Effects of the Cold

Exposure to Cold

Cooling of body parts may result in various cold injuries - nonfreezing injuries, freezing injuries, and hypothermia which is the most serious. Nonfreezing cold injuries include chilblain and immersion foot. Frostnip and frostbite are freezing injuries.Toes, fingers, ears and nose are at greatest risk because these areas do not have major muscles to produce heat. In addition, the body will preserve heat by favouring the internal organs and reducing the flow of blood to the extremes under cold conditions. Hands and feet tend to get cold more quickly than the torso because:1.they lose heat more rapidly since they have a higher surface area-to-volume ratio and 2.they are more likely to be in contact with colder surfaces than other parts of the body.If the eyes are not protected with goggles in high wind chill conditions, the corneas of the eyes may freeze.The most severe cold injury is hypothermia which occurs from excessive loss of body heat and the lowering internal temperature of the body.

Nonfreezing Injuries

Chilblain- Chilblains are the painful inflammation of small blood vessels in your skin that occur in response to sudden warming from cold temperatures. Also known as pernio, chilblains can cause itching, red patches, swelling and blistering on toes, fingers, nose, and ears.

Immersion foot- occurs in individuals whose feet have been wet, but not freezing cold, for days or weeks. It can occur at temperatures up to 10°C (50°F). The primary injury is to nerve and muscle tissue. Symptoms include tingling and numbness; itching, pain, swelling of the legs, feet, or hands; or blisters may develop. The skin may be red initially and turn to blue or purple as the injury progresses. In severe cases, gangrene may develop.

Freezing Injuries

Frostnip-is the mildest form of a freezing cold injury. It occurs when ear lobes, noses, cheeks, fingers, or toes are exposed to the cold and the top layers of a skin freeze. The skin of the affected area turns white and it may feel numb. The top layer of skin feels hard but the deeper tissue still feels normal (soft).

Frostbite-is a common injury caused by exposure to extreme cold or by contact with extremely cold objects. It may also occur in normal temperatures from contact with cooled or compressed gases. Frostbite occurs when tissue temperature falls below the freezing point (0°C/32°F), or when blood flow is obstructed. Blood vessels may be severely and permanently damaged, and blood circulation may stop in the affected tissue. In mild cases, the symptoms include inflammation of the skin in patches accompanied by slight pain. In severe cases, there could be tissue damage without pain, or there could be burning or prickling sensations resulting in blisters. Frostbitten skin is highly susceptible to infection, and gangrene (local death of soft tissues due to loss of blood supply) may develop.

Hypothermia-The sensation of cold followed by pain in exposed parts of the body is one the first signs of mild hypothermia.As the temperature continues to drop or as the exposure time increases, the feeling of cold and pain starts to diminish because of increasing numbness (loss of sensation). If no pain can be felt, serious injury can occur without the victim's noticing it.Next, muscular weakness and drowsiness are experienced. This condition is called hypothermia and usually occurs when body temperature falls below 33°C. Additional symptoms of hypothermia include interruption of shivering, diminished consciousness and dilated pupils. When body temperature reaches 27°C, coma (profound unconsciousness) sets in. Heart activity stops around 20°C and the brain stops functioning around 17°C.

Youtube link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M07_HlGUZk

 Other Links:http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/phys_agents/cold_health.html

http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/phys_agents/cold_general.html

De-stalinization

De-Stalinization

After the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, many changes were made and Russia was in the process of a political reform.  It seemingly began right after his death.  There were there two major periods where Stalin's legacy was debated the most and how to change Russia with De-Stalinization.  One was from 1953-1964 and another major period was from 1985-1991.  During the first period, it was Nikita Khrushchev's term as the "first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union."  Mikhail Gorbachev was the head of the party before the USSR's collapse in the Cold War era in 1985-1991.

Nikita Khrushchev

De-Stalinization Under Khrushchev

Changes to what Joseph Stalin had constructed began right after his death and were drastic.  One of the first things Nikita Khrushchev did was end the mass retaliations and release the prison camp inmates from the labor camps.  In April of 1953, the Kremlin doctors who were accused of operating and planning against Russia's top leadership were freed.  Prison camps were greatly reduced in size and regime became somewhat milder.  Several hundred thousands of political prisoners were released from 1954 through 1956.  Although so many prisoners were released from camps, not all of the Soviet Society agreed with it.  This created a difficult return for the prisoners to return to their normal lives.  A huge part of De-Stalinization under Khrushchev was the removal of Stalin's images and words from the press, art, and school textbooks. This caused a great deal of confusion and disorientation to the Soviet citizens during this era.  In February 1956, a huge event in De-Stalinization occurred with Nikita Khrushchev delivering his "secret speech" before the "dead silent delegates of the Twentieth Party Congress In Moscow.  In the speech, Khrushchev went after and attacked the late Stalin for creating a worship of him in his country, creating mass terror against innocent people of his country, and for committing serious mistakes with the state leadership.  With the speech, he also put a decisive seal of approval on the dismantling of the Stalin Cult and on the release and rehabilitation of camp prisoners.

