October 1 in Russian history. NKVD Jazz. The Communist Pater Noster.

910

1098 years ago, the Saracens besieged Constantinople. The Orthodox Christian legends say that on this day a miracle had happened:

On Sunday, October 1 at four in the morning, St. Andrew the Blessed Fool-for-Christ, who was a Slav by birth, saw the dome of the church open and the Virgin Mary enter, moving in the air above him, glowing and surrounded by angels and saints. She knelt and prayed with tears for all faithful Christians in the world. The Virgin Mary asked her son, Jesus Christ, to accept the prayers of all the people entreating him and looking for her protection. Once her prayer was completed, she walked to the altar and continued to pray. Afterwards, she spread her veil over all the people in the church as a protection.

St Andrew turned to his disciple, St. Epiphanius, who was standing near him, and asked, "Do you see, brother, the Holy Theotokos, praying for all the world?" Epiphanius answered, "Yes, Holy Father, I see it and am amazed!"

Some Christians, though, say that it happened in 10th or even 5th century, but these dates are just as good as this one :).

The christian holiday is held on this day, 1 October (14 October Old Style)

In 1158, knyaz Andrey Bogolyubsky built one of the most interesting Russian temples to commemorate the intercession, The Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin on the Nerl River.

1922

The band with an awkward name "the First Eccentric Orchestra of the Russian Federated Socialist Republic - Valentin Parnakh's Jazz Band" gave the first ever jazz concert in Russia. This day became the birthday of the Russian and Soviet jazz. Valentin Parnakh was also the first man who wrote the word 'jazz' in Russian: джаз.

By the way, the names of Soviet jazz bands were sometimes even more curious. Do you know what was the name of the first jazz band in Samara? It was "Jazz Orchestra of NKVD", directed by M. Zon-Polyakov. At the end of the war they became the first musicians who played Caravan, Stardust, Moonlight Serenade and lots of other evergreens in our city.

1938

70 years ago the State Publishing House of Political Literature published the book that became the cornerstone of the Soviet history: The Short Course of the History of VKP(b) (The All-Union Communist Party (bolsheviks)). The book was written by a special commission of the Central Committee of the Communist party. Stalin himself carefully revised the text, rewriting the parts that did not correspond to his goals. The words "Short Course" became a byword that referred to any rigid set of rules that anyone is supposed to know. It was sometimes called "the communist Pater Noster".

The first publication of the Short Course was in Pravda newspaper, since 9 September to 19 September 1938. On 1 October, the Short Course was published as a book. Groups that studied The Short Course were organized on all factories, in kolkhozes, universities, schools and even in kindergartens. Collective readings took place in the factory shops. The text was not subject to intepretation or retelling. Misquoting the Short Course was a political error.

The decree of the Central Communist of the Communist party that ensued said that the publication of the book was the largest event in the ideological life of the party, because the party had received a new mighty ideological weapon, the encyclopedia of the basic knowledge of marxism-leninism. The members of the party were now armed with the knowledge of the laws of the social evolution and the political struggle, the tool to increase the political vigilance of the communists and non-party members.

In 15 years, since 1938 to 1953, the Short Course was published in 301 editions, making the total number of more than 42 million copies.