"Death has become a phenomenon observed at every turn. When you step outside in the morning, you stumble over corpses lying in the gateway, and in the street. The dead bodies lie there for a long time, because there's nobody to dispose of them."

  • Yelena Skriabina

The Siege of Leningrad was the longest and most destructive siege of any city in the world. For 872 days, the citizens of Leningrad were at odds with death. Encircled by German troops, the city was cut off from supplies, short of water and under the constant threat of air attacks. Yet the citizens did not give up and believed that there was no other option but to fight. Surrender was never an option.

Leningrad was a strategic location and a desired hub for the German troops. Not only was it an important port and the base of the Soviet Baltic Fleet, but it was also the symbol of the Soviet Revolution. By the start of September 1941, it became apparent that the Germans were fast approaching the city.

There was constant fighting on the outskirts of the city. The Moscow-Leningrad railway route was cut, and the enemy forces encircled Leningrad. Orders were given to fight to the end, and the three million citizens of Leningrad began preparing for the siege.

With the start of winter, temperatures dropped to -40ºC (-40ºF), freezing all the water pipes. Citizens would go down to the river, make holes in the ice and carry water home. Rats were also an enormous issue as they spread disease and ate through the already scarce supplies. People were dying right on the streets and were often left unburied.

Through all this, the city tried to keep up morale. Museums and theatres remained operational as much as possible. Among the most memorable moments was the performance of the Leningrad Symphony (written by Dmitry Shostakovich), which was transmitted everywhere by loudspeaker. Leningrad was determined to survive.

By 1943 the first breakthroughs were made and the Soviet troops were preparing to free the city. On January 14, 1944, the siege was partially lifted.

The siege continued until 27 January 1944, when the Soviet Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive expelled German forces from the southern outskirts of the city. This was a combined effort by the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts, along with the 1st and 2nd Baltic Fronts.

The Baltic Fleet provided 30% of aviation power for the final strike against the Wehrmacht.[64] In the summer of 1944, the Finnish Defence Forces were pushed back to the other side of the Bay of Vyborg and the Vuoksi River.

Red Army Choir - Little Star :tank:

Siege of Leningrad: 872 days of hunger and bombardment :t34:

Battlefield - The Siege of Leningrad Documentary :lenin-fancy:

Soviet Storm. WW2 in the East - The Siege Of Leningrad. Episode 5. :iron-soviet: this one is really good :lenin-heart:


The State and Revolution

:lenin-shining: :unity: :kropotkin-shining:

The Conquest of Bread

Remember, sort by new you :LIB:

Yesterday’s megathread :sad-boi:

Follow the ChapoChat twitter account :comrade-birdie:

THEORY; it’s good for what ails you (all kinds of tendencies inside!) :RIchard-D-Wolff:

COMMUNITY CALENDAR - AN EXPERIMENT IN PROMOTING USER ORGANIZING EFFORTS :af:

Join the fresh and beautiful batch of new comms:

!wallstreetbets@hexbear.net :stonks-up:

!earth@hexbear.net :flag-su: :ancom:

!recovery@hexbear.net :left-unity-2:

!neurodiverse@hexbear.net :Care-Comrade:

spoiler

:brace-cowboy:

  • CyborgMarx [any, any]
    ·
    4 years ago

    I'm sorry, is heightening contradictions in finance capitalism suddenly a bad thing, wtf else is the "left" doing right now

    What's up with this "too cool for school" attitude on this chat, this shit is wild and pretty damn interesting

      • CyborgMarx [any, any]
        ·
        4 years ago

        If it triggers an overreaction on the part of the capitalists than its serve its purpose, and if it doesn't who cares, some people who didn't have that much suddenly have a lot, its all upside no downside and definitely not worth whining over in overly moralistic terms like some here are doing

        • star_wraith [he/him]
          ·
          edit-2
          4 years ago

          its all upside

          Nothing wrong with pointing and laughing. Not crazy about having a million posts about it but w/e. But I'm surrounded by enough gambling addiction IRL to spot when people have gotten bitten by the bug. Some comrades are going to take the correct notion that the stock market is bullshit + what's going on in with GameStop and try to capitalize on it, and some are going to lose a lot. It's most definitely not "all upside".

    • PorkrollPosadist [he/him, they/them]
      ·
      4 years ago

      You aren't heightening contradictions by throwing a couple hundred bucks at Robinhood. We are all passive observers here, and even if you've bought yourself a GameStonk, materially that amounts to a grain of sand in a desert. I'm all for having a laugh at the absurdity of the world we live in, but PLEASE let's not delude ourselves into thinking this is praxis.