This supposedly secret speech was published in the West but not the Soviet Union and eventually the content of the speech became an open secret to the Soviet society public and the reactions were once again mixed.  Some people felt a joyful relief and others felt guilty for being a part of the past terror.  Some were in denial and others were confused with what might happen next.  In Stalin's home country of Georgia, violent outbursts against the public damaging of Stalin broke out.  This shock to the Soviet Union exposed the doubt of the legitimacy of the system itself.  This led to an urge to provide and keep the legitimacy of the Soviet Union by dictating caution in further attacks on Stalin.  During this time, other aspects of the Stalinist order came under attack such as the much criticized "cult of personality".  The "cult of personality" became a popular and politically acceptable euphemism for the Stalin years. "Cult of personality was where many towns and cities were named after Joseph Stalin and the people of his country were forced to kind of worship him in a way.  He became the focus of art, music, poetry and had his name in the new Soviet national anthem.  The press credited him with God-like qualities and accepted extravagant titles. The major party had reinstated its commitment to collective leadership instead of this "cult of personality" Many changes occurred such as the lowering of agricultural prices and traveling/moving to cities with more ease compared to the heavily restricted traveling during the 1930's.
In 1961, De-Stalinization received a powerful boost when Khrushchev continued to attack on Stalin and his past terror.  Places named after Stalin were renamed and all of his monuments and statues except for his birthplace in Gori were destroyed.  The Twenty-Second Congress also took his mummified body out of the Lenin Mausoleum and moved it into a more basic grave near the Kremlin Wall. From 1961-1964, thousands of people sent written memoirs and remembrances of the Stalin terror to the Central Committee.  Only a few of the many were published like Alexander Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962).  These texts that were actually published greatly and powerfully influenced the people's thoughts about their country's past, present, and future.

De-Stalinization AFTER Khrushchev
In October 1964, Nikita Khrushchev was removed from power and although it slowly put an end to his open criticizing of Stalin's past, publications talking about the terror didn't stop immediately.  People soon began to fear a coming of a "re-stalinization" but the terror never came back.  Leonid Brezhnev, after coming into power of the head of the party in 1964 (to 1982), held up the debate about Stalin because he sensed that there could be explosive consequences.  In the late 80's, Mikhail Gorbachev launched his reforms and changes and greatly revived the discussions about Stalin and Stalinism. This debate about Stalin ultimately led to and was a major factor in the collapse of the USSR in 1991.  Overall, De-Stalinization was the term that described the complex and important changes and developments that the Soviet society went through from 1953 to 1991.

Mikhail Gorbachev 

Taking Down a Giant-Sized Statue of Joseph Stalin

External Links

http://www.day.kiev.ua/en/article/topic-day/museums-activities-de-stalinization-practice

http://foreignpolicy.com/2010/12/16/the-third-wave-of-russian-de-stalinization/

http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/nikita-sergeyevich-khrushchev

Bibliography

"Destalinization." Gale Virtual Reference Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. 

     <http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/whic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ 
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     tModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&u=meri7541 
     1&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_withi 
     n_results=&p=WHIC%3AUHIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7C 
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"Nikita Khrushchev Speech." Google Sites. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. 

     <https://sites.google.com/site/beckcoldwarproject/the-60-s>. 

"Joseph Stalin." J Day History. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. 

     <http://jdayhistory.weebly.com/ 
     nikita-krushchev-and-de-stalinization.html>. 

"Nikita Khrushchev Speech." Ms Roaches Place. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. 

     <http://www.msroachesplace.com/CW.html>. 

"MIKHAIL GORBACHEV." Columbia Harriman Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. 

     <http://harriman.columbia.edu/event/ 
     mikhail-gorbachev-russia-today-and-future>. 

Soviet people learn the truth about Josef Stalin - RIA Novosti 110225. 

     newsupload2010's channel. newsupload2010's channel, n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 
     2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaJ7Fj1Quck>.

De-Stalinization 1953-56. International School History. International School 

     History, n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/ 
     watch?v=HDhB-ez25HQ>.

