The SCRSS organises a regular programme of events
both online and at its premises in London. The Society is also
involved in official events associated with the Soviet War Memorial
in London. Events are open to both SCRSS members and non-members,
unless otherwise stated. The opinions expressed in lectures are
those of the individual speakers and not necessarily those of
the SCRSS.
Venue and Tickets
Standard ticket prices for talks are £3.00 (SCRSS members)
and £5.00 (non-members). All other events or classes are
priced as indicated. Our library openings are normally every first
Saturday of the month, but please check the calendar below.
2026 Events Diary
January 2026
Please note: there is no Saturday library opening in January
2026.
From Thursday 8 January 2026, 18.00 - 20.00 (for 8 further
weeks)
Zoom Online Evening Class: Russian Language for Upper Intermediate
Level
Note: This is the continuation of the 10-session class that
started on 11 December 2025 and broke after 18 December 2025 for
Christmas and New Year.
Rolling 10-week Zoom evening class, taught by Christine Barnard,
former lecturer in Russian at Westminster University, suitable
for more advanced-level speakers (upper intermediate) who would
like to practise their conversational skills. The group is small,
friendly, informal and strictly non-competitive. Each session
includes one hour of free conversation, followed by one hour of
reading, with a short break in between. The group reads a variety
of short stories or short extracts from longer books, with suggestions
welcome. From 29 January 2026 the group will be reading Ya
vizhu zemlyu (I See The Earth) by Yuri Gagarin, the first
man in space.
There is currently availability for new members to join the class.
For more information or to request a free one-evening trial, please
email Christine Barnard direct on rtstrans1@gmail.com.
Please note: As this is a rolling 10-week session
and is conversation and reading based, you can join at any time,
not just at the beginning of a 10-week session.
Fee for 10-week session: £60.00 (discounted rate for
SCRSS members: £40.00), payable in advance. Why not become
an SCRSS member to join at the special
discounted rate.
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February 2026
Saturday 7 February 2026, 11.00 -
16.00
Event: SCRSS Library Opening
Library opening for SCRSS members - other visitors by appointment.
Access the library collections and borrow books from the
Literature and Quick Loan sections. Buy surplus stock of books,
postcards and Soviet badges from the Library at low prices. Tea
and coffee available.
Monday 23 February 2026, 19.00 - 20.00
Zoom Online Talk: Ben Lunn on Exploring Socialist Realism
in Soviet Music Through Three Composers
Socialist Realism is a thoroughly analysed topic within discussions
of art in the Soviet Union. However, despite the extent of the
discussion, the approach to making music Socialist Realist is
not as clearly understood. This talk by Ben Lunn will introduce
the nature of the theory, and how individuals like Boris Asafiev
initially laid the foundations for composers to understand Socialist
Realism. Then Ben will reflect on how three different composers
were able to incorporate this thinking into their work - through
quotation in Boris Lyatoshinsky, iconography in Alexander Mosolov,
or the rejuvenation of folk traditions within the work of Julius
Juzeliunas.
Booking: via Eventbrite
(booking closes 22 February at 20.00). Normal fees apply:
£5.00 (£3.00 SCRSS members).
Ben Lunn has forged himself a unique position within the new music
landscape. As a composer, Lunn's music reflects such areas as
the material world around him, connecting to his North-Eastern
heritage; or how disability impacts the world around him; or his
working-class upbringing. Alongside this, he has become renowned
for his championship of others, which has seen him create collaborations
with musicians from across the globe, and develop unique concert
experiences and opportunities for others. Alongside this, Ben's
academic pursuits have included music in the Baltic, music and
socialist politics, and music and disability. His PhD research
focused on how composers incorporate politics into their work.
Please note: The talk will be recorded and a
link to the recording will be emailed to everyone who books within
48 hours of the end of the talk. So you can book and listen to
the talk later, even if you are not free to login live on the
day. The recording will be available for 30 days.
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March 2026
Saturday 7 March
2026, 11.00 - 16.00
Event: SCRSS Library Opening
Library opening for SCRSS members - other visitors by appointment.
Access the library collections and borrow books from the
Literature and Quick Loan sections. Buy surplus stock of books,
postcards and Soviet badges from the Library at low prices. Tea
and coffee available.
