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Control of the people- arts - Coggle Diagram
Control of the people- arts
Lenin & art 1917-153
according to Lenin, culture was vital but subordinate to class conflict and the retention of power
he created a Commissariat of Enlightenment to support and encourage artists which encouraged them to work with the new regime
Prolekult
promoted by Alexander Bogdanov
he felt that a new group of proletarian artists should be assembled to serve a social and political purpose
it was a deliberate challenge to High Culture and it was popular for some time but after 1920s, the government became concerned at the variety of viewpoints expressed
A key strand of this group became the Constructivists who aimed to create a new socialist culture
Avant-garde
a term of experimentation
influence of Modernism, abstract art and futurism
Bolsheviks put stress on visual arts as the literacy rate was so low
Moved into theatre by Meyerhold who produced Mystery Bouffe (1918) but was cancelled after one performance for being so confusing
Lenin stated the importance of cinema for promoting political messages but sometimes it was too sophisticated for the audience
The Cultural Revolution
freedom of arts under Lenin was criticised in the 1920s
it became a part of the attempt to sweep away old 'bourgeois' elements in society
this entailed a large scale assault on traditional artists and writers
young enthusiastic communists from Komsomol were encouraged to root out & attack 'bourgeois' elements
they attacked the Fellow Travellers
Cult of the 'little man'- writing of novels that glorified the achievements of the industrial worker & collective peasant
Russian Association of Proletarian writers (RAPP) attempted to spread socialist ideals and attack bourgeoisie
Socialist realism
this was bringing the Cultural Revolution to an end
1932- the leadership announced RAPP would be closed and replaced by a new Union of Soviet workers
The union was used to police the movement, rewarding those who implied and restricting those who did not
Stalin recognised the importance of writers and artists- "engineers of human souls"
this form of art was used to describe art that presented idealised images of life under socialism to inspire the population
it was used to convince the population that Stalin's statement in 1935 "life has become more joyous" was true
Some artists refused to comply and emigrated
Mikhali Zoshchenko conformed to the rules but his work suffered
The novelist Boris Pasternak and poet Anna Akhmatova gave up writing
Isaac Babel called it the "genre of silence"
Art- any previous experimentation styles were banned. It was used to harness & protect the ideals of the regime and life under the 5 year plans
Literature- saw a change away from Cult of Personality towards heroes connected to the party. Standard plot in 1930s was of a hero from the people who is guided by the party to greater things. The cheap price and mass production ensured the Party controlled what was published and by whom
Music- also suffered from pressure to tow the line. Banned the saxophone in the 1940s due to government concern over jazz.
Architecture- Socialist Realism promoted the style 'Stalinist Baroque' (wedding cake architecture) and many buildings were built in this style- including Moscow university which was rebuilt in 1945. Metro stations were decorated in Chandeliers and elaborate murals
Film- the achievements of the revolution were portrayed through films- Eisenstein's October 1927.