"1939: Cult of Personality." Seventeen Moments in Soviet History. N.p., n.d. 

     Web. 14 Dec. 2014. <http://soviethistory.macalester.edu/ 

     index.php?page=subject&SubjectID=1939personality&Year=1939>. 

"Stalin Statue Taken down." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group Limited 2014, 

     n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/ 
     europe/georgia/7853553/ 
     Stalin-falls-from-grace-in-last-bastion-his-birthplace.html>. 

The Moscow Trials

The Moscow Trials

Three Defendants in the Moscow Trials

The Moscow Trials were a setup by Stalin in order to give himself absolute power in Russia and in the Communist Party by killing all the old members of the Bolshevik Party, and anyone who he saw as a potential threat. This was started by the murder of Sergei Kirov, the leader of the Leningrad Party, on December 1, 1934 which granted Stalin the opportunity to create strict laws about political crime. This paved the way for Stalin to then start a conspiracy around the murder and frame the Old Bolsheviks for the murder of Kirov, and other crimes in his fictional conspiracy like trying to murder other party members, spying for Germany, and trying to bring back capitalism. Stalin used this murder, which he probably planned himself, his political prowess, and his manipulation and deception to begin "the great terror", his purge Communist Party members and all who opposed him, by charging them with murder, terrorism, espionage, and treason. There were three trials that made up the Moscow trials, the Trial of the Sixteen, the Trial of the Anti-Soviet Trotskyist Center, and the Trial of the Twenty One, that took place from 1936-1938. There was no evidence in any of the trials other than the confessions of the accused, which Stalin tortured them into giving. During these trials Stalin's power grew as he had no more political opposition, and his Great Terror escalated as more and more people were being arrested, deported, or shot. The NKVD, Stalin's secret police, was his weapon that he used to create the "great terror" and were given the task of arresting and deporting anyone who spoke out against Stalin, and anyone else they thought was a traitor to the USSR.

The First Trial



The first wave of the Great Terror followed the death of Kirov, as 40,000 people in Leningrad alone were arrested and deported. Stalin's main targets were Old Bolsheviks and on August 19, 1936 the first trial, the Trial of the Sixteen, began with Lev Kamenev, Grigori Zinoviev, Ivan Smirnov, and 13 other defendants who were mainly old Bolsheviks. They were charged with plotting to kill Stalin, Andrei Zhdanov, the Leningrad party boss, and other leaders. On the 20th, Kamenev confessed, on the 22nd Vyshinsky, the head prosecutor, made his final arguement "I demand that these dogs gone made should be shot-every one of them," and on the 24th the verdict was reached that all were guilty and all to be shot.

The Second Trial

The second trial, the Trial of the Anti-Soviet Trotskyist Center, began January 23, 1937 and had 17 defendants. The 17 accused were again mostly veteran Bolsheviks, who were once powerful and respected members of the party, and now dubbed "The Anti-Soviet Trotskyite Center". Stalin's main targets in this trial were Grigori Pyatakov, Grigori Sokolnikov, Leonid Serebryakov, and Karl Radek. The defendants were accused of plotting to destroy the Soviet economic system and spying for Germany and Japan. Trotsky was said to have ordered and directed the plotters' entire program while in his exile. The defendants admitted to various acts of terrorism, factory explosions, and train wrecks. Again, the lack of evidence other than the confessions was not a factor in the case and at 3 a.m. on January 30 the court decided them guilty. All were given death sentences except four who were sent into camps in the Arctic.

The Third Trial

By the time of the third trial, nobody was safe from the great terror as the NKVD arrested anyone they wanted. Stalin was clearly in absolute control due to the fear he created, and this third and last trial was more of a victory parade as the few surviving old Bolsheviks could not have possibly provided a threat. The chief defendants were Nikolai Bukharin, Alexei Rykov, Nikolai Krestinsky, and Yagoda. Bukharin, Rykov, and Krestinsky were members of Lenin's Politburo, and Yagoda was the formed NKVD commissar and organizer of the first phase of the terror. They were charged with the usual: spying for Germany and Japan, conspiring against Stalin, and trying to return to capitalism. This trial started March 2, 1938, and all twenty two of the defendants pleaded guilty, and confessed. On March 12, the defendants were announced guilty on all charges, and 19 of the 22 received death sentences, while the rest were put into camps.

