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Soviet Union 1988, Restructuring, speeding up, and democratization will get us on track to being poor

From 1928-1973 the economy of the Soviet Union grew faster than the rival USA. After that there was a slowing down of progress. In 1986 new leader Gorbachev blamed the slowdown on Brezhnev and started a program to bring market forces into the industrial and agricultural economy. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp expressing the hope that the restructuring will succeed uses a great deal of traditional Soviet iconography. The whole point of the restructuring however was to redistribute from the lazy worker to the profit bottom line of the still state owned enterprise. The operation now had to make enough to pay salaries, full employment be dammed. The effort failed, but imagine if had worked. The full power of the authoritarian state was  utilized to get more out of and pay less to the worker. A hoped for workers paradise becomes paradise for management.

Todays stamp is issue A2731, a five kopeck stamp issued by the Soviet Union on May 5th, 1988. It was a two stamp issue in the same denomination this promoting economic reform and the other political. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used or unused. 5 kopecks is now worth .065  of an American penny. A pretty poignant example of why the reforms couldn’t work. 5 kopecks wasn’t covering the cost of sending a letter yet the system worked. Suddenly raising the postage rate to meet and beat expenses required hyper inflation and a deep decrease in demand.

There was some debate inside the Soviet Union about why things became stagnant after 1973. The obvious answer was the 1970s oil shocks that saw a large increase in output being redirected to cover energy cost, a situation shared with the west. The Soviet reformers of the 1980s had different ideas. They began calling workers work shy, lazy and drunk. They say this was allowed to happen as leadership was old, grey and out of touch. For older, grey leaders like Brezhnev and Chernencko it was an easy slur.

Gorbachev gave a speech at Togellati to describe his economic reforms. Togellati was the site of one of the biggest car factories in the world. Now employment and output is down over 80 %, the factory is owned by Renault/Nissan and most exports go to Kazakhstan, which didn’t use to be exports. The idea was that GOSPLAN in Moscow would stop mapping out production and resources, but that the enterprise after filling any government orders could sell as much as it wanted for whatever it could. The government would no longer cover shortfalls but still get any profits.

The old Stalin era GOSPLAN headquarters that used to centrally plan the economy. Now it is the Duma building

The results were just disastrous. GDP in the old Soviet Union declined 64% over the 11 years after this stamp. A few oligarchs got rich but the average worker was impoverished. Even life expectancy, which peaked at 69 in 1988 dropped to 64 in the early 2000s. In 1991 Gorbachev was deposed and the Soviet Union broke up. It would be 2004 before Russian GDP exceeded pre restructuring levels. The GDP in Russia is now more than twice the old levels but wealth is much more concentrated.

Well, my drink is empty. I will pour another to toast my fellow drunk, lazy, work shy workers out there. Our leaders should be at least trying to make our lives paradise. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2021.

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Soviet Union 1966, When showing off a minority People’s Poet goes wrong

The Soviet Union had within it many middle eastern types as a leftover from Czar time conquests, When life hands you lemons make lemonaide. So dutifully  the Soviets are talking up the literary geniuses from the hinterland. Here we get to meet Akop Akopian, a maybe Armenian poet. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Several of the literary figures on this Soviet stamp issue have later stamp issues after their region became independant. That helps confirm that the people thought the man worth remembering. That is not the case with Akop here, though Armenia has had nearly 30 years to get to this official Soviet “People’s Poet”.

Todays stamp is issue A1518, a 4 Kopek stamp issued by the Soviet Union in 1966. It was an eight stamp issue all in the same denomination. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents used.

There seems to be many name variations attached to this man. For the purposes of this offering I will use his Soviet name Akop Akopian, this has the advantage of being spellable and demonstrates the fungibility of tribe in Soviet times. Akop was born in Elisabethpol, Russia in 1867. The area had been conquered from the Persians 40 years before. The city is now called Ganja and is the second largest city in independent Azerbaijan and no longer contains the volatile soup of Armenians, Russians, or Jews. The Azeris have it to themselves now after a pogrom in the last days of the Soviet Union.

