Home - Frank Thoms

Behind the Red Veil: An American inside Gorbachev's Russia

At the beginning of the Trump/Russia brouhaha in 2016, I resurrected my manuscript from thirty years ago. It was time to rewrite my memoir befriending Russians during Mikhail Gorbachev’s time when the people were speaking out for what they wanted from their government. Now the brouhaha has ended; the Trump presidency and his genuflecting to Putin is over.

The rearrest of Alexander Navalny in January 2021 has reawakened Russia, not only in massive demonstrations in Moscow but also all across Russia’s eleven time zones. In supporting Navalny, Russians are reclaiming their voices, which I had been privileged to listen to thirty years ago. At that time, they were railing against the harshness of Communist rule. Now Putin’s corruptive practices, vilified in Navalny’s scathing video seen by millions, has stirred the people to demonstrate. And the Biden administration has ramped up pressure on Putin.

My first venture to the Soviet Union occurred in October 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev’s first year as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In the following six trips, I taught English in four schools in Leningrad, Moscow, and Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan. In 1994, three years after the fall of Communism, I led a seminar in Yekaterinburg, Siberia, for teachers who would be coming to the US. I have been fortunate to have spent nearly a year of my life among Russians.

Readers will come away having heard Russian voices inside Communist controlled Soviet Union. They provide a perspective on the outcries of the Russian people today in support of Alexander Navalny, who Puitin has arrested and imprisoned. The pent-up voices that spoke out during Mikhail Gorbachev's reign have returned on mass, witness the huge demonstrations all across Russia.

Frank Thoms

After twenty-five years in the classroom teaching Marxism, Russian History, and Soviet Communism, I first traveled behind the Iron Curtain in October 1985. After seven more trips, the last to the new Russia, three years after the fall of Gorbachev and Communism, I began writing about my insights into the Russian people––and my insights into being with them.

From 1986–1991, I taught English in four Soviet schools in three cities, Leningrad, Moscow, and Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan. Twice I was selected as a US–Soviet exchange teacher, and twice I taught in schools on my own.

My detailed accounts of these encounters offer an inside look at the Russians, their thoughts, feelings, hopes, and fears. These stories offer a perspective on a people who are now engaged in massive demonstrations in support of Alexander Navalny, who Putin has arrested and imprisoned. Navalny has exposed Putin for who he is, corrupt beyond corruption. The Russian people across the country are saying enough is enough.

Behind the Red Veil

"Frank Thoms’s Behind the Red Veil is not only a souvenir from the USSR but to a great extent an insight into what Russian schools feel deep inside. When Frank appeared at my school, he did not feel, look, or smell like a teacher. His teaching and learning was the Klondike of new experience, both for him and me."
— Mikhail Baushev, Former teacher at School Nº185

"An interesting and insightful perspective of an American educator's experience within the Soviet education system. Thoms manages to write his story with warmth and wisdom. A delightful read."
— Pavel Kozhevnikov, Lecturer of Russian Language and Cultures, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs