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As you may be able to tell, our class has now reached the era of the

So, continuing our exploration of student (as always: descriptive, not prescriptive!):

1) As I expected, "Battleship Potemkin" was something completely new to them. They were suitably moved by the famous scene on the Odessa steps

archive.org/details/Battleship

(but why I did I first have to admonish a couple of them focused on their laptops or phones to turn toward the screen? WTF)

1/n

If "Battleship Potemkin" meant nothing to our students, then they were certainly not aware of Eisenstein's great "October," either.

youtube.com/watch?v=k62eaN9-TL

I hinted that, when their cultural tastes had further matured, I might at last introduce them to

"Aelita Queen of Mars" (1924) 🙃

imdb.com/title/tt0014646/plots

youtu.be/yoROo4Ur49c

3/n

But back to issues of students' cultural literacy, for lack of a better term (as noted, always descriptive rather than prescriptive)

Today, re: Bolshevik Revolution

One had an idea of housing blocks & monumental architecture

The rest: pretty much: 0

I noted opinion polls showing that students/young people had more positive views of socialism vs. capitalism--which I found interesting insofar as they had 0 knowledge of Marxism, socialist theory, revolutionary history

All instructive!

4/n

Final/bonus point about students' cultural literacy. I did not expect them to know "Battleship Potemkin" and the like: it's my job to introduce them to it.

But I thought I'd try something more recent, if still before when they were born:

Mikhail Gorbachev, (a) a major historical figure (b) who died only last August (so that should in some sense mitigate the before-you-were-born factor)

nytimes.com/2022/08/30/world/e

Nothing. A few had heard the name, none could attach anything specific to it

5/n

The New York TimesMikhail Gorbachev, Who Oversaw the End of the Soviet Union, Is Dead at 91By Marilyn Berger
Jim Wald

Finally:

It was ironic that I was teaching about the / October Revolution (1st task: explain Julian versus Gregorian calendar!) on the anniversary of the establishment of the (2 March 1919)

Didn't even have time to discuss the history of the previous Internationals in detail, though I did explain the splits in the socialist movement, 1905-1917 over issues of radical action vs. reform & social democracy vs. communism, so that probably sufficed for their needs

6/n