Events

The SCRSS organises a regular programme of lectures, film shows, exhibitions, seminars and other events at its premises in London. The Society is also involved in educational and commemorative events associated with the Soviet War Memorial in London. Events are open to both SCRSS members and non-members, unless otherwise stated.

Venue and Tickets

Standard ticket prices for talks are £3.00 (SCRSS members) and £5.00 (non-members). All other events or classes are priced as indicated. Our library openings for members are normally every first Saturday of the month.

2023 Events Diary

January 2023	July 2023
February 2023	August 2023
March 2023	September 2023
April 2023	October 2023
May 2023	November 2023
June 2023	December 2023
	January 2024
	February 2024

January 2023

Please note: there is no Saturday library opening in January 2023.

From Thursday 19 January 2023 for 10 weeks, 18.00 - 20.00
Zoom Online Evening Class: Russian Language for Good Intermediate Level

Rolling 10-week Zoom evening class, taught by Christine Barnard, former lecturer in Russian at Westminster University. The group is friendly, informal and strictly non-competitive. One hour free conversation, one hour reading, with a short break in-between. The current book is 'Dyadya Vanya' (Uncle Vanya) by Chekhov - once this is finished, the class will move onto a more modern writer. Current availability for new members to join the class - for more information or to request a free one-session trial, email Christine Barnard direct on rtstrans1@gmail.com. Fee for 10 weeks: £40.00 (SCRSS members only).

February 2023

Saturday 4 February 2023, 11.00 - 16.00
Event: SCRSS Library Opening

Library opening for SCRSS members - other visitors strictly by appointment only. Access the library collections and borrow books from the Literature and Quick Loan sections. Surplus book stock is also usually available for a small donation. Tea and coffee available. Members may attend without prior notification - please bring your membership card.

Tuesday 21 February 2023, 19.00
Zoom Online Lecture: Andrew Jameson on Navigating Russian Conversations and the Devices We Use

Andrew Jameson continues his series of presentations on the Russian language. This is a updated and expanded repeat of Andrew's well-received talk originally given in February 2022.

We don't notice the devices we use to manage our own English conversations, we use them instinctively. But they are there, in English and in Russian. We shall look at ways of communicating more effectively in Russian, using the devices that Russians use, rather than using sentences awkwardly created on English models. These will include hesitation phenomena, filler sequences, initiating, presenting, interrupting, enquiring, self-correcting and much more. We shall also note some of the common contractions used in everyday speech. A handout will be available to online attendees, so that you can enjoy the talk and have a record of the material. The materials have been checked by a member of the Institute of Russian Language in Moscow.

Booking: via Eventbrite. Normal ticket prices apply. To view the event online, you'll also need to have set up a free account with Eventbrite, using the same email address you use to book the event. If you don't have an Eventbrite account yet, you can set it up before or after booking this event. Once booked, you'll receive a confirmation email from Eventbrite about the events, and reminders with the link at two days, two hours and ten minutes before the event starts.

Andrew Jameson came top of course in Russian language and radio technology at the Joint Service Language School, and served in signals intelligence at Flugplatz Gatow in Berlin. At Oxford he played leading roles in Russian plays and first visited Russia when Khrushchev was in power. At Essex University he formed part of a group who produced ground-breaking BBC Russian courses. At the same time he worked for the Nuffield-funded Russian Language Project, requiring two long stays in Russia as a sound recordist, collecting samples of different styles of Russian, and also set up a sound archive of Russian recordings. Still in Russia he met prominent Russian linguists, and a number of well-known dissidents of the time. He was able to make further recordings on his own account of Russian bards, etc, and (most importantly) copies of readings at a Russian literary salon which included prominent writers, including Solzhenitsyn, Akhmatova, Ginzburg and others. Next he moved to Portsmouth Polytechnic, helped design a new degree in Russian and recruited 25 students at the first intake, before moving to Lancaster University. During a long stay here he created with colleague Mike Kirkwood a well-designed beginners intensive language course to degree level, and developed interests in translation theory, Russian lexicology and substandard Russian (slang). On taking early retirement he worked in Russian adult education as before and also as a professional translator, and lectured on English linguistics and English studies for periods of 1-2 months per year in universities in St Petersburg, Moscow and Khabarovsk / Birobidzhan.

