📚Anti-apartheid literature in the Soviet Union

Anti-apartheid writer Peter Abrahams (1919–2017) was well-known in the Soviet Union. His novel “The Path of Thunder” first was translated into Russian in 1949 and was reprinted many times until the late 1980s with hundreds of thousands of copies.

In the Soviet Union this South African work was used by the Soviet Ministry of Education to learn English. Even a textbook for English learners was based on this novel.

📒 Abrahams was inspired by Afro-American realist fiction. Es’kia Mphahlele noted that for black writers in South Africa “realism burst into full blossom” in the 1940s. Abrahams’ novels continued Mphahlele “were to provide an inspiration for later fiction – that of the next decade.” In South Africa Abrahams became a role model for black journalists and fiction writers of the 1950s.

Richard Rive, a prominent South African author and academic, believed that Abrahams’s realism also comes from the social realist traditions of the prose produced in the Soviet Union in the first half of the twentieth century. Rive pointed out that “Abrahams was intent on showing social conflict in the broad, political sense of the word.”

In the Soviet Union, where South African fiction often had bigger print runs that in South Africa, “The Path of Thunder” became the first widely known African novel. Through Abrahams’s work readers in the Soviet Union were first introduced to anti-apartheid fiction, long before they read novels by Alex La Guma, Andre Brink or Nadine Gordimer.

Moreover, “The Path of Thunder: was adapted for ballet by Azerbaijani composer Gara Garayev in 1957. The ballet was performed at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad. In 1956, in Armenia, Stepan Kevorkov and Erasm Karamyan directed a drama based on Abrahams’s novel, which was seen by millions of people across the Soviet Union.

The materials provided by the Center for Southern Africa Studies of the Institute (https://www.inafran.ru/en/).

#pagesofcommonhistory #russia #sovietunion #russiasouthafrica #ussr #humanrightsday #africa #literature

🚘 Soviet and Russian motor vehicles in South Africa

The Lada Niva, a Soviet-made four-wheel-drive vehicle, first became available in South Africa in 1988. As the anti-apartheid sanctions were in force, the Soviet Union did authorise exports to South Africa. Hundreds of Nivas were imported from Western Europe, without after-market support. Only after South Africa’s transition to democracy authorised imports, supported by nationwide marketing campaigns, began.

In the late 1990s, the cars were shipped directly from Russia, with a full range of spares and technical support. The inexpensive and practical all-terrainer was welcomed by car enthusiasts in South Africa.

🚙 The ability to perform over rugged terrain and its affordability made the Lada Niva an excellent choice for South Africans. The economical car had permanent four-wheel-drive, five-speed gearbox with high and low range and a diff lock. For a small recreational vehicl, it had a huge fuel tank. Its 1.7-litre four-cylinder engine delivered 127Nm of torque.

The slightly modified Niva, now known as Lada Legend, is still produced in Russia and exported to several countries in Asia and Africa. The car, originally developed for Russia’s rural areas and launched in 1976, was the first mass-produced off-road vehicle with a monocoque structure and a permanent all-wheel-drive system.

The Lada took part in the Paris–Dakar Rally and reached the North Pole, the Antarctic and Everest. Nowadays, the Lada Niva/Legend is the world’s longest-running 4x4 still in production in its original form.

🛞 It has also enjoyed enthusiast societies on several continents. The Lada Owners Club of Southern Africa was formed in 2000. It has continued to operate after 2003 when the Lada Niva imports were discontinued. The club’s official Facebook group has nearly four thousand members: https://www.facebook.com/groups/LOCSA/

The materials provided by the Center for Southern Africa Studies of the Institute (https://www.inafran.ru/en/).

#pagesofcommonhistory #russia #sovietunion #russiasouthafrica #ussr #humanrightsday #africa

🪖Mikhail Kalashnikov, the inventor of the iconic AK-47 automatic rifle, and South Africa

We continue the series of joint publications with the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Russia - South Africa in the XX century: pages of common history", timed to the 300th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the 65th anniversary of the Institute, as well as the 30th anniversary of the first democratic elections in South Africa.

🇿🇦 The Soviet engineer Mikhail Kalashnikov designed the AK-47 (the Avtomat Kalashnikova), a weapon that gained an iconic status during wars of liberation worldwide including South Africa.

The 78-year-old major-general said that he produced the AK-47 after the Second World War to help protect the borders of his country. Decades later the light automatic gun with a short barrel meant to be fired from the hip or shoulder became the preferred weapon of South Africa’s freedom fighters. The Soviet Union provided AK-47s to the ANC military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe. By the time of Kalashnikov’s trip to South Africa in 1997 approximately 70 million AK-47s had been produced. The rifle’s popularity with anti-apartheid fighters stemmed from its robust durability.

The inventor of the legendary rifle travelled to South Africa to mark the 50th anniversary of his best-known design, the world’s most popular automatic rifle AK-47. “The main purpose of my work,” - as he recounted to a South African journalist - “was to design a sub-machine gun for soldiers who did not graduate from military academies. I wanted them to have simple and reliable weapons in their hands.”

During his stay Kalashnikov visited the factory in Pretoria where the Vektor R4, the standard service rifle of the South African Defence Force, was produced. He also spent several days in Western Cape attending a function in his honour at the Castle in Cape Town and hunting springbok at a game farm near Ceres. He was impressed by the friendly disposition of South Africans towards Russia, their optimism, similar problems of building a democratic society.

📝The materials provided by the Center for Southern Africa Studies of the Institute (https://www.inafran.ru/en/).

#pagesofcommonhistory #russia #sovietunion #russiasouthafrica #ussr #humanrightsday #africa

🇷🇺🇿🇦⚡️A major cultural event: Days of #Russia’s Spiritual Culture in South Africa (Sept 5-8, 2024)

We’re thrilled to announce the first-ever Days of Russia’s Spiritual Culture, presented by ANO Russian Seasons and supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, kicking off on Thursday, Sept 5, in South Africa!

🎻 Grand Opening Concert by the Chamber Ensemble “Soloists of Moscow” led by world-renowned Yuri Bashmet – violist & conductor, People's Artist of the Soviet Union – will take place on Sept 5 at 19h30 at the Linder Auditorium (University of the Witwatersrand) in Johannesburg.

The playbill will include three important names for Russian music of different epochs: Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Dmitry Shostakovich, Kuzma Bodrov.

🎼 The concert program will feature:

Chamber Symphony in C minor by Dmitry Shostakovich, Serenade in C major for string orchestra op. 48 by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, and Reflections of the theme of Paganini's 24th Caprice by Kuzma Bodrov.

🎶 Soloists: Yuri Bashmet (viola), Andrey Poskrobko, Arina Shevlyakova, Olga Kolgatina, Kirill Kravtsov, Mikhail Ashurov (violin).

On Sept 6, Yuri Bashmet’s ensemble will perform at the Playhouse Theatre in Durban.

👉 Get your tickets via the LINK

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#SpiritualCultureDays
#RussiaSouthAfrica