                     Video Footage from the Moscow Trial

      Video of Leon Trotsky Talking about the Moscow Trials

For more information about the Moscow Trials:
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/whic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=WHIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&u=meri75411&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_within_results=&p=WHIC%3AUHIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CBT2307000047

http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/sedov/works/red/index.htm

Works Cited

"The Moscow Purge Trials: 1936 and 1937-38." Great World Trials. Detroit: Gale Research, 1994. World History in Context. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.
RUSSIA: GREAT PURGE. N.d. Photograph. Granger Historical Picture Archive.      Granger, New York. 0013484.
Linder, Douglas O. "The Moscow Purge Trials." law2.umkc.edu/. N.p., n.d. Web. 11
     Dec. 2014. <http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/moscowpurge/
     moscowlinks.html>.
Footage from infamous Moscow show trial. YouTube. N.p., 28 June 2009. Web. 11
     Dec. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/
     watch?v=nFB9G1HINXI&index=1&list=PLC7iqtfFxXmOkLZkfw0Xt16JqE8_pfnit>.
Trotsky In Mexico Talks On Moscow Trials (1938). YouTube. N.p., 13 Apr. 2014.
     Web. 11 Dec. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Eyjyceo3vU>.

 

Alexandr Solzhenitsyn was born in Kislovodsk Russia on December 11th, 1918.  His father died on the German front in WW1 which left his mother to raise him all alone in a small town in Southwest Russia.  He was a very obscure child, even a  a young child he knew he wanted to become a writer.  It became his early passion and before he attended college he tried to have some of his writings published but no one was willing to do it.  Discouraged he decided to study math at the Department of Mathematics at Rostov University.  Although easy for him he never loved it like he did writing.  He studied some literary classes but he graduated from the Department of Math and Physics in 1941 just a few days before war broke out. He was drafted in the war but due to poor health he was tasked to driving horse drawn carts carrying supplies.  After regaining some health he was transferred to an artillery division due his knowledge of math and physics.  He flew through the training program and was put in charge of an artillery search division right on the front lines.  He was even promoted to atitle similar to Captain.  He even won the Order of the Patriot War Class 2 and the Order of Red Star.  He served for three years until he was arrested by the Russian officials in East Prussia for his disdain of Stalin and his policies.  

Somehow it was found out that he and his fiend were conversing about Stalin using not the greatest language to describe Stalin. He was sentenced to eight years of hard labor. He served first in smaller correctional work camps but was transferred fur to his knowledge of math and physics to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of State Security a scientific research camp.  But was transferred shortly after to a "special camp" for political prisoners located in Ekibastuz Kazakhstan.  This is the camp Alexandr Solzhenitsyn based One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.  During his time he contracted a tumor that would later bring him on the verge of death.  While there he was operated on but not cured.  A month after his sentence ended he was sent in exile to South Kazakhstan where he wasn't allowed to return for three years.  His cancer devolved rapidly and it brought Alexandr Solzhenitsyn to his death bed.  He was so gravely ill he could no longer even move. He was allowed to leave to go to the cancer center in Tashkent and unlikely he was cured.  While in exile he taught math and physics never thinking he would ever have any of his works published.  He wrote under false names scared that anything he wrote would cause him to back to go back to a gulag.  After a while he couldn't take it anymore and decided to go in front of the Russian congress and present One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.  It was a huge gamble if the congress didn't like it they could make sure he couldn't plublish anything again.  Luckily the congress agreed and it was published a year later.  But the publishing was stopped after authorities seized his writings after Leonid Brezhnev rose to power.  He was an extremely strict leader who didn't want anything coming out about the hard labor camps.  He was forced to again publish under ground.  Although not successful in Russia other major European published were fighting to let  Solzhenitsyn publish with them. 

The extreme popularity of  One day in the Life of Ivan  Denisovich along with extremely successful books about his time in a cancer ward secured his Nobel Prize for literature.  The most prestigious award to be given to an author.  But he couldn't attend the ceremony in Stockholm for fear if he left Russia he wouldn't be allowed to return into Russia.  A few years later he published another book about Gulags in Russia and Paris.  But the KGB the Russian FBI confiscated his manuscripts.  He was again charged with treason and exiled from Russia.  He moved to Vermont and a year later attended his Nobel Prize ceremony.  In 1989 Solzhenitsyn wrote his first Russian government approved Gulag book. A year later his citizenship was reinstated but didn't return until Russia had gotten itself back together 2 years after the fall of the U.S.S.R.   Even while back in Russia he continual criticized Russia politics and relations.  One of his last books was made into a movie in Russia in 2006.  He passed away at the age of 89 in Moscow.  His death caused significant mourning throughout the country and he was given a state funeral and buried in a state cemetery.  He was certainly one Russia's greatest figures who fought for rights but mostly he fought for the truth.  Solzhenitsyn was a remarkable figure who was jailed and exiled twice for what he believed in. 

