If Ivanovo’s billboards are any indication, Russia is rapidly progressing.
“Harvest record!”
“The Ivanovo Region has repaired more than 2000 km of roads!”
“Modification for the Better”
An enormous banner that celebrates Russia’s invasion of Ukraine fills the full wall of a historic theater in this town, which is four hours’ drive from Moscow. including images of troops and the phrase “To Victory!”
These posters show a nation on its way to both military and economic prosperity.
However, one location in Ivanovo presents a totally different image of Russia in the modern era.
I’m positioned outside of it. This area also has a poster. Not of a soldier from Russia, but of a writer from Britain. The face of George Orwell looks down at onlookers.
The George Orwell Library is listed on the sign above it.
The small library within has a few books about totalitarianism’s perils and dystopian scenarios.
There are numerous copies of George Orwell’s iconic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, which tells the tale of a state that has nearly complete control over the body and mind and where Big Brother is constantly watching.
Alexandra Karaseva, a librarian, tells me that the current state of affairs in Russia is comparable to that of Nineteen Eighty-Four. “Complete dominance by the state, the federal government, and the security apparatuses.”
The Party subtly alters people’s perceptions of reality in Nineteen Eighty-Four, leading the people of Oceania to believe that “ignorance is strength” and “war is peace”.
There’s something comparable about modern Russia. The local state media consistently asserts that Russia’s conflict in Ukraine is an invasion rather than it.
