It is the highly difficult problem to discribe someone's eighty-year life especially if this life passed in a complicated historical period with turning-points of extraordinary importance and you wish in the end to receive something worth doing. During my life there were too many historical turning-points, I should prefer to have a little less. All of them had an immediate influence on my life, the following ones had extraordinary influence: the beginning of war, the death of Stalin, so-called struggle against the cult of personality, perestrojka, dispersal of KPSS, disintegration of the SSSR and, as final, termidorian upheaval of 1993. In accordance with the sequence of events it would be natural to divide both the corresponding piece of history of the country and the same of my own life into five parts:

Here are the opening years of my life.
   I was born in a small provincial town Ussurijsk of the Far East in 1921, January 16. I don't know how my father and grandfather being natives of Petersburg fetched up there. That was the time of civil war and everything could happen. I remember only that much later the father was uneasy about being at one time mobilized soldier of Kolchak's White Army . After all my mother was Sibirian from Chita but she never told me how she made the acquaintance of my father and how they found themselves in Ussurijsk. When I was about two years old my parents moved from Ussurijsk to Petrograd, where lived that time my grandmother. Here the family changed lodgings several times and in the end settled in a beautiful part of Leningrad, in Udel'naja. We occupied the garret with verandah and balkony of two-storey cottage situated in rather great garden enclosed by trees on the whole by birchs.

THE PRE-WAR PERIOD
   I was about two years old when my parents and my grandfather (by father) had came in Petrograd, where was living all that time my grandmother. Thus whole my father's family (my mother was orphan) began to live together. The family changed several places of residence and, at last, had settled in Udel'naja --a beautiful part of Leningrad, where all my pre-war life has been passing. We occupied garret of a cottage in a garden surrounded by trees. In that time Udel'naja was for inhabitants of Leningrad a summer season place and our hous was here a typical one.
   My pre-war life in Leningrad was connected, to a great extent, with learning and self-education, the letter being for me not only in the extrem important source of knowledge, but also forming the character, world outlook and ideology. I learned to read very early before school age, read a great many books and was a quick reader. My parents were common people having only elementary education but they liked books very much and subscribed to collected works of well-known writers. For example, I remember that we had the collected works of Turgenev, Chehov, Gor'kij, the letter in cheap edition ( each number consists of a fixed amount of printer's sheets so the beginning of a work can be in a number and the end in another one). By the way, they like music too and we formed something like a small orchestra: the father played mandoline, the mather played guitar and I played balalaika. We even appeared at amateur concerts in my school.
   Of course, most of books which I read were lending library ones. I think that librarians recommended me to read one or another book, otherwise how can I myself get to know about such books as "Utopia" of T. Moro, "Town of Sun" (the title of the russian translation) of T. Campanella, "Red Star" and "Engineer Manny" of A.Bogdanov not saying about such social utopians as R.Owen, Saint-Simon, Ch. Fourier. Reading books gave an essential addition to my school education and formed a habit to acquire knowledges from books immediately.
    Pre-school period
    Of course I myself remember nothing of my beeing in Ussurijsk. Only some desultary knowledges, which my mother was telling me about that days, has remained in my memory. For example, my mother told me that one day I went away somewhere. Of course I couldn't go too far, besides I was dressed in a red shirt, so my mather found me fairly rapidly. Nevertheless, she had been upset, runing about and asking everyones whether they has seen a kiddy in a red shirt.
The next four years I lived
    Primary school
    My primary school was situated quite near our house however to get there it was necessary to cross railway tracks. I think that my parents were accompaning me to school, but I don't remember it. There were many oaks so we can gather acorns.
   Shortened secondary school
   In autumn of 1931 I had begun to learn at fourth class of 175-th shortended secondary working schol of Vyborgskij district of Leningrad. At that time all schools, with the exception of some special ones such as, for example, drowing schools , called working schools since they were to have given not only education but also an idea about basic kinds of working activity and some habits of work.
   Secondary school
    In autumn of 1935 I had begun to learn in 12-th secondary school of Vyborgskij district of Leningrad. That was the remarcable school. First of all, as I imagin now, there were the capital teaching stuff and a reasonable organization of studies. Head mistress was Sof'ja Naumovna Pipkina, director of studies was Sof'ja Semenovna Soskind (bouth very energatic women). My loved teachers were: mathematics teacher--Fedor Illarionovich Dikij, literature teacher-- Lidija Nikiforovna Stotckaja (very joung and handsome woman), chemistry teacher--Antonina Vasil'evna Vasil'eva (very kind, joung woman). I remember also history teacher Jakov Solomonovich Tcejtlin, phisical culture teacher Natal'ja Sergeevna Jaroslavskaja (not high, joung, liveliness woman). Other teachers