Akop published his first book of poetry in 1899 five years  before he switched to the Communist Party. He mainly worked out of Tiblisi in modern day Georgia. Into the area, Akop concentrating on bringing the Socialist Realism literary method as put forth by the Soviet Maksim Gorky. The Soviets themselves seem to be a little confused about who this guy was as at different times they bestowed the title People’s Poet of Armenia SSR, People’s Poet of Georgia SSR, and People’s Poet of the Transcaucasian Federation, SSR. Notice nothing from where he was really from.

Akop’s titles include Revolution, Red Waves, Died but didn’t Disappear, and One More Cut. That last one about blood sucking, probably really got to the heart of the matter.

Even in the Soviet Union, where the arts were so lavishly supported, Akop was forced to have a day job. He was the Chief Commissar of the Soviet Georgia State Bank. Wonder if he ever won the People’s Banker title?

Well my drink is empty. Come again soon when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2021.

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Buriatia 1990s, off to Siberia for another fake stamp

A while back I did a 1920s stamp from a place called Tannu Tuva in Asian Siberia, see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/07/24/tannu-tuva-1934-the-russian-commissars-extraordinary-have-arrived-and-brought-stamps/   . The idea for the stamps was marketed to the Soviets by a Hungarian stamp dealer. Well the 1990s saw a new round of autonomy seeking, and there were still stamp dealers out to make a quick buck on it. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Comparing this stamp to the Tannu Tuva stamp leaves me preferring the old. Though poorly printed, the stamps showed exotic writing in several languages and alphabets and views of the natives of Tannu Tuva that might expect you to run into Genghis Kahn himself on the next stamp. Whoever is doing Buriatia just shows you topical stamps that could be from anywhere.

This fake stamp is not listed in any catalog but I found the six stamp souvenir sheet of the horses for sale online for $1.99. Even in Buriatia, you cannot use any of the stamps for postage.

In 1923, the Soviets formed the Buryat-Mongol Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the same area of Asian Siberia. Most of the people then were Mongol Buddhists. The ethnic makeup allowed for Soviet era studies into the the traits of the three races in the area. Soviets, Mongol Buryats, and those of mixed parentage were studied on guidelines as to how they performed as state workers. The official results were that there was no particular advantage to any of the three ethnicities.

Over time there were ever more Soviets in the area and in 1958 the Soviets reflected that by dropping the Mongol from the title of the region. By 1990 the area was 70 percent Soviet. The Soviet Republic was refashioned into the Buryatia Republic in 1992 that remained within the then organizing Russian Federation. The leader of the republic was for the first 25 years a locally born Soviet. In 2017 President Putin appointed a new leader that was of mixed Buriatia/Russian heritage. Both mens’ career prior to politics were with the railroad, perhaps indicative of how important the Trans Siberian Railroad is to the area. The area has at best a stagnant population.

Here are some of the old Mongol states of the area prior to the Russians. Obviously peoples in desperate need of fake stamps

Well my drink is empty and if I may, I encourage the purveyor of modern fake stamps to do a better job. 99% of the people will have no idea about where your made up place is. What an opportunity to show off the truly exotic. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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Russia 1914, It is again time for young would be Ilyas to defeat the German Idolishche

Ilya of Murom was a legendary Bogatyr (knight) who rose from a sickly childhood to defeat invaders both real and mythological in the service of Vladimir the Great. His fighting over, he later became a monk and was later Beatified. Doesn’t that sound like exactly the type of person Czar Nicholas could use in his ill considered invasion of Germany? So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The visuals of this stamp are much different than most Czar era stamps. If one is going to war against a powerful rival, isn’t it better to imagine yourself a superhuman Bogatyr in the glorious service of a Royal who is Great. Well…. This stamp sold at twice the face value with the extra Kopeck helping war victims, so at least the stamp was honest about the price of war.

Todays stamp is issue SP5, a 1 Kopeck semi postal stamp issued by Russia in 1914. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $2.00.