The link below is a PBS Special on him.
 http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/remember-july-dec08-solzhenitsyn_08-04

Work Cited
"Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.
Alexandr Solzhenitsyn - Biographical". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 12 Dec 2014.
"Aleksandr Isajevitš Solzenitsyn in a Gulag." Wikipedia. Wikimedia, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.  
"Alexandr Solzhenitsyn Time Magazine." Danlambaovn. Dân Làm Báo, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.
Aikmen, David. Great Souls: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Youtube. Youtube, 13 Jan. 2012. Web. 12 Dec. 2014. 
Russian Author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Dies at 89. PBS. NewsHour Productions, 4 Aug. 2008. Web. 12 Dec. 2014. 
Sipa Press. "Solzhenitsyn receives his Nobel prize for literature." The Gaurdian. Guardian News, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2014. 
"Alexandr Solzhenitsyn." Quote Says. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.

Communism in Russia

This video helps explain the ideas of communism and how they played a role in Russia. From 1:17-2:00, the narrator explains the general basics of communism and where its origin is, and from 4:15-5:50 it gives an explanation on how Russia used communism and the effects that it had on the people living in Russia during the time.

 Communism under the Russians

Communist Propaganda

The All-Union Communist Party was formed after the Russian Revolution, but changed their name The Communist Part of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in 1952. Their main objectives were to change Russia to be completely communist, to raise material and cultural level of the people, to build up a strong defense system, and to bond workers of other countries together.

Origins of Communism

A man named Karl Marx proposed the idea of socialism (the root of communism). He believed that a perfect society must not have social classes, so the poor must be free from poverty and the rich must be stopped from making more money. This can happen by having the government in control of all production and leaving the government in charge of distributing land and property among the people equally. Marx wrote his ideas about communism in his book called Manifesto of the Communist Party and can be found using that link.

 Marx believed in 3 simple steps to create a perfect society.

1. A revolution must occur and the existing government must be overthrown.

a.     The Russians successfully did this in the Russian Revolution (or civil war) from 1918-1921. You can check out the page about the Russian Revolution for more information on that.

2. A supreme leader or dictator must arise to absolute power. They must create a new government that has complete control over the people, including their education, job, religion, and who they marry.

a.     The leader of the Communist Party of Soviet Russia was Joseph Stalin. He decided to go about making Russia a communist country by modernizing and industrializing Russia. He created large agricultural communities that grew the food that would be shared among the whole country. This was difficult because it was very strenuous on the people working in the communities. He also created Gulags (check out the informative gulags page to learn more) that he sent people to when they were seen as potential enemies. Here is a link that gives an overview of Stalin's Life

3. The last step is to become a utopian society. This can be achieved by sharing all wealth and property, preventing the creation of a higher social class.

a.     This step was not completed by the Russians and has never been achieved and it is unlikely that it will ever be achieved. It is extremely difficult to have only one social class. The Communist Part of Soviet Russia was devoted to creating total equality between everyone in the country. However, the citizens often were crammed into small apartment buildings having a limited supply of food and property, whereas the officials lived in country houses and ate food of higher quality.

Communist Symbol:

The main symbol of the communist party is a hammer and sickle. The hammer is the tool that we all know and the sickle is used to cut grain. They represent the industrial workers and the workers in the agricultural industries. Also, the tools show that the two types of workers are also equals.

Connection to Ivan Denisovich:

·      Even though under communism there should only be one class, in the gulag there is clearly a hierarchal society where the people with higher status are more privileged than those with a lower status

o   Fetiukov saved Shukhov’s breakfast for him because he is a higher status

o   Tsezar gets more food parcels than the other prisoners because he has a higher social status in the gulag

Works Cited: 

"Communist Party of the Soviet Union." World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 11 Dec. 2014

Hoyt, Alia.  "How Communism Works"  25 February 2008.  HowStuffWorks.com. <http://people.howstuffworks.com/communism.htm>  10 December 2014.

"Joseph Stalin." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 11 ngIf: (retrieved|date:'MMMM').length<5 ngIf: (retrieved|date:'MMMM').length>=5 Dec. end ngIf: (retrieved|date:'MMMM').length>=5 2014.

http://people.howstuffworks.com/communism1.htm

http://worldhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/305758?terms=Communism+in+Russia

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/07/communists-to-join-democrats-to-defeat-gop-in-2014/

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:National_Bolshevik_Party.svg