March 2023

Saturday 4 March 2023, 11.00 - 16.00
Event: SCRSS Library Opening

Library opening for SCRSS members - other visitors strictly by appointment only. Access the library collections and borrow books from the Literature and Quick Loan sections. Surplus book stock is also usually available for a small donation. Tea and coffee available. Members may attend without prior notification - please bring your membership card.

From Thursday 30 March 2023 for 10 weeks, 18.00 - 20.00
Zoom Online Evening Class: Russian Language for Good Intermediate Level

Rolling 10-week Zoom evening class, taught by Christine Barnard, former lecturer in Russian at Westminster University. The group is friendly, informal and strictly non-competitive. One hour free conversation, one hour reading, with a short break in-between. The group will read a variety of short stories and short extracts from longer books. Current availability for new members to join the class - for more information or to request a free one-session trial, email Christine Barnard direct on rtstrans1@gmail.com. Fee for 10 weeks: £40.00 (SCRSS members only).

April 2023

Saturday 1 April 2023, 11.00 - 16.00
Event: SCRSS Library Opening

Library opening for SCRSS members - other visitors strictly by appointment only. Access the library collections and borrow books from the Literature and Quick Loan sections. Surplus book stock is also usually available for a small donation. Tea and coffee available. Members may attend without prior notification - please bring your membership card.

Tuesday 4 April 2023, 19.00
Zoom Online Lecture: Assiya Issemberdiyeva on The Wartime Evacuation of Soviet Cinema and the National Question

In late 1941, all Soviet central film studios started evacuation to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Hence virtually all major Soviet wartime films were produced in Central Asia. Local functionaries considered the evacuation as an opportunity to develop national cinema/s, and to promote visibility of local culture/s, while the Committee for Cinematography Under the Sovnarkom of the Soviet Union resisted, with its pre-existing agendas prioritised. Alongside wartime hardships, this created uneasiness behind the facade of a united and harmonised production.

The Soviet press initially labelled the evacuation as a chance to create a Soviet Hollywood in Central Asia, yet while the studios were successful in making a number of important films during the war (She Defends the Motherland, 1943; Rainbow, 1944; Ivan the Terrible, 1944, etc), as soon as circumstances allowed, they hurried back.

Records at the Tashkent and Almaty archives attest to local officials' many attempts to have local stories filmed, actors involved in the evacuated studios, and cadres trained - but the results were negligible. Among these are works rarely discussed in academia, such as Dziga Vertov's Kazakh-themed film To You, Front (1942), Yakov Protazanov's Adventures in Bukhara (1943), and footage of Sergei Eisenstein's meeting with Kazakh intelligentsia. While the local officials and artists hoped to contest the centralisation of the Soviet system and its emphasis on Slavic peoples, most scripts were turned down as film officials were reluctant to make films on Central Asian themes. These failures suggest that, despite the internationalist aspirations of the Soviet state, there remained a deep-seated disregard for Central Asia as merely 'Russia's Orient'.

This talk will re-evaluate the evacuation from a Central Asian perspective, and discuss the tensions between central and local aspirations, briefly note the major films of the period, as well as local-themed productions, and shed some light on 'national' scripts and films that were either postponed or turned down.

Assiya Issemberdiyeva is a PhD student in Visual Cultures at Queen Mary University of London. She holds a fully funded Collaborative Doctoral Award from the London Arts and Humanities Partnership, a doctoral training program funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Her thesis, supervised by Professor Jeremy Hicks and Dr Guy Westwell, explores the representation (and its British reception) of Central Asian identities in wartime Soviet cinema. Assiya studied Films (MA) at Queen Mary University of London, and Journalism (BA, MA) at the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University. She has written extensively on film for the Kazakhstani press, programmed the Kazakh Film Week in London (2019, 2021), has led a course on film language (2022, Internews), and presents a TV show KinoScope for El Arna (Kazakhstan).