Ilya of Murom was a real person who lived about 1000 AD. His believed remains bear out some of the stories about him. After a childhood illness, Ilya was unable to walk until the age of 33 when he was prayed over by Christian Pilgrims on their way to a Holy place. They not only healed him but gave him super human strength. Ilya decided to use his blessing to rid nearby Kiev of the foreign pagans occupying it called Idolishche. Notice that raises the Orthadox Christian Church and cast the Russians as the saviors of Ukraine. Ilya was in the service of Vladimir the Great of the Rurik Dynasty. As a Bogatyr he is credited with single handedly chasing the Idolishche from the city of Chermigov.

Ilya’s battles were not over. In fact they were about to get downright mythological. In the forests near Bryansk, Ilya faced his biggest foe, Nightingale the Robber. Nightingale was half man and half bird. He lived in trees and had an alcohol problem. He had the ability to stun people with his whistle after which he would rob them of their booze. Sounds like a job for Ilya and one that must be dealt with immediately. Ilya braved the whistle and shot his arrow twice hitting Nightingale in the eye and temple. Wounded, Ilya then took him back to Vladimir’s Castle in Kiev. Prince Vladimir wanted to hear his whistle but Nightingale was unable until he had a few glasses of liquid courage. Then he came fourth with a whistle that leveled the castle. Ilya then took him out and finished him off. Idolische and half bird men who rob you and harsh your buzz. Hmm… Germans and gypsies anyone? After Czar Nicholas defeats the Germans, he will also be considered great like Vladimir right?

Ilya’s fight with Nightingale by 20th century Soviet artist Ivan Bilibin

It is believed that the prototype for Ilya of Murom was Ilya Perchersky, a monk who had previously been a great warrior. He had the nickname, Small Boot. He had been surprised by his enemies and fought them off by hitting them with his boot. He was Beatified in 1643.

Well my drink is empty. Perhaps if I whistle, my wife would bring me another. No Ilya would not approve. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

 

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Azerbaijan 1919, there is oil, and Turks, and fake stamps in them there hills

Once a flag rises it can never fall was a slogan of Azerbaijan during it’s one year of independence in 1919. Perhaps it should have been never be sure you won’t see this flag again. In the mean time, lets print some fake stamps. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Yes todays stamp is fake. The few real stamps from the early Azerbaijan were imperforate stamps printed on an unusual yellow paper. This stamp mimics those in how the country name is presented and currency but is later. The modern real Azerbaijan stamps don’t say republique and have a different currency. Fake stamps still plaque the country but there is something fake about the real stamps. If you see the Muslim country stamp featuring John Lennon, that is real. A stamp with the Spice Girls, that is fake. Makes you wonder if the whole country is fake.

This is a fake stamp so it is not in the catalog. So therefore the stamp is priceless.

The city of Baku was taken from Persia in the early 19th century. Oil was discovered and the town became a boomtown of Czarist Russia. The area contained Muslim Turks, Persians and Christian Armenians and Russians. With the chaos that overcame Russia in 1917 the Caucus area quickly attempted to break away. The local unit of the Czarist army became the army of the area but there was much infighting between Muslims and Armenians. The Muslims had an Ottoman Turk Army in support and the Armenians allied with the Soviets. Baku fell to the Ottomans and there was an ethnic cleansing. In theory Azerbaijan became an independent Republic under local Azer writer and journalist Mammad Ammin Rasulzadeh, who I will call MAR from here on out. MAR had been an early communist but had also trafficked in Muslim separatism. A rebel with many causes. The Czar had sent him to exile in Persia where he was part of the new Iran movement against the Shah. The Shah then sent him on to Turkey where he agitated against the Ottomans. A 1913 Czar amnesty let MAR return to Baku where he was supported by Zeynalabdin Tagiyez. ZT was a contactor that stuck oil and sold out becoming one of the richest men in Russia. An independent Azerbaijan relied on an occupation Ottoman army that was withdrawn at the end of 1918 as the Ottomans were on the losing side of World War One. After a respectable period, The Red Army marched in and made Azerbaijan a Soviet Republic.

MAR as President of Azerbaijan

The Soviets showed some grace to the Azers after the reconquest. MAR had known a young Joseph Stalin when both were anti Czarist agitators and gave him a job in public relations in first Moscow and then Leningrad. MAR escaped to Finland and then Poland where he married. Another war sent him on to Romania then Turkey from where he often spoke to Azerbaijan over Voice of America. He died in 1955. ZT in view of his previous philanthropy was allowed to live out his days in his summer cottage as his other properties were seized. ZT’s second wife Sona was not so lucky. Despite being of noble birth and upbringing, in 1924 upon ZT’s death, Sona was evicted from the summer cottage and spent her remaining days  a street person in Baku. Sona died in 1938.

ZT with grandchildren a year before his death

Azerbaijan again got independence in 1992. Oil is not has plentiful as it once was probably explaining why the area no longer receives the attention of the Russian, Turkish, or Iranian army. Baku is a big city today but the Armenians and Jews that used to be a big part of life there are gone and even Russians are down below 5 percent of the population.

Well my drink is empty and my stamp fake so come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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White/South Russia 1920, Fake stamp issued by the Black Barron

It was a hopeless fight. The landowning class of Imperial Russia trying to change the fate that awaited them from the much more numerous Red Army. Could they use the old aristocratic military tradition and playing to religion to win over the people and turn the tide? So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

White Russia, renamed in retrospect South Russia, wasn’t a real country. So todays stamp was more to raise revenue and publicity for the military and political movement. The nature of the stamps, poor printing on poor paper but at the same time oversized show them not for postage but more like mini propaganda posters.

Denikin, named after the White movement’s general, are common and of little value. The exception being one of these stamps with a cancelation from actual postal use. The White movement half occupied a decent amount of territory including many post offices that mostly were not functioning but occasionally…

After the October 1917 Bolshevik revolution several former Czarist military formed a new volunteer White army to take on the new Red Army. The old Czarist army was mostly in tatters after being defeated by Germany in World War I. The Red Army, though larger, was not in good shape either. General Anton Denikin lead his forces and occupied much of Ukraine. the Caucus mountains and along the Volga river. The group appealed based on Russian patriotism and  Russian Orthodox Christian identity. The Bolsheviks were described as Jewish. In theory, a division along these lines was adventitious to the White movement, as Russia was only about 5 percent Jewish. The Bolsheviks on the other hand, while promoting atheism, had leaders that were 88 percent of Jewish background including the leader known as Trotsky who was Commandant of the Red Army.

The Black Barron

Despite receiving support from the West and from the wealthy landowning class, their forces of mostly Cossacks was not successful. The Red Army defeated the White Army at Orel 300 miles south of Moscow in October 1919. General Denikin resigned and went into exile and was replaced by General Pyotr Wrangel who the Reds made famous as the Black Barron. The force was gradually pushed back to the Crimea from which many went into exile including the Black Baron. Those that chose to remain suffered through decossackifacation  with many killed. The Black Barron himself was poisoned by his butler’s brother who was a Soviet agent while living in Belgium and working as a mining engineer. Denikin lived out his live writing memoirs in Paris and later in New York City. He lobbied against the provisions of the Yalta treaty that called for the forced repatriation of Russians in the western zone after World War II that included anti Soviet Cossacks and White Russians who were promptly executed as Denikin had warned. His daughter many years later made contact with Putin and Denikin has been rehabilitated and his remains returned to Russia and buried with honor. Among his writings from exile were discussions on the proper relations between Russia and Ukraine who he described as Great Russia and Little Russia. His work was extensively quoted by Putin during the Russian troubles with Ukraine recently. His injection of religious identity politics during the civil war in Russia means that he was considered an enemy by Israelis.

