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Lenin Was a Mushroom

An excerpt from the famous episode of the TV show "Piatoe koleso" (The Fifth Wheel) in which the experimental musician and performer Sergey Kuryokhin (1954-1996) nearly convinced Soviet audiences that "Lenin was a mushroom."

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The First (Home-Made) Post-Soviet Independent TV

The Saint Petersburg “New Artists” stage a meeting of the committee “anti-state of emergency” on their “Pirate Television,” declaring their support of Yeltsin against the group of communist hardliners who led the coup d’etat against Gorbachev on August 19, 1991.

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the eXile: Bespredel for Expats

The Moscow-based, English-language magazine the eXile combined gonzo journalism and stiob to provide unique reporting on post-Soviet Russia. At the same time, the outlet fetishized the very 1990s-era lawlessness or bespredel—not to mention Western sexual and economic exploitation of Russia—that it nominally denounced and condemned.

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1992-1993 School math calendar

1992-1993 Math calendar intended for a secondary school student with a photograph of Viktor Tsoi, leader of the rock band Kino on its front cover.

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The Rise of Public Opinion Polling

A collection of data presentation venues of the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM). After the fall of the Soviet Union, VTsIOM became the Russian Federation’s most important polling organization.

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Novikov's Shocking Coming Out (Draft)

During an interview, Timur Novikov and Sergey "Afrika" Bugaev talk about their otherwise unconfessed homosexuality in an intentionally shocking way.

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