On political animals : representing dogs in modern Russian culture

Dogs occupy a curiously important place in Russian and Slavic cultural history. Their role is evident in their use for military purposes during the reign of Ivan Grozny and later periods. I recall a remarkable episode which involves dogs in the anecdotal political history of the Bolshevik party. It relates to a story from 1914 when Stalin and Yakov Sverdlov shared a tiny apartment while in exile in a remote village on the Ye-nisei river. According to Nikita Khrushchev, Stalin called his dog "Yashka" after the first name of Sverdlov, and he did it in order to humiliate Sverdlov. Stalin had a habit of offering his soup-plates to Yashka for licking as an alternative to washing dishes. Sverdlov disliked this offensive association with a stray dog. He also, most likely, perceived it as a joke with anti-Jewish connotations. This dog matter was never peace-fully resolved between the two and they remained enemies for the rest of their lives. This unique syncretism between an image of a dog and that of a human is observable in Russian culture and art. It is to this unusual mutually dependent relation- ship that Mondry's fascinating and ground-breaking book is dedicated. In this pioneering study the author provides a comprehensive overview of Russian cultural constructions of Cynology, a study of all the tricky matters associated with domestic, feral and wild canines.

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