Monday 9 March 2026, 19.00
- 20.00
Zoom Online Talk: Charles Buxton on Communities Facing Environmental
Hazards in Central Asia Today
The populations of the five republics of Central Asia, formerly
part of the Soviet Union, face many environmental challenges today.
In this talk Charles Buxton, who has lived in Kyrgyzstan since
2002, will discuss climate change and the risks to local communities
from natural hazards such as melting glaciers, avalanches, floods
and drought. In particular, he will focus geographically on the
republics of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and within this more narrowly
on North Tajikistan and South Kyrgyzstan where their boundaries
meet in the Fergana Valley. The Fergana Valley is a densely populated,
fertile agricultural region situated between the mountain systems
of the Tien Shan in the north and the Alay and Fergana ranges
in the south. As a civil society specialist, Charles will highlight
the connection between ecological issues, on the one hand, and
political, social and economic issues, on the other, laying out
some of the two governments' priorities in this field and how
they are responding to the international environmental agenda.
Booking: via Eventbrite
(booking closes 8 March at 20.00). Normal fees apply: £5.00
(£3.00 SCRSS members).
Charles Buxton was born in London and gained a degree in Russian
from the University of Oxford in 1972, followed by an MA in Sociology
of Literature from the University of Essex in 1974. He was active
in the trade union and anti-racist movement in the 1970s and 1980s,
with a two-year break in 1978-80 when he worked as a translator
/ editor for Novosti News Agency in Moscow. Between 1981-95, he
set up and coordinated two progressive non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) in Tower Hamlets, supported by the local labour movement
and Greater London Council. Since the mid-1990s he has worked
in international development and civil society development in
the former Soviet Union (FSU), and has been based in Central Asia
for over twenty years.
Charles has written two books devoted to the experience of development
work in Central Asia: 'The Struggle for Civil Society in Central
Asia: Crisis and Transformation' was published by Kumarian in
2011; 'Russia and Development: Capitalism, Civil Society and the
State' was published by Zed in 2014. His third book 'Ragged Trousered
NGOs: Development Work under Neo-liberalism', published by Routledge
in 2019, brings together his UK and FSU-based experiences and
analysis.
Please note: The talk will be recorded and a
link to the recording will be emailed to everyone who books within
48 hours of the end of the talk. So you can book and listen to
the talk later, even if you are not free to login live on the
day. The recording will be available for 30 days.
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April 2026
Wednesday 1 April 2026, 19.00-20.00
Exclusive SCRSS Zoom Talk for SCRSS Members Only: Dr Ali Tajvidi
on Armenian-Azerbaijani Relations in the Post-Soviet Era
This is an exclusive talk for SCRSS members only.
In this talk, Dr Tajvidi examines how relations between Armenia
and Azerbaijan, former republics of the Soviet Union, have evolved
since independence in 1992, what domestic and regional challenges
each has faced, and where they are heading in the post-West world
order.
Booking: via Eventbrite
(booking opens Monday 12 January at 09.00 and closes Tuesday 31
March at 20.00). SCRSS members only (individual / joint members
and affiliate members), normal fees apply (£3.00).
Dr Ali Tajvidi is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International
Relations at the University of Westminster, with a specialisation
in US foreign policy. However, his current research interests
are the Russia-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, and
the European Security Architecture after the Russian-Ukrainian
conflict.
Please note: The talk will be recorded and a
link to the recording will be emailed to everyone who books within
48 hours of the end of the talk. So SCRSS members can book and
listen to the talk later, even if not free to login live on the
day. The recording will be available for 30 days.
Saturday 11 April 2026, 11.00
- 16.00
Event: SCRSS Library Opening
Note: the date has been changed from the usual
first Saturday of the month due to the Easter holiday in 2026.
Library opening for SCRSS members - other visitors by appointment.
Access the library collections and borrow books from the
Literature and Quick Loan sections. Buy surplus stock of books,
postcards and Soviet badges from the Library at low prices. Tea
and coffee available.
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May 2026
Saturday 2 May 2026, 11.00 - 16.00
Event: SCRSS Library Opening
Library opening for SCRSS members - other visitors by appointment.
Access the library collections and borrow books from the
Literature and Quick Loan sections. Buy surplus stock of books,
postcards and Soviet badges from the Library at low prices. Tea
and coffee available.
Saturday 16 May 2026, 11.00 - 13.00
Event: SCRSS Annual General Meeting
SCRSS
members only. An afternoon talk or other event will also be organised.
