh-lowest payroll in the league.

For even more contrast, Thursday was the one-year anniversary of the Predators making the biggest trade in franchise history and one of the biggest trades the league has seen in years. They sent their indomitable captain, Shea Weber, to the Canadiens in a one-for-one deal bringing back the electric P.K. Subban. For the longest time, Montreal general manager Marc Bergevin denied he was ever shopping Subban. Yet despite the enduring love of the majority of the fans, Subbans flashy style never quite fit the current culture of the organization. So despite all the protests that he wasnt going to be traded, he was shipped out and it changed the face of both franchises.

Now if Subban was moved to, say, Carolina, and he lost a lot in a dreary environment, it might be pointed out that the teams have too much control and the players too little. But there are no-trade clauses now all around the NHL too many, actually. The market has come to bear that marginally good players are in line for at least some sort of movement protection, and it limits teams mobility, and hence their ability to compete.

The balance has to be struck between the want of a full-league competition and that of a few teams that are so much better than the rest of the league. People might point to the NHL as a model for parity goodness knows Bettman does but they still have had three teams combine to win eight of the past nine titles. Theyve done that through generational players such as Sidney Crosby (Penguins, three Cups), Jonathan Toews (Blackhawks, three Cups) and Drew Doughty (Kings, two Cups). But their general managers have had to make moves on the fly to keep up, and thats what makes it interesting.

Meanwhile, the NBA has one two-week period to look forward to the NBA Finals. For the past three years, everyone knew it was going to be the Warriors versus the Cavaliers, so why would there be any interest for the first three rounds of the postseason? Forget having any interest in the regular season.

The difference is in the amount power the players hold, and it creates a league that is either competitive for nine months or competitive for two weeks. Put aside the entertainment value of the game itself, and Id still go for the former.

Its been a dramatic fall for Scott Hartnell, from his days as a heart-and-soul player for the 2009-10 Flyers who made it to the Stanley Cup final to now getting bought out by the Blue Jackets. The 35-year-old had just 13 goals and 37 points this past season in 78 games for John Tortorellas club, which finished in third place in the cutthroat Metropolitan Division with 108 points. The No. 6-overall pick from 2000 is now an unrestricted free agent, and he is going to have to prove hes still got more in the tank.

. . . to the opening of free agency on Saturday at noon. Its not exactly the strongest free-agent class, and thats exemplified by defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk being the No. 1 name out there. Someone is going to give him a huge deal and likely end up regretting it down the road. There are also questions with the Sharks big two, Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau. If they move on (and to different places), then things around the league might start to get interesting.

RIP to Dave Semenko, who for years was Wayne Gretzkys bodyguard with the Oilers. From all accounts, Cement Head was a true character, and he even once fought Muhammad Ali for a charity event in 1983.

Read more:
Why NHL's communism works, just look at the alternative - New York Post

Stilyagi, hippies, bikers, punks, rockers, and metalheads formed countercultures that often invited the wrath of the Soviet authorities. With the help of artist Alexander Petlura, who has the biggest collection of all things Soviet in Moscow, and a book titled Hooligans of the 80s by Misha Buster, RBTH takes a look at the rebellious youth of the Soviet Union.

Facebook

Pinterest

WhatsApp

Counterculture in the Soviet Union, a country cut off from the West by the infamous Iron Curtain, consisted of an open youth rebellion against ideological and cultural stagnation, writes Misha Buster, author ofHooligans of the 80s. His book is one of several reputable sources that records stories of people who lived in the final days of the USSR. It also has a unique collection of personal photos.

Don't miss our awesome video atthe end.

Stilyagi (a derogatory appellation for members of a youth counterculture), hippies, rockers, punks, and metalheads coexisted until the end of the 1980s although each group experienced varying degrees of popularity during different periods.

Each group had a popular meeting point. Attraktsiya, a spot on Moscows Arbat Street was a magnet for breakdancers, while Zheltok Restaurant on Chistye Prudy Square was popular with hippies. Countercultural groups often fought each other, but sometimes united against policemen, who would later arrest them.

The Soviet media called them non-conformists, who deliberately devoid of all the good qualities possessed by a diligent Soviet citizen. They were even referred to as lazy parasites and fascists.

Many people interviewed in Busters book said many members of counterculture groups moved abroad, while some managed to start a business or a get a normal job.

The term Stilyagi, often translated as hipsters, dandies or beatniks, is the name of the first counterculture group from the Soviet Union. Born in the late 1940s, their heyday was in the 1960s, during the Khrushchev Thaw period, when censorship was relaxed (when compared with the Joseph Stalin era).

Moscow mods of the late 1950s dancing twist. / Valeriy Shustov/RIA Novosti

Having apolitical views and an admiration for foreign fashion, they tried to wear foreign labels and listen to western music. They greatly favored swing and boogie-woogie. Women wore dresses and high-heeled footwear, while men chose narrow checkered pants and shiny winkle-pickers.

Though their style changed a bit over time, the Stilyagi always wore unapologetically bold colors and bright jackets. Alexander Petlura says, keeping footwear shiny was so important, that they had a habit of wiping the tips of their shoes on the back of their pants, which eventually grated the fabric.