May 2023

Saturday 6 May 2023, 11.00 - 16.00
Event: SCRSS Library Opening

Library opening for SCRSS members - other visitors strictly by appointment only. Access the library collections and borrow books from the Literature and Quick Loan sections. Surplus book stock is also usually available for a small donation. Tea and coffee available. Members may attend without prior notification - please bring your membership card.

Saturday 13 May 2023 11.00 - 13.00
In-person Event: SCRSS Annual General Meeting

Held at the SCRSS office. SCRSS members only. Note: the lecture by SCRSS Honorary Archivist Jane Rosen at 14.00 (see below) is free to members who attend the AGM.

Saturday 13 May 2023, 14.00
In-person Lecture: Jane Rosen on The Co-operators, the Peacemakers and the Enigmas: Women in the SCR

In-person talk at the SCRSS office by Jane Rosen, SCRSS Honorary Archivist.

Women were central to the formation of the Society for Cultural Relations Between the Peoples of the British Commonwealth and the USSR (SCR) in 1924. Looking at the list of the Society's original supporters, we find that thirteen of them were women. It is not the majority, but for the time it is a significant number. The first executive committee of the Society consisted of five women out a total of ten members. And three of the women held the highest offices - Chair, Vice Chair and Hon Secretary: the Co-operator, the Peacemaker and the Enigma.

Based on her work in the SCRSS Archive and research for the preparation of the book to mark the Society's centenary in 2024, Jane Rosen examines the contribution of these women and others who have played an important role in its formation, development and survival. The talk will discuss key players, placing them in the context of their wider work and their efforts to ensure the continuing exchange of cultural, professional and scientific developments between the two countries, even under the most difficult circumstances.

Booking: Via Eventbrite or tickets available on the door. Free to SCRSS members who attend the preceding Annual General Meeting at 11.00. Otherwise normal ticket prices apply: £3.00 (SCRSS members), £5.00 (non-members).

June 2023

Saturday 3 June 2023, 11.00 - 16.00
Event: SCRSS Library Opening

Library opening for SCRSS members - other visitors strictly by appointment only. Access the library collections and borrow books from the Literature and Quick Loan sections. Surplus book stock is also usually available for a small donation. Tea and coffee available. Members may attend without prior notification - please bring your membership card.

From Thursday 22 June 2023 for 10 weeks, 18.00 - 20.00
Zoom Online Evening Class: Russian Language for Good Intermediate Level

Rolling 10-week Zoom evening class, taught by Christine Barnard, former lecturer in Russian at Westminster University. The group is friendly, informal and strictly non-competitive. One hour free conversation, one hour reading, with a short break in-between. The group will read a variety of short stories or short extracts from longer books, with suggestions welcome. Current text is Petya i volk, followed by Tyotya Dyadi Fyodora. Current availability for new members to join the class - for more information or to request a free one-session trial, email Christine Barnard direct on rtstrans1@gmail.com. Fee for 10 weeks: £40.00 (SCRSS members only).

July 2023

Saturday 1 July 2023, 11.00 - 16.00
Event: SCRSS Library Opening

Library opening for SCRSS members - other visitors strictly by appointment only. Access the library collections and borrow books from the Literature and Quick Loan sections. Surplus book stock is also usually available for a small donation. Tea and coffee available. Members may attend without prior notification - please bring your membership card.

August 2023

Note: There will be no first-Saturday-of-the-month library opening in August.

September 2023

Saturday 2 September 2023, 11.00 - 16.00
Event: SCRSS Library Opening

Library opening for SCRSS members - other visitors strictly by appointment only. Access the library collections and borrow books from the Literature and Quick Loan sections. Surplus book stock is also usually available for a small donation. Tea and coffee available. Members may attend without prior notification - please bring your membership card.

From Thursday 7 September 2023 for 10 weeks, 18.00 - 20.00
Zoom Online Evening Class: Russian Language for Good Intermediate Level

Rolling 10-week Zoom evening class, taught by Christine Barnard, former lecturer in Russian at Westminster University. The group is friendly, informal and strictly non-competitive. One hour free conversation, one hour reading, with a short break in-between. The group will read a variety of short stories or short extracts from longer books, with suggestions welcome. Current text is Petya i volk, followed by Tyotya Dyadi Fyodora. Current availability for new members to join the class - for more information or to request a free one-session trial, email Christine Barnard direct on rtstrans1@gmail.com. Fee for 10 weeks: £40.00 (SCRSS members only).

