May 01, 2019

Congress of People's Deputies Convenes


Congress of People's Deputies Convenes
Boris Yeltsin mobbed by reporters. Yeltsin rose to prominence during the First Congress and later went on to become the first president of Russia. This photo was captured a few months after the Congress, in early 1990. Konstantin Gushchka / Dreamstime.com

Boldly we wage the fight,
For the power of the Soviets,
And as one we’ll die,
Fighting for that.

Смело мы в бой пойдем
За власть Советов
И как один умрем
В борьбе за это.

When I was young, almost nobody took this old revolutionary song seriously anymore. During breaks in school (when the teacher was out of earshot) we would sometimes sing: “Boldly we wage the fight/For soup with potatoes/And will kill the cook/With a cafeteria spoon.”


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