Well I am left with an empty drink glass and a fake stamp. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Russia 1958, A popular peasant poet searches for women and the bottle

You have to give credit, a poet only lives to thirty, annoys 3 different governments and 4 wives and still creates enough of a following that his poems are still enjoyed 100 years later. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

A good looking guy with sad eyes and ready with a lyrical poem at the ready will be a hit with the ladies. Sergei Yesenin was that. For this reason the postal authority took a little extra effort with the color and staging of the stamp portrait. This is easily seen in comparison to other stamps of the period honoring similar long gone figures.

Todays stamp is issue A1120, a 40 Kopek stamp issued by the Soviet Union on November 29th, 1958. It was a single stamp issue honoring the poet Sergei Yesenin. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents in its cancelled to order condition.

Sergei Yesenin was born south of Moscow in 1895 to a peasant family. His parents worked in nearby cities leaving him to be raised by his maternal grandparents. They steeped him in the Russian tradition of the lyrical poetry that would be recited and sung around rural campfires in then Imperial Russia. He was literate and began writing his own verse young and this talent allowed him to be enrolled in better schools.

Studies in Moscow and Petrograd saw Yesenin in contact with the most famous literary and artistic figures of the day. His early poems were quite religious and his first wife worked at a publisher where Yesenin was also a proofreader. Thus even before age 20 there were poems getting published and read.

The Empress Alexandra described his poems as beautiful but sad and Yesenin said in response the same thing could be said for Russia as a whole. Yesenin was later drafted into the Czarist army but refused to be published in a pro Czar book of poems. He was a man of the left and thought the Kerensky revolution did not go far enough to change Russia. He therefore supported the October revolution although there was some conflict with the urban Jewish aspect of the new regime. The Cheka and NKVD harassed him and saw to it that some of his more political poems were not published. Yesenin had meanwhile deserted the Kerensky Army and left his first wife and took up and married a popular actress of the time. The revolution in Russia had many people  wondering on the future of the institution of marriage and there was already a tradition of women staying in one place while a man takes a new wife in a new place.

Yesenin continued to see his popularity surge and he later took up with an American singer who he met in Moscow. She was 15 years his senior and he followed her back to the USA. He found the USA vapid and materialistic and was soon divorced again and back in Russia. He was also by now drinking quite heavily and his frequent run ins with the police were now more to do with his drinking than his politics.

At 30 he married a last time to the granddaughter of Tolstoy. He also tried to drink less and work on a new collection of poetry. He was found hanged naked in a hotel in Leningrad with a last poem of goodbye written in his blood as he did not have a pen. He was given a full state funeral and there were several suicides among his female fans.

There is speculation that his suicide was staged by the secret police with evidence of a struggle in his hotel room and his blood written poem having perhaps come from the year before. Either way, he died young and left a good looking corps. A good way to add to his mystique. Interestingly at the time of this stamp, 1958, some of his poems were still banned. The full collection was finally published in 1966.

Well my drink is empty and I think I will have a few more while I read a few of Yesenin’s poems translated. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

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Georgia 1920, a new socialist republic remembers an ancient Queen, while Whites, Reds, and Turks pound on the door.

Chaos in Russia allows peoples to escape the empire, only to find all around still desperate for colonies.So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The country of Georgia was new. Part of legitimacy is establishing an historic basis for a country. It would normally be unusual to feature a Royal on the stamp issue of a socialist government. Queen Tamar ruled a much larger Georgia successfully 700 years before and it was important to show a basis for a brighter future. The low quality of the stamp printing hint at the desperation of the times.

The stamp today is issue A3, a 3 Ruble stamp issued by the Democratic Republic of Georgia in 1920. It features Queen Tamar, who ruled Georgia from 1178-1213. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 65 cents mint. There are printings with inversions that are considered fraudulent. Also considered fraudulent are versions over stamped Constantinople. They were issued by the Georgian Embassy there after Georgia was conquered by the Soviets in 1921.

When the last Czar abdicated in early 1917 several areas of the Russian Empire broke off. In this, they had the support of Germany and Austria whose defeat of Russia in WWI contributed to the Czars fall. A federation with Azerbaijan and Armenia was first attempted but in 1918 it was decided that Georgia would stand independent. The land area was 70% larger than modern day Georgia but still much smaller than the Georgian Empire ruled by Queen Tamar.

