Communism

President Boris Yeltsin hands over a copy of the Russian constitution to Vladimir Putin, December 21, 1999.

The Popularity of Putin and What It Means for America

In the 25 years since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has changed dramatically--and it’s more important than ever to understand those changes

Poland's Sjem, or lower house of parliament, was the site of a recent showdown on press freedoms.

Poland Has Lifted Its Media Ban

It’s the latest in an ongoing saga about press freedoms in the populist-led country

The Romanov family between 1913 and 1914. Alexei is seated in front.

What You Need to Know First to Understand the Russian Revolution

Read this first in a series of columns chronicling what led to that 1917 cataclysm

The Great Hall of the People in Beijing is now on a 20th-century cultural preservation list in China.

China Now Has a 20th-Century Architectural Heritage List

A country with an uneasy relationship to its past will preserve 98 buildings of the 20th century for future generations

Scores of lives were lost while building the 816 Nuclear Plant, a long-abandoned nuclear project now open to the public.

Tour the World’s Biggest Manmade Cave in China

The 816 Nuclear Plant stands as a reminder of a paranoid past

Is Europe Returning to Pre Cold War Divisions?

Author Robert D. Kaplan notes the beginnings of a complex map, caused by Russian revisionism, the refugee crisis and a structural economic crisis in the EU

The Slovak Radio Building, an inverted pyramid completed in 1983, has been called “one of the ugliest buildings in the world.” Recording studios at the center are surrounded by outward-facing offices. Its heavy weight and rough texture seem to capture the grim, waning years of Communist Party rule.

Is Bratislava's Communist-Era Architecture Worth Preserving?

For residents of Slovakia's capital, Cold War structures recall a painful past

Watch a Statue of Lenin Being Torn Down in Real Time

It’s hard to topple a 66-foot statue—or contend with the symbols of Ukraine’s communist past

Slogans like the one on this propaganda poster for Mao Zedong, "Urgently Forge Ahead and Bravely Advance with Great Leader Chairman Mao,” take on a new smell now that it’s revealed that Stalin may have studied his poop.

Stalin May Have Studied Mao’s Poop in a Secret Lab

Get a whiff of this stranger-than-fiction story of political paranoia and Soviet science

A work by Pavel Ilie at the Romania Postmodernism Museum's "Before & After" exhibition.

This Postmodern Art Captures a Tiny Moment of Hope During Romania’s Communist Years

Learn about Romania's “unfrozen years” at Bucharest’s Postmodernism Museum

A gold-painted statue of Chairman Mao has been erected in a remote part of central China.

Chinese Capitalists Built a Gigantic, Golden Statue of Chairman Mao

Like the Chairman's legacy, this 121-foot statue is hard to ignore

A paternoster elevator can be thrilling, or just scary.

Ride This Bizarre, Old-School Elevator Before They All Shut Down

The paternoster elevators of Europe are weird, a bit scary and getting harder and harder to find. For now, there are still a few you can ride

The USSR is alive and well in a bunker in Lithuania.

This Fake Gulag Will Let You Pretend the Soviets Are Still in Power

Barking dogs, harsh guards and brutal imprisonment in a bunker where the USSR never fell

An East German family watches and waits to cross into West Berlin. This photo, like so many others here, I found in a reject box, after many years

Amazing, Rare Photographs of the Berlin Wall Coming Down

Photojournalist Alexandra Avakian traveled to Berlin based on rumor, and she ended up becoming a witness to history

The almost mile-long East Side Gallery in Berlin is the longest remaining portion of the Berlin Wall, which once stretched 96 miles.

A Las Vegas Bathroom and 9 Other Unexpected Places to See the Berlin Wall

Twenty five years ago, the Berlin Wall came crumbling down. Today, segments can be found in over 140 memorials worldwide

Soviet propaganda, circa 1920

Thousands of Secret KGB Espionage Documents Are Now Available to the Public

The papers contain names of spies, descriptions of secret weapons and detailed plots against the West

There's New Evidence That Communist Leaders Secretly Airlifted Bears to Bulgaria in the '70s and '80s

Some of these Bulgarian bears are not genetically like the others...

Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev In Vienna

From the Editor: My Favorite Commie

Nikita Khrushchev Comes to America

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