After the Soviet youth got acquainted with the Western world during the Khrushchev Thaw period, many other common subcultures became popular in the country, including hippies. On the surface, hippies in the USSR were quite similar to those in the United States. However American hippies mainly rebelled against consumerism, while their Soviet counterparts defied a conformist state, writesWilliam Jay Risch in his bookSoviet Flower Children.

Hippies / Lev Nosov/RIA Novosti

Soviet Hippies heavily used English slang and loanwords, and were heavily influenced by folklore. They often used to narrate their life stories, which were used as an alternative to anecdotes. The stories, called telega (carts), were later compiled into a book called1001 Party Telegaby Stepan Pechkin.

Soviet hippies, who generally shrugged off the idea of working, chose to beg for a living, says Petlura. They preferred to imitate the dressing style of fellow hippies in the United States, he adds.

The biker counterculture, just like that of the hippies, was also adopted from the West. In the USSR, where people usually could not afford a car, bikes became a common substitution. However, only a miniscule minority of Soviet bikers actually owned a bike, adds Petlura.

A female biker sitting on a motorcycle. / Oleg Porokhovniko/TASS

Many of them called themselves rockers and the two terms were often interchanged.

They liked hard rock music, which was illegally distributed in the USSR. The bikers tried to imitate their Western counterparts, but the lack of real leather jackets in the Soviet Union forced them to improvise. Some bikers tried to sew their own leather jackets, while most wore fake leather. A few just used plain black fabric instead.

In Busters book, which consists of multiple interviews with important figures of the era, Feddy Begemot recalls that his his first leather jacket was sewn by his sister Anya. Bikers were also fond of paddings just like their associates abroad. While they liked Naval Jacks, skulls, crosses, and other symbols, they were very much against alcohol and drugs.

Despite having to penetrate the Iron Curtain, the breakdance movement was popular among the Soviet youth. Most of them learned the moves by themselves or by copying them from Western movies. Mila Maximova in an interview forHooligans of the 80sremembers that many of them preferred to make arm waves and robotic moves, while just a few people actually managed to master spins or other power moves.

Breakdancer Performing in Gorky Park / Getty Images

We knew them by name, there were about five of them in Moscow, she adds. By the time the breakdance movement gained massive popularity as a counterculture, the Soviet youth developed their own fashion style. White sneakers and gloves were important, says Maximova. It was close to impossible to find white sneakers since most pairs available in the market were brown or black. Breakdancers often bleached their shoes.

They also liked knickers that did not look anything like jeans and a lot of additional accessories such as chains, sweatbands, bracelets, and sweatshirts with foreign logos.

A special project dedicated to Soviet counterculture by Look at Me and Adidas Originals saysthe dancers later managed to get skateboards and spray paint.

With banned foreign music growing in popularity, alternative genres, including heavy metal, became a fad among young Soviet citizens. Heavy metal bands like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Judas Priest, and Megadeth were popular among the rebellious youth.

The scene from "The Commentary on the Appeal for Pardon" movie directed by Inna Tumanyan. Metalheads / S. Ivanov/RIA Novosri

Nikolay Korshunov wrote in an article for RussiasHooligansmagazine that Soviet metalheads took their counterculture very seriously and would try and stop posers. Youngsters, dressed as metalheads, would be stopped on the streets and questioned about their knowledge of heavy metal. They would be asked to name at least 15 heavy metal bands. Many new fans would fail the test, Korshunov added.

Since getting a real leather jacket or jeans was close to impossible, many metalheads improvised.

We couldnt be bothered with wearing American clothes, Sergei Okulyar says inHooligans of the 80s.We needed to have something of our own, which looked as intimidating as possible.

Sometimes people would make sweatbands from handbags and then sell them to punks or other metalheads.

Punks were less uniform in their style, which mainly depended on which part of the USSR they lived in, Siberian punks were offshoots of hippies, while punks from Tallinn were indistinguishable from their European counterparts. St. Petersburgs punks led a half-Bohemian lifestyle, and those in Moscow fused styles from across the country.

Punks in Moscow / Iliya Pitalev/RIA Novosti

The inner nihilism was in contrast with their outer appearance, which comprised of brightly colored Mohawks, piercings, jackets, T-shirts with images of their favorite bands, and handmade belts with rivets.

Misha Clash says inHooligans of the 80sthat their dress code changed to long leather coats, heavy dark makeup and haversacks.

Their performances often turned violent and ended with the smashing of the windows of major stores. This eventually led to arrests and detentions. There are also stories of loud punks coming to the civil registry office in an inebriated condition. It was a part of the punk culture to shout profanities while getting married.

Costumes: Alexander Lyashenko (Petlura)

Make-up artist: Zinaida Saplina

Place: DK Petlura

Actors: Aleksey Lyubimov, Nikita Schetinin, Ekaterina Sinelschikova, Anastasiya Karagodina

Excerpt from:
Soviet counterculture: How rebellious youngsters opposed communism - Russia Beyond the Headlines