Queen Tamar. Tamar was a Hebrew name, the Georgian Bagrationi Dynasty thought themselves descended from ancient Israel’s King David.

The challenges facing the new Georgia were all around. Local Bolsheviks and ethnic Ossetians caused trouble at home. Pressuring for territory were the Ottomans and Armenians to the south. An army of White Russians who were fighting both the Red Army as well as Georgia. Also the Red Army itself was trying to bring the newly independent nations back into the fold, this time labled as Soviet Republics rather than colonies.

The new Georgian government did much to build a new country. While building an army and attempting to muster foreign recognition and support, many laws were passed. There was land reform and a judiciary. Georgia was also a multiparty political state with much self rule granted minorities. German support ended at the conclusion of WWI but for a short while there was a stabilizing British presence that helped keep out the White Russians. It was still a time of great economic dislocation and hyper inflation. Notice the high denomination, Rubles not Kopecks of todays stamp. Soon the Transcaucus Ruble was replaced by a Geogian currency called a Maneti.

The lefty Second International being hosted in Tbilisi in 1918. They must have not liked what they saw. The first Georgian Prime Minister was assassinated by Bolsheviks in 1930 well into his Paris exile.

For a brief period, the Soviet Union recognized Georgian independence and borders as well. In 1921, the Soviet Army invaded and conquered Georgia. They clamed a pretext of alleged mistreatment of Georgian Bolsheviks. For 70 years, Georgia was a Soviet Socialist Republic. It still faces some of the old issues of western recognition and  managing Russian ambitions and the minority of Ossetians.

Queen Tamar ruled an empire that included much of the Caucus mountains and areas deep into modern Turkey and Ukraine. Her  rule was Orthodox Christian and coincided with a blooming of Georgian culture. She was often portrayed in Russian literature as an exotic temptress of the East. In Georgia itself, the picture was more of the mother of the country. In the 19th century, a 13th century portrait of her was discovered of her and this image was widely distributed among Georgians longing to be free of Russia. Tamar is a Hebrew name  as the then Royal House believed itself descended from ancient Israeli King David.

Well my drink is empty and so I will pour another to toast Queen Tamar. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

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The Soviets learn a great deal while on an ice drift to Greenland

A uniquely Soviet method of exploring the Artic was from drifting ice stations. The first, North Pole 1, was celebrated by todays stamp. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your hot chocolate, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Visually the poor quality of the printing lets down this stamp. That is a shame because the true story that the stamp tells has the power to be quite inspiring. In three different ways. The obvious knowledge breakthrough has to inspire the nerd in all of us. The shear bravery of venturing out into the dangerous desolation of a floating ice drift. Also the brave patriotic act of sending out icebreaker ships into dangerous waters to find and bring back the scientists and all the knowledge they have gained. To be fair to the Soviet Postal  authority, it would be difficult to convey so much on a four stamp issue.

The stamp today is issue A251, a 30 kopek stamp issued by the Soviet Union on June 21st, 1938. It features scientist Ivan Papanin and his men about to board the icebreaker ship that was to take them home after nine months on the ice station. The stamp is part of a four stamp issue celebrating the accomplishment of the successful mission. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $3.75 used. A mint imperforate version is worth $3,250.

Ivan Papanin was an explorer and scientist  who had previously lead an expedition to Franz Josef Land, an archipelago of islands north of the Soviet Union in the Artic ocean. There had been a previous theory by the Norwegian explorer Nansen of purposely letting a ship get frozen into a drifting ice block to allow it to reach artic extremes. This had been done successfully around 1910. Papanin and his Soviet team developed the idea further in the 1930s. A fully functioning science station was built on a section of drifting ice. The people and materials had been flown up by airplanes that successfully landed on the drift ice. The ice float was about 4 square kilometers and only 3 meters thick. The station contained five men. It was christened North Pole-1. It stayed in operation for nine months during which the ice station had drifted over 1700 miles.

