Communism
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Former trade unionist Bodo Ramelow wins post for the Left party amid massive protests against the regional election in Thuringia
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Stephen Kotkin’s first volume in a three-part study of Stalin is both exhaustive and exhausting, writes Oliver Bullough
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Other lives: Communist who chronicled the struggle of African mineworkers during the last days of apartheid
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Cosmetics made in the USSR played their part in reinforcing ideology. Some brands still have a loyal following but a mass revival is unlikely to happen any time soon, says The Calvert Journal
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Former Soviet Union leader says tensions between US and Russia should be kept under control
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GuardianWitness blog Berlin Wall – readers' memories: 'It's hard to remember how scary the Wall was'
We’ve been asking readers to share their photos and memories of the Berlin wall. Here’s a selection -
The city of Berlin will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in November. The wall split the city from 1961 to 1989 and became the iconic symbol of the cold war. Sean Gallup has photographed locations around Berlin today to match with archive images of when the city was divided
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Philip Oltermann: The Berlin Wall fell 25 years ago, taking with it miles of artists’ graffiti. But a simpler art protest captured the wall’s power. This is a story of spies, betrayal and buckets of white paint
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Letters: If MI5 wants to know what modern-day socialist historians are thinking and doing they can read the Guardian and check our Twitter feeds
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Sam Jordison: It’s a quarter of a century since the Berlin Wall came down – so how best to explore that divided world in fiction?
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Eric Hobsbawm and Christopher Hill had phones tapped, correspondence intercepted and friends and wives monitored
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Oliver Wainwright: In the first days of communist Russia, artists created radical sets and costumes for a futuristic new era of theatre that inspired Fritz Lang and even Flash Gordon. A century on, they’re just as outrageous
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Sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, executed for passing atomic secrets to Russia, announce death of estranged uncle
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How was a widow from South Australia drawn into espionage, counterespionage and a 1952 visit to Moscow? David Horner explains in this exclusive extract from his new history of Asio
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November 9 2014 will mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. We’d like to hear from people whose lives were affected. Share your photos, memories and stories via GuardianWitness
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Alexandru Visinescu, 88, charged with crimes against humanity over conditions at brutal prison for Romanian political detainees
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From the Guardian archive From the archive, 10 September 1976: Power vacuum in China following Mao’s death
Originally published in the Guardian on 10 September 1976: Chinese radio announces the death of Chairman Mao, “the greatest Marxist of the contemporary era”
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Linda Grant: I’ve tried to live my life by the truth of this war epic: that acts of kindness define our humanity, not the -isms of ideology
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Editorial: The world’s oldest indy label has a remarkable history. Surely it’s time for a big celebratory concert?
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Rafael Behr: It wasn’t the action in Arthur Koestler’s book that excited the 19-year-old me, it was the guided tour of a totalitarian mind
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Mariela Castro felt labour code against workplace discrimination based on gender, race and sexual orientation did not go far enough
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China crackdown on Church of Almighty God over three months precedes 'cult' members' trial for woman's murder at McDonald's
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From the Guardian archive From the archive, 18 August 1962: Grim scenes at Berlin Wall as refugee left to die
Originally published in the Guardian on 18 August 1962: Peter Fechter, an 18-year-old bricklayer, was shot by East German guards as he attempted to cross the Berlin Wall a year after it was erected -
Hu Jie's documentaries tells story of students whose criticisms of Maoist excesses cost them their lives
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Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann was banned from ministries in 1985 as part of crackdown on 'Marxist thought' in Catholic church
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Few stories encapsulate China's rush from Mao to the market as well as Zhang's rise from jailed leftist to wealthy businessman
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Books blog A volume of Das Kapital becomes a $40,000 commodity fetish: what would Karl Marx have said?
The sale by Abebooks turns the monumental critique of capitalism into rich profit for one giant private owner, writes Lindesay Irvine
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Viewers see empty chair and unused microphone
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The last Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev initiated reforms that ultimately led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Here are some of the key moments:
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Previously classified documents show federal agents continued to monitor Mandela and ANC even after his release from prison
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Dr Zhivago was no masterpiece but it was at the centre of a cold war battle between the CIA and the Soviets, writes Christopher Bray
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Secret police files reveal six-figure payments to Ceausescu's henchmen, as retailer denies knowingly paying Securitate
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At 11, Carl Bromwich went from Yorkshire to Belarus to join the communist equivalent of the scouts. He told GuardianWitness about raising the red flag, camp fires and lectures on milk quotas
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Isabel Hilton on Chinese politics and culture across three continents
Economics on Monday As the Berlin Wall fell, checks on capitalism crumbled