Wednesday 27 September 2023, 18.00 - 19.00
Zoom Online Talk: Sergei Abramovich on Tsifrovaya Rossiya: kogda goroda stanut umnymi i kakie nuzhny dlya etogo tekhnologii (Digital Russia: when will cities become smart and the technology needed for this)

Special free event for SCRSS members only.

A 45-minute illustrated talk in Russian, with 15 minutes of Q&A, aimed at SCRSS members with a good understanding of spoken Russian.

The idea of creating a fully digital city has been discussed by governments worldwide for some time, but no one has managed to realise this to date. Technology is crucial to provide accessible digital services in key areas of everyday life such as transport, finance and trade, the social sphere, media and the government sector. Sergei Abramovich is a Russia-based specialist in IT and ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance). He will discuss when such cities are likely to appear in Russia and what is hindering their development, as well as highlighting a number of examples, from Moscow and across to the Russian Far East.

Full details in Russian, including the speaker's biography, are available on Eventbrite.

Booking: via Eventbrite. Free event, SCRSS members only. Access to this online event is via Eventbrite, so you'll need to have set up a free account with Eventbrite, using the same email address you use to book the event. Once booked, you'll receive a confirmation email with a link to the Eventbrite page for this event, where a launch button will become active shortly before the event start. The SCRSS usually also sends a reminder email nearer the date with a direct link to the Zoom meeting.

After the event, a link to the online ecording of this talk will be sent to all members who book (available for up to 30 days).

October 2023

Wednesday 4 October 2023, 18.00 - 19.00
Zoom Online Talk: Charlie Buxton on Civil Society in Central Asia at a Time of Conflict

The five Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan formed part of the Soviet Union until 1991, when they gained their independence. Today, they receive little coverage in the Western media and many British people would struggle to locate them on a map. Yet Central Asia is an important region politically, economically and strategically - bordered by the Russian Federation to the north, the Caspian Sea to the west, Iran and Afghanistan to the south, and China to the east. While each country has followed its own path since 1991, regionally they have worked together through the Commonwealth of Independent States, and they have many similar features in political, economic and social development.

Economically, China is the biggest investor in Central Asia today through its global Belt and Road programme. The Russian Federation, in contrast, retains an important political and security role, also providing a destination for mass work migration from the region. Western countries' influence has grown and waned over the independence period, covering trade, business and good government promotion, infrastructure and civil society development through NGOs. The poorer countries in the region (Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) remain heavily dependent on Western funding.

The main discourse in Western political and academic circles regarding civil society in Central Asia is about 'authoritarian regimes' and the 'shrinking space' for NGOs. This is despite long-term efforts to build multi-party and parliamentary systems in several countries, the active role of NGOs and human rights groups, and highly contested transfers of political power in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, for example.

In his talk Charlie Buxton gives an introduction to recent events and tendencies in Central Asian civil society generally, and Kyrgyzstan in particular (the most open country in Central Asia in this respect) against the background of growing international tensions, bringing his overview up to date with the implications for Central Asia of the USA's and its allies' withdrawal from Afghanistan and the continuing Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Booking: via Eventbrite (booking now open). Normal ticket prices apply. Access to this online event is via Eventbrite, so you'll need to have set up a free account with Eventbrite, using the same email address you use to book the event. Once booked, you'll receive a confirmation email with a link to the Eventbrite page for this event, where a launch button will become active shortly before the event start. The SCRSS usually also sends a reminder email nearer the date with a direct link to the Zoom meeting. After the event, a link to the online recording of this talk will be sent to all those who book (available for up to 30 days).

Charlie Buxton has lived in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, since 2002 and is director of Books for Development (Knigi dlya razvitiya), a locally registered public foundation (www.books4develop.org), set up in 2019. With degrees in Russian and Sociology of Literature, he has worked for almost 40 years in the voluntary sector – 20 in the UK, 20 in the Former Soviet Union. From 2002-18 he was the representative for Central Asia at the International NGO Training & Research Centre (INTRAC), working as programme manager, consultant and trainer with a host of different international and local NGOs. He is the author of three books on the role of civil society in development processes in the region, including Ragged Trousered NGOs: Development Work under Neoliberalism (Routledge, 2019) and Russia and Development (Zed Books, 2014).

Saturday 7 October 2023, 11.00 - 16.00
Event: SCRSS Library Opening CANCELLED due to lack of volunteers

Wednesday 11 October 2023, 19.00 - 20.00
Zoom Online Talk: Dr James C Pearce on Soviet Memories of Rus': Why The Soviet State Needed the Golden Ring Cities

In the late 1960s, several forces came together almost by coincidence. Local preservation societies, artists, journalists, the Soviet state and the population's desire to escape modernity all gave birth to a new tourist route around Russia's ancient heartlands. A collection of provincial cities became known overnight as the Golden Ring. Promoted to tourists as a unique place to catch a glimpse of a forgotten golden age, its picturesque landscapes with gold-topped churches didn't seem a likely place for the Marxist state to champion. Yet, since the time of Ivan III, the legitimacy of the Muscovite state rested on the Golden Ring's legacy. What many inside Russia and abroad associate with the Russian folk culture originated from this region. National heroes, the autocracy and very crucial moments from Russia's past ran through the Golden Ring. Joseph Stalin had already tried to resurrect their memory and reframe it within a Soviet context. But by the late Soviet era, its churches and monasteries were falling into disrepair and decay. The economy was getting sluggish, particularly in the regions, and the people wanted something more than slogans. Just like the USSR, the spiritual and cultural centres of Old Rus' needed a renewal.

Booking: via Eventbrite (booking now open). Normal ticket prices apply. Access to this online event is via Eventbrite, so you'll need to have set up a free account with Eventbrite, using the same email address you use to book the event. Once booked, you'll receive a confirmation email with a link to the Eventbrite page for this event, where a launch button will become active shortly before the event start. The SCRSS usually also sends a reminder email nearer the date with a direct link to the Zoom meeting. After the event, a link to the online recording of this talk will be sent to all those who book (available for up to 30 days).

Dr James C Pearce is a cultural historian of Russia at the College of West Anglia. Dr Pearce previously worked at the University of Liverpool and the College of the Marshall Islands, and lived in Russia for almost a decade. He is the author of The Use of History in Putin’s Russia (Vernon Press, 2020), and has written on Russian memory politics, historical narratives, education policy and historical anniversaries. He is currently writing a history of Russia’s Golden Ring Cities and has written for a number of prominent outlets, including The Moscow Times and New Eastern Europe Magazine.

Wednesday 18 October, 2023, 18.00 - 19.00
Zoom Online Talk: Professor Igor Nabok on Korennye, malochislennye narody Severa, Sibiri i Dal'nego Vostoka Rossii - Istoriya i sovremennost' (The Indigenous Small-Numbered Peoples of the Russian Far North, Siberia and Far East - Past and Present)

Free event for SCRSS members only.

A 45-minute illustrated talk in Russian, with 15 minutes of Q&A, aimed at SCRSS members with a good understanding of spoken Russian.

Forty-three indigenous small-numbered peoples live in the Russian North across a huge territory stretching from the Kola Peninsula to Chukhotka, Kamchatka and Sakhalin, including the Arctic. Each group comprises less than 50,000 people, with an overall population of 244,000 according to the 2022 census. These indigenous peoples live on the same land as their ancestors and have preserved a unique and traditional way of life, based on reindeer herding, hunting, beekeeping, fishing, gathering, and the creation of folk handicrafts. Some of the indigenous peoples are nomadic. The talk will include photo materials showing folk art, traditional artifacts, and a short clip of the folk dance ensemble Severnoe siyanie (Northern Lights).

After the event, a link to the online recording of this talk will be sent to all members who book (available for up to 30 days).

November 2023

Saturday 4 November 2023, 11.00 - 16.00
Event: SCRSS Library Opening

Library opening for SCRSS members - other visitors strictly by appointment only. Access the library collections and borrow books from the Literature and Quick Loan sections. Surplus book stock is also usually available for a small donation. Tea and coffee available. Members may attend without prior notification - please bring your membership card.

Wednesday 8 November 2023, 19.00 - 20.00
Zoom Online Talk: Colin Turbett on A People's History of the Cold War: Stories from East and West

Colin Turbett gives an illustrated talk on his new book A People's History of the Cold War (Pen & Sword Books, 2023). The book is an attempt to provide readers from the Western side of the Cold War divide with an alternative narrative to that typically found in the multiple histories found in libraries and bookshops - often by well-known authors whose accounts are taken for granted as impartial and factual.

Western Cold War histories start with a misleading interpretation of events at the end of the Second World War and proceed on the basis of Soviet intent on invasion of Europe and then the world. This view is inevitably generous towards the aggressive actions of the West - driven by the economic imperative of the Military Industrial Complex rather than any quest for peace. This eventually shaped political and economic decisions in the USSR, and resulted in its downfall - it simply could not compete with either US military spending, or the consumerist aspirations of its own citizens that also flowed from the West. The book takes the reader through the post-colonial and other military flare-ups from Korea to Afghanistan and, although highly critical of the US and NATO, does not spare the USSR's leadership from criticism over their failed attempts to extend and save 'really existing socialism'. Although the book was largely completed before the present conflict in Ukraine, it provides some useful background to events since the end of the Cold War.

Booking: via Eventbrite (booking now open). Normal ticket prices apply. Access to this online event is via Eventbrite, so you'll also need to have set up a free account with Eventbrite, using the same email address you use to book the event. Once booked, you'll receive a confirmation email with a link to the Eventbrite page for this event, where a launch button will become active shortly before the event start. The SCRSS usually also sends a reminder email nearer the date with a direct link to the Zoom meeting. After the event, a link to the online recording of this talk will be sent to all those who book (available for up to 30 days).

Colin Turbett is a long-time socialist and activist rather than professional historian. He sees the recent past through the eyes of an actor, basing the book on the first-hand accounts of other ordinary actors rather than the usual narratives. Colin's new book, with photographs providing a flavour of the post-war era in both East and West, therefore treads a path found in his other social histories of the period published by Pen & Sword Books (Red Star at War: Victory at All Costs, 2020; The Anglo-Soviet Alliance: Comrades and Allies During WW2, 2021; Soviets in Space: The People of the USSR and the Race to the Moon, 2021).

Saturday 11 November 2023, 14.00 - 16.00
In-Person Event: Jean Turner Memorial Event for SCRSS Members Only

Jean Turner (1929-2023) served as Secretary, Honorary Secretary and Honorary Treasurer of the Society from 1985 until her death earlier this year, aged 93. She was also Honorary Secretary of the Soviet Memorial Trust Fund (SMTF, now the Soviet War Memorial Trust), from 1997 to 2006, continuing as a Trustee until February 2023. She was at the helm through the perestroika period in the 1980s, as a new period of intense interest in the USSR took hold in this country, before navigating the Society through the resulting break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 to reconfirm its continuation under a new name (SCRSS). The SCRSS was instrumental in bringing together interested parties through the SMTF to establish the Soviet War Memorial in London in 1999, and Jean was the prime mover in the project - from early planning and fundraising through to the Memorial's official unveiling in 1999. And Jean's 38 years of leadership helped ensure the Society has survived to celebrate its Centenary next year (2024).

The afternoon event will include speakers, a small exhibition, a memory book of condolences, drinks and buffet.

Attendance: All SCRSS members are invited.

The event is organised by the SCRSS and Jean's family.

Saturday 18 November 2023, 14.00 - 16.00
In-Person Talk and Book Launch: Kate Clark on Twilight of the Soviet Union: Memoirs of a Moscow Correspondent

Joint event SCRSS - Marx Memorial Library: talk and book-signing, with refreshments, held in-person at the SCRSS centre. Books can be paid for in cash or by debit card.

Kate Clark discusses her new book Twilight of the Soviet Union, published by Bannister Publications (2023).

Kate, her husband Ricardo and their three children arrived in Moscow, as the new Moscow correspondent for the Morning Star, in February 1985. Within days, the Soviet Union's elderly leader Konstantin Chernenko died and the younger, energetic Mikhail Gorbachov came to power.

Kate’s new book tells of the immense changes begun then, setting in train centrifugal forces that became uncontrollable. In six short years these led to the dissolution of the USSR.

How did it happen? Why did it happen? Was it inevitable? As a journalist, Kate witnessed it all from beginning to end, and her book tells the story. Alongside documenting the country's momentous political and social changes, Kate gives a vivid picture of her family's life in the USSR - from having three children at a Soviet school to the frustrations of everyday life. Her travels to different parts of the vast country, which she loves, provide a fascinating backdrop to the book.

Booking: either pre-book via Eventbrite or tickets available on the door. Note: the event is in-person only at the SCRSS centre in Brixton. Normal ticket prices apply (£3.00 SCRSS members, £5.00 non-members)..

Kate Clark studied Russian at the University of Manchester in the early 1960s and, following two years' work as a translator, won a scholarship from the Society for Cultural Relations with the USSR (SCR) to study Russian at Moscow State University in 1967-68. In Moscow she met her future husband, Ricardo Figueroa, a university lecturer from Chile. She and Ricardo lived in Chile from 1969-74, but were forced to leave the country following the Pinochet coup in 1973 and came to Britain in 1974. After the birth of her children in the late 1970s, Kate taught Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh, was a tutor at the Open University and taught Russian at the SCR in London. From 1985-90 Kate and her family moved to Moscow, where Kate worked as a Moscow correspondent for the Morning Star during the Gorbachov period, while also contributing a weekly column about the changes in the USSR to The Scotsman from 1989-90 under the pen name Tess Armand. Returning to the UK in 1989, Kate worked on a BBC television series about the perestroika period, Second Russian Revolution. She taught Russian at the Universities of Westminster and Greenwich, and joined the BBC World Service in 1993 as the Russian Service's Deputy Features Editor, before setting up a translation agency in 1996. Now retired, Kate's publications include her translation of Women in Russia (Verso, 1994) and, as author, Chile: Reality and Prospects of Popular Unity (Lawrence & Wishart,1972) and Chile in my Heart (Bannister Publications, 2013). Her new book Twilight of the USSR is published in 2023.

Wednesday 29 November 2023, 19.00 - 20.00
Zoom Online Talk: Helen Mercer on James Aldridge: A Real Literary Idol of Soviet Readers

In 1984 the Society for Cultural Relations with the USSR (SCR), together with the National Book League, organised a very successful travelling exhibition of British Books Translated into Russian and Other Languages of the Soviet Union. The accompanying catalogue provided statistics on Soviet publications of translations of British authors. James Aldridge topped the list of contemporary novelists: his works had been published 67 times with a total of 5,738,000 copies in 11 languages.

James Aldridge was born in Australia in 1918 and died in London in 2015. By 1940 he had become a respected war correspondent, covering the fighting in Finland, Greece, Egypt, the Middle East and the Soviet Union. His first novels, on aspects of the fighting in Greece and Crete, were published during the Second World War, post war he focused on his novel writing.

Although his earlier novels were instant best-sellers and although over sixty years he won several literary prizes, Aldridge was never a well-known author in the West. This may be due to the fact that, according to his own report, by the time he was 16 he had adopted a Marxist outlook that was to inform all his work.

Internationally his work for peaceful relations with the socialist countries won him recognition. Seventy years ago in 1953 the World Peace Council awarded him the Gold Medal for his 1949 novel The Diplomat, a book espousing the cause of Iranian independence. Fifty years ago in 1973 he received the Lenin Peace Prize for “his outstanding struggle for the preservation of peace".

This talk will outline the tenor and message of Aldridge’s novels and provide an insight into the basis of Aldridge’s popularity in the Soviet Union. It will reflect on his attitude to the USSR and his work in support of the SCR.

Booking: via Eventbrite (booking now open). Normal ticket prices apply. Access to this online event is via Eventbrite, so you'll need to have set up a free account with Eventbrite, using the same email address you use to book the event. Once booked, you'll receive a confirmation email with a link to the Eventbrite page for this event, where a launch button will become active shortly before the event start. The SCRSS usually also sends a reminder email nearer the date with a direct link to the Zoom meeting. After the event, a link to the online recording of this talk will be sent to all those who book (available for up to 30 days).

