The Soviets bugged US Embassy and Consulate typewriters with one of the world’s first keyloggers. It was a long bit of circuitry inside a supporting bar in the typewriter, capturing text by measuring magnetic disturbance as the print head moved. This was sent by radio bursts to the Soviets.
Soviet Russia
Jānis Pīnups, a Latvian patriot, was conscripted..
Jānis Pīnups, a Latvian patriot, was conscripted into and then deserted from the Red Army in 1944. Opposing the Soviet occupation of Latvia, he hid in the forest for 51 years and did not emerge until 1995, thereby avoiding ever becoming a Soviet citizen.
A Latvian man evaded the Soviets…
A Latvian man evaded the Soviets in bunkers in the woods for the entirety of the 50 year Soviet occupation. He came put when the last Soviet troops left, age 70.
“Down with handshakes!”
Soviet Russia had an anti-handshake campaign in the 1920s to fight infectious diseases. “Down with handshakes!” antique pins released by a Russian anti-handshake society can still be found.
During the Korean War, hundreds…
During the Korean War, hundreds of American pilots fought and died in a hot aerial war with the Soviet Union, which flew 75% of all fighter missions in support of North Korea. This was kept secret by both countries until the end of the Cold War to avoid pressure for confrontation.
Lydia Litvyak was the Jewish…
Lydia Litvyak was the Jewish Soviet fighter ace. During WWII she claimed 14 kills, trained 45 pilots, and shot down an ace who wouldn’t believe a woman beat him until she described the fight. She went missing on a flight Just before she was to receive the award “Hero of the Soviet Union”.
Nikolai Pavlenko, a Soviet forger…
Nikolai Pavlenko, a Soviet forger, ran a real but unauthorized construction organization in USSR. Since it was more efficient than the state ones, he was charged with undermining USSR by running an efficient organization.
Russia removed Saturday and Sunday…
Russia removed Saturday and Sunday from the calendar for 11 years to create a “continuous working week” from 1929 to 1940.
So instead of everyone having Saturday off, some people had Mondays off, others had Tuesdays off, others Wednesday, etc.
So your “Weekend” came at different points of the week so the factories didn’t stop. In theory, from a purely output perspective, it’s brilliant. But then you have to remember the radical notion that people are humans and these humans have lives and loved ones, so if you didn’t get the rest day on the same day as your partner you might not ever really get to spend time with them.
In 1954, Soviet rocket engineer Sergei…
In 1954, Soviet rocket engineer Sergei Korolev could not get funding to pursue a space program, so he planted a fake new-story claiming Russia was going to launch a satellite. The US responded that they were also going to launch one, so the Soviets then agreed to fund the program.
In 1988 the final history exams…
In 1988 the final history exams for more than 53 million Soviet schoolchildren were cancelled because much of the history they had been taught were lies.
Chess Grand Master Ossip Bernstein…
Chess Grand Master Ossip Bernstein was arrested by the Bolshevik secret police and ordered to be shot. As the firing squad lined up, an officer asked if he was really the famous chess master. The officer made Bernstein play a game for his life against him. Bernstein won easily and was released.
George Orwell’s use of 2+2=5…
George Orwell’s use of 2+2=5 as a catchphrase of the dystopian government in his book 1984 is based on Joseph Stalin’s use of that equation in propaganda. Soviet posters declared “2 + 2 plus the enthusiasm of the workers = 5” long before Orwell wrote his novel. The USSR reached the goals of that Five Year Plan in four years, therefore meaning that the “enthusiasm of the workers” did five years worth of work in four years.