Revolution Redux: How the October Revolution is Still Shaking Our World

Featuring: Kristen Ghodsee, Department of Russian and East European Studies Benjamin Nathans, History Department Mila Nazyrova, Department of Russian and East European Studies Rudra Sil, Political Science Department Please join us for a round table and open discussion in search of the meanings of an event that transformed the world one hundred years ago—the Russian Revolution. What was Russian avant-garde architecture of the revolutionary era and how is it still influencing ideas of architecture and its social function? What was the Bolshevik commitment to women’s emancipation, what did the socialist world actually achieve with regard to women’s rights, and how are those achievements still felt today? Was the revolution as unique an event as some think, or was it actually a response to a “normal” problem that societies around the world still face today—namely, how to “respond” to western technology, political power, and social and economic development? How is the revolution being commemorated today in Russia? And how is it being treated in China, which is the most powerful single-party Communist state in the contemporary world? A panel of eminent Penn specialists will address these questions and more. Revolutionary pizza and drinks will be served.