WAR PERIOD
   The morning of 22 June 1942 was beautiful. A marry company gathered to celebrate finishing school. That time I was a third-year student of LGU but some of my friends were there and so I also took part in this company. We were dancing and had a good time but suddenly the owner of the flat came in and told us that fascists bombed our towns and the war began. We broke up being depressed. So the war bursted into my life.
    To this time I took on all examinaton with the exception of probability theory, but our examenations were interrupted. The senior students were not subjected to mobilization and only after some days I found myself and some of students of my course making airfields. We moved away stones from future landing fields. Not very big stones we carried away or rolled somewhere and very big stones we buried.
    I had forgotten most of events of that time long ago but some of them were engraved on my memory for ever. One day we found especially big stone measuring about 3x3x1 metres. We were forced not omly to dig a hole close to the stone but even undermine this stone. It was very dangerous. We need to undermine rather far to be able to push the stone into the hole, but so that the stone would not drop itself and would not cover our comrades. Some comrades were undermining the stone and the others, including me, were standing above to watch on the stone. Suddenly the stone began to move we cried and those who were undermining got from under the stone but had not time to come out of the hole. The stone fell into the hole, stood up in vertical position and ... stopped. My legs became wadded ones.
    We were living in commune, gathered together all brought by us food products and cooked common food. I don't remember what we ate but cacao with chocolate, which we made in pail, I remember with pleasure. We have milk in plenty. Herds were driven by us and one may milk any cow. And once we got a limped kid.
    In a beautiful day some people arrived to us. They began to converse with our boys one by one. My turn came also. It proved to be that partisan detachments, which will act in Leningrad Region, are organized now. It was offered to me to become a member of a partisan detachement. To this time I finally "fell ill" with mathematics and dreamt to continue my education but the sence of duty gained the upper hand and I agreed to be partisan. All agreed students were returned to Leningrad. We were not immediately sent to an acting detachment but about month we were taught to partisan tactica, to wielding by cold steel and small arms, to demolition work. During this time I arramged matter with Sergej Natanovich Bernshtein about examination on probability theory and passed the examination. So I became the four-year student.
    Before sending off to future partisan base we all were gathered and asked whether somebody wish to remain in Leningrad. There was no such person. We embused and rather big column started for Gatchina. In all there were about 300 persons, including 44 students (7 from mathmech faculty) and scientists of LGU. We passed through Gatchina and took notice in the air German fighters. Our column turned in a small wood and camouflaged. Everybody got off lorries. I got off too and lay down on the grass... When I woke up, nobody was around. Everybody went away without me. I was shooting at the air with no effect.
    My position was no pleasent one. I found myself in front-line area with no document. I went into the road, stoped a lorry going in the direction of Gatchina, asked the driver not to pass me to patrols and to take to commandant of Gatchina. Commandant of Gatchina graduated LGU himself, he knew about our column, he was talking with me and gave me a permit to staff of partisan detachments. In the staff I was suggested to wait for return of our detachments and received my passport. I found myself in the meanwhile at people's volunteers as a commander of mashin-gun platoon. In the evening I studied heavy mashin-gun myself and in the next morning I tought others.
    At last, I got to know that the rests of our defeated detachments returned in Leningrad and the combained detachment is preparing to a new march. I was included in this (Dorofeev's) detachment immediately with no formality. The detachmend included some students of LGU but I was the only mathmech student since five our students (Barmenkov V.N., Bashilov G.A., Ioht L.N., Mish'enko N.P., Pokidov V.S.) were killed at the first campaign and the fortune one of the students (Bogdanov Ju.S.) was, in that time, unknown.
    Our detachment had to act into the triangle of Tosno, Shapki, Ushaki, in the Pendikovskoe lake area. Now, it was impossible to get there through Leningrad front and there was nothing for it, but to pass throght bogs of Volkhov front, after sailing across Ladojskoe lake.
    So we began our second march and, first of all, we fell under bombing in Finland railway station. We were going by train, passed through Rjevka, which was shelled periodically, and, at last we got Ladojskoe lake. I don't remember how we embarked, but unshipping was highly dramatic. It was the night, some settlements in the distance are in fire, the steam-boat couldn't put in to the shore--there were too little depth.

  THE SOCIALISM

   THE RESTORATION OF CAPITALISM

  THE CAPITALISM