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June 2026
Saturday 6 June 2026, 11.00 -
16.00
Event: SCRSS Library Opening
Library opening for SCRSS members - other visitors by appointment.
Access the library collections and borrow books from the
Literature and Quick Loan sections. Buy surplus stock of books,
postcards and Soviet badges from the Library at low prices. Tea
and coffee available.
Back to top
July 2026
Saturday 4 July 2026, 11.00 -
16.00
Event: SCRSS Library Opening
Library opening for SCRSS members - other visitors by appointment.
Access the library collections and borrow books from the
Literature and Quick Loan sections. Buy surplus stock of books,
postcards and Soviet badges from the Library at low prices. Tea
and coffee available.
Back to top
August 2026
Saturday 1 August
2026, 11.00 - 16.00
Event: SCRSS Library Opening
Library opening for SCRSS members - other visitors by appointment.
Access the library collections and borrow books from the
Literature and Quick Loan sections. Buy surplus stock of books,
postcards and Soviet badges from the Library at low prices. Tea
and coffee available.
Back to top
September 2026
Saturday 5 September 2026, 11.00
- 14.00
Event: SCRSS Library Opening
Library opening for SCRSS members - other visitors by appointment.
Library open until 14.00 only due to the afternoon in-person event
(see below). Access the library collections and borrow books
from the Literature and Quick Loan sections. Buy surplus stock
of books, postcards and Soviet badges from the Library at low
prices. Tea and coffee available.
Saturday 5 September 2026, 14.00 - 15.00
In-person Talk: Jim Jump on ‘The Cause of All Progressive
and Advanced Mankind’: Soviet Policy and the Spanish Civil
War
In-person talk at the SCRSS centre in Brixton. Please note
that this talk is not available online.
This year marks the 90th anniversary of the start of the Spanish
Civil War, a defining event in the build-up to the Second World
War. Though called a civil war, it was in fact a highly internationalised
conflict in which the Soviet Union gave military assistance to
the Spanish Republic, and Hitler and Mussolini supported the rebel
forces led by General Franco. While the Comintern helped organise
the International Brigades, the USSR made considerable diplomatic
efforts to persuade Britain and France to abandon appeasement
and support Spain's cause. Soviet policy towards the Spanish Civil
War is to this day often misunderstood and distorted, being viewed
through a Cold War prism rather than as a genuine attempt to counter
the threat of European Fascism.
Booking: details to follow. Normal fees apply:
£5.00 (£3.00 SCRSS members).
Jim Jump is the Chair of the International Brigade Memorial
Trust and the author and editor of several books on the Spanish
Civil War. These include 'Antifascistas: British and Irish Volunteers
in the Spanish Civil War' (2010, with Richard Baxell and Angela
Jackson), 'Poems from Spain: British and Irish International Brigaders
on the Spanish Civil War' (2006), 'Looking Back at the Spanish
Civil War' (2010) and 'A Spanish Civil War Scrapbook' (2015).
His father, James R Jump, was a British International Brigader
and his mother, Cayetana Lozano Díaz, was a refugee from
Franco. In 2021 Jim Jump edited his father's posthumous memoir
of the war, 'The Fighter Fell in Love', which was published in
Spain ('El brigadista que se enamoró') in 2024.
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October 2026
Saturday 3 October 2026, 11.00
- 16.00
Event: SCRSS Library Opening
Library opening for SCRSS members - other visitors by appointment.
Access the library collections and borrow books from the
Literature and Quick Loan sections. Buy surplus stock of books,
postcards and Soviet badges from the Library at low prices. Tea
and coffee available.
Back to top
November 2026
Saturday 7 November 2026, 11.00
- 16.00
Event: SCRSS Library Opening
Library opening for SCRSS members - other visitors by appointment.
Access the library collections and borrow books from the
Literature and Quick Loan sections. Buy surplus stock of books,
postcards and Soviet badges from the Library at low prices. Tea
and coffee available.
Back to top
December 2026
Saturday 5 December 2026, 11.00
- 16.00
Event: SCRSS Library Opening
Library opening for SCRSS members - other visitors by appointment.
Access the library collections and borrow books from the
Literature and Quick Loan sections. Buy surplus stock of books,
postcards and Soviet badges from the Library at low prices. Tea
and coffee available.
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