Franz Josef Land north of Russia. It has that name because it was discovered by an Austria Hungary expedition to find the North Pole in 1872. Norway had perhaps already been there

In the days before helicopters, it was very difficult to keep up with such a station and guess as to where it might be. Two ice breakers were up to this dangerous mission. They found the ice station near Greenland and were able to evacuate the team. All of those involved were named Heroes of the Soviet Union. The expedition proved there was no large or small land mass at the North Pole.

The drifting ice station idea has continued to be used by the Soviets and still by the Russian. Some have been built on breakaway chunks of glaciers that are much less tenuous than drift ice. A few of the expeditions have lasted several years. The most recent, North Pole- 40 was in 2016.

North Pole-40 in 2016. Helicopters make it easier but not easy

Well my drink is empty so I will pour another to toast the brave men on North Pole-1 and the other brave men who got them there and saw to their return. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

 

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Russia 1979, RV Vityaz moves German refugees, studies plankton and radoactive rain

This ship, the Vityaz lead quite a life, from commercial pre war use, to end of war desperate evacuations of German civilians from soon to be not German cities, to being passed around war booty, to studying plankton, to being part of the push to end cold war nuclear testing, to hosting Jacques Cousteau and Thor Heyerdahl, to being a still existing museum ship. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The ships 40 year career in the service of three countries was coming to an end at the time of this stamp. So it made the cut on the 6 stamp research vessel stamp issue. That limits it to display it’s research work on plankton conducted by Professor Veniamin Bogorov. Perhaps one of the less interesting  periods of it’s service.

Todays stamp is issue A2271, a 2 Kopeck stamp issued by the Soviet Union on Christmas Day in 1979. It was a 6 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

The ship that became the RV Vityaz was built in Bremen as the Mars and served commercially as part of the Neptun Line. It is 360 feet long and displaces 5,700 tons. In 1942 the ship was taken over by the Kriegsmarine. In late January 1945 the Mars took part in one of the navy’s largest operations of the war, Operation Hannibal. This was the evacuation of German civilians by sea from Baltic areas facing imminent Soviet occupation. The Mars ferried civilians from Konigsberg and Pillau as they were then known to peaceful but still German occupied Copenhagen. The Mars was the last German ship to make it out of Pillau.

Civilians in 1945 evacuated by sea from Pillau, the city is now called Baltiysk and is in Russia.

Seized by the British, it briefly served the Prince line as the Empire Forth. In 1946, she was passed on to the Soviet Union and went through 3 names as it was refurbished as a research vessel and allocated to the Shirshov Institute of Oceanography as the RV Vityaz. The ship’s new home port was Vladivostok.

In the mid 1950s there was a push from the political left to ban nuclear bomb testing to avoid radiation. The Soviets proposed a moratorium. Republican American President Eisenhower kept testing. There was testing in 1957 in the Nevada desert under Operation Plumbbob that due to a malfunction sent a radioactive raincloud toward Los Angeles. Embarrassed, Eisenhower limited the time, bomb size, and number of detonations of upcoming Operation Hardtack that was to take place on, above, and below unoccupied Johnston Island in the Pacific. 15 nuclear detonations occurred including the first at ultra high altitude creating the first electromagnetic pulse. It was part of anti ballistic missile research. This time there were no misfires. The USA though was embarrassed when the RV Vityaz was able to record dangerous levels of radiation in rainfall afterward despite being many miles away. On a brighter note, there was a worry that the test so high in the atmosphere would cause a hole in the ozone layer, and that does not appear to have happened.

The crater left by a nuclear detonation during Operation Hardtack

In 1979 the ship was retired from service but received a rebuilding to serve as a museum ship. It has been open to tourists in Saint Petersburg since 1994. Plankton Professor Bogorov as also seen on the stamp is the namesake of a current research vessel in Russian service.

Well my drink is empty. Come again tomorrow when there will be another story to be learned from stamp collecting.