What did you say?
Alexander Herzen

“Do you truly wish to condemn all human beings alive today to the sad role of caryatids supporting a floor for others some day to dance on?” — 1847

- Alexander Herzen
Conversations on Communism 1: Frank Walbank

Conversations on Communism 1: Frank Walbank

Posted on Nov 20, 2016 in

Robert Lister speaks to Henry Stead about the Marxist ancient historian Frank Walbank at the British Library 27.10.2016 as part of the ‘Conversations on Communsim’ series of podcasts for Brave New Classics and Classics Confidential.

and my story begins in Russia… #2

and my story begins in Russia… #2

Posted on Oct 21, 2016 in Uncategorized

On the ‘Red Arrow’ — a famous Soviet-period overnight train between St Petersburg and Moscow — I shared a cabin with a kindly man named Igor. His English vocabulary extended to the words ‘dog’ and ‘bed’, which got us only so far. The crowning moment of our communication came when he showed me a photo on his […]

And my story begins in Russia…

And my story begins in Russia…

Posted on Sep 15, 2016 in Uncategorized

I’ve just got back to London after a month in Russia. The picture above is the front of Finlandskiy Station, St. Petersburg, where in October 1917 Vladimir Lenin rolled in to begin the Revolution that rocked the world. For the first three weeks I lived just off the famous Nevskiy Prospekt, St. Petersburg, where I studied Russian for […]