RUSSIA’S PEOPLE AND CULTURE CHAPTER 15 SECTION 2

POLITICS IN RUSSIA UNDER 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 Life Urban 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 Russia UNDER 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. – 3 rd 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 % of Armenians belong to the Armenian Orthodox Church.