Helen Mercer is a retired teacher and lecturer who has published professionally on British postwar economic history. She has been an active member of the peace movement since the 1980s and has a special interest in the history of the Cold War, contributing to a critique of British textbooks' portrayal of that history. As a campaigner for the NHS, she has contributed to research on the effects of the Private Finance Initiative. In retirement she writes occasional pieces for the Morning Star and online websites and blogs. Her research into James Aldridge is a recent interest inspired by the message of peace and anti-colonialism in his books.

December 2023

From Thursday 30 November 2023 for 10 weeks (with a break in January - see below), 18.00 - 20.00
Zoom Online Evening Class: Russian Language for Good Intermediate Level

Rolling 10-week Zoom evening class, taught by Christine Barnard, former lecturer in Russian at Westminster University. Note: The term runs from 30 November to 21 December 2023, then breaks until 25 January 2024 when it resumes for the remaining 6 weeks until 29 February 2024. The group is friendly, informal and strictly non-competitive. One hour free conversation, one hour reading, with a short break in-between. The group will read a variety of short stories or short extracts from longer books, with suggestions welcome. The current text is Tyotya dyadi Fyodora. There is availability for new members to join the class - for more information or to request a free one-session trial, email Christine Barnard direct on rtstrans1@gmail.com. Fee for 10 weeks: £40.00 (SCRSS members only).

Saturday 2 December 2023, 11.00 - 14.30
Event: SCRSS Library Opening

Library opening for SCRSS members - other visitors strictly by appointment only. Access the library collections and borrow books from the Literature and Quick Loan sections. Surplus book stock is also usually available for a small donation. Tea and coffee available. Members may attend without prior notification - please bring your membership card. Please note: the library will close at 14.30 due to the SCRSS Centenary Launch and Christmas Party taking place from 14.30 - 17.00 (see below).

Saturday 2 December 2023, 14.30 - 17.00
In-Person Event: SCRSS Centenary Launch and Christmas Party for SCRSS Members Only

Come and join us to celebrate Christmas and launch the SCRSS's Centenary Year 2024!

Our Society was founded on 9 July 1924 as the Society for Cultural Relations between the Peoples of the British Commonwealth and the USSR (SCR). Next year, in July 2024, we celebrate our Centenary.

This informal afternoon event will kickstart our Centenary with a short introduction to what's in store next year: a new history of the SCRSS, written by our Honorary Archivist Jane Rosen; an exhibition; and a party on 6 July 2024 - the closest Saturday to the date of our foundation.

At today's event there will also a small exhibition, a buffet and drinks (wine and soft drinks), and plenty of time to mingle and chat with fellow members and SCRSS Trustees.

Attendance: This free event is for SCRSS members (and their partners) only.

For more information on our SCR / SCRSS history, visit About Us.

January 2024

Please note: there is no Saturday library opening in January 2024.

From Thursday 25 January 2024 - 29 February 2024, 18.00 - 20.00
Zoom Online Evening Class: Russian Language for Good Intermediate Level

Rolling 10-week Zoom evening class, taught by Christine Barnard, former lecturer in Russian at Westminster University. Note: this is the remaining 6 weeks of the term that started on 30 November 2023, following a break. The group is friendly, informal and strictly non-competitive. One hour free conversation, one hour reading, with a short break in-between. The group will read a variety of short stories or short extracts from longer books, with suggestions welcome. The current text is Tyotya dyadi Fyodora. There is availability for new members to join the class - for more information or to request a free one-session trial, email Christine Barnard direct on rtstrans1@gmail.com. Fee for 10 weeks: £40.00 (SCRSS members only).

February 2024

Saturday 3 February 2024, 11.00 - 16.00
Event: SCRSS Library Opening

Library opening for SCRSS members - other visitors strictly by appointment only. Access the library collections and borrow books from the Literature and Quick Loan sections. Surplus book stock is also usually available for a small donation. Tea and coffee available. Members - please bring your membership card.

SCRSS exhibition poster - Soviet Modernist Art and Design 1917 - 1991(copyright SCRSS)