RUSSIA’S PEOPLE AND CULTURE

CHAPTER 15 SECTION 2

POLITICS IN RUSSIAUNDER THE SOVIET UNION• COMMUNIST ECONOMY

– Government controls supply, distribution, and “development.”

– All equal salaries, No competition.

• TOTALITARIAN GOVERNMENT– No freedom of speech, thought,

travel, economy, property, religion, press, etc.

NOW IN RUSSIA• CAPITALIST ECONOMY

– The laws of supply and demand, competition, and self interest controls the economy.

– You control whether you are rich or poor.

• DEMOCRATIC FEDERAL REPUBLIC.– Power is shared between national

and state government with parliament, prime minister and president.

Ethnic Groups• Majority Group: 80% Slavs• Minority Groups: Ukraineans, Belorussians,

Chechens, Uegar, Kazaks, Uzbekis, Mongolians, and Tartars.

Daily LifeUrban Life

• “Modern” apartment buildings, wide streets.

• Cramped, crowded, dirty floors.• Heating/Cooling??????• Mom works.• Babuska cooks, cleans, shops

for the family.• Richer people now live in new

suburbs.

Rural Life• Most home are dashas and

are made of wood, and usually old.

• No plumbing.• No cooling.• Family works land.• Education is limited in rural

areas especially in Siberia.

Religion in RussiaUNDER THE SOVIET UNION

• No Religious literature allowed! (i.e. Bibles, Torahs, Korans, etc.)

• Followers practiced in secret alone.

• Cathedrals were only “Tourist” attractions.

• All good communists are Atheists.

NOW IN RUSSIA• 70% Russian Orthodox• Protestant, Catholic, Muslim,

Jewish, and even Buddhism are practiced.

• 1 million Jews live in Russia.– 3rd highest population in the

world. – Number 1 is NYC, Number 2 is

Israel.

Celebrations, Food and Sports• New Years, May Day honors workers.• Borscht, shci soup, piroshky, cavier.• Big into Olympic Sports especially Winter Sports.

Cultural Traditions• Shazki = Storytelling.• Ballet = The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky.• Great Poetry, and Novels. (War and Peace)• Faberge Eggs!

The Republics of the Caucasus• Includes Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.• Mild climates, or dry steppe climate.• The republics became independent in 1991.• 94% of Armenians belong to the Armenian

Orthodox Church.