Proletkult, Avant-Garde & Socialist Realism

Proletkult and Avant-garde

Art changed significantly from 1917 to 1953. The period began with an attempt to create truly proletarian art in a more radical avant-garde style.

Proletkult

Communists wanted to use the revolution as a way to create proletarian art.
Anatoly Lunacharsky was the People's Commissar of Enlightenment.
- He created the Proletkult.
- Proletkult was a proletarian cultural movement.
Despite the Civil War across the country, the Proletkult had managed to establish 300 artistic studios across the country.
- A monthly magazine called Gorn (Furnace) published the works of proletarian artists.

Lenin and the Proletkult

Lenin disagreed with Lunacharsky's approach.
He wanted a more universal culture - not one tied to the proletariat or the bourgeoisie.
Lenin also believed that the work of the Proletkult was too avant-garde.
- Proletkult also fell outside of the party governance system and Lenin was concerned about this.
- October 1920: Lenin placed Proletkult under the control of the Commissariat for Education.
Funding was cut.

The avant-garde

Revolution inspired a movement among filmmakers, painters and other artists.
- Their styles were experimental as they aimed to create a new revolutionary art form.

Collaboration with government

Avant-garde artists worked with the Communist government.
In doing so, they produced propaganda.
- Vladimir Mayakovsky created Civil War propaganda posters.
- Alexander Rodchenko was a photographer, known for using photomontage to create posters.

Socialist Realism

Stalin's rule is most closely associated with the style of art known as Socialist Realism.

Reaction to the avant-garde

Stalin hated the experimentation of avant-garde art.
He wanted art to be traditional and to serve the government's agenda.
The new form of art came to be known as 'Socialist Realism'.

Realistic and socialist

This new art was 'realistic' - at least, it looked like photographs.
It was also 'socialist' - it depicted workers and industry.
Literature also adopted a socialist style.
- Books had straight-forward plots which ordinary people could understand.
- The subject-matter related to the creation of a socialist society.
- Fyodor Gladkov's 1924 novel Cement is a good example. It follows workers who built a cement factory.

Lenin and Stalin

Art was also used to foster the cults of Lenin and Stalin.
Depictions of the two leaders were always favourable.
- Fedor Shurpin's Morning of Our Motherland, from 1949, showed Stalin in front of a newly industrialised landscape.
Art was heavily controlled and censored by the state.

Interpretations

E. Mawdsley in 'The Stalin Years. The Soviet Union 1929-53':
- 'In terms of Russian cultural history, the 1920s have been more attractive to western intellectuals than the 1930s and 1940s. A cultural avant-garde flourished in the NEP decade, and innovative work in cinema, art, literature, and music have fascinated even those critical of other aspects of Communism. [...] The avant-garde was replaced in the 1930s, in a cultural 'retreat', by something much more conservative. The new culture would be ridiculed in the west.'

Historical assessment

Sheila Fitzpatrick (1999): argues that socialist realism part of the soviet mentality. It was a way to try and get people to reconcile the difference between poor living standards they were experiencing and the socialist vision they were promised.
- 'People could see things as they were becoming rather than what they were at the moment.'

1Communist Government in the USSR, 1917-85

1.1Establishing Communist Party Control, 1917-24

1.1.1The Creation of a One-Party State

1.1.2Government under Lenin

1.1.3Centralisation of Power

1.1.4End of Topic Test - Establishing Control

1.1.5A-A* (AO3/4) - Establishing Control

1.2Stalin in Power, 1928-53

1.2.1The Elimination of Opponents

1.2.2The Purges of the 1930s

1.2.3End of Topic Test - The Elimination of Opponents

1.2.4Stalin's Power Over the Communist Party

1.2.5Stalin's Power During & After the Communist Party

1.2.6End of Topic Test - Power Over the Communist Party

1.2.7A-A* (AO3/4) - Stalin in Power

1.3Government, 1953-85

1.3.1Changes in Leaders' Control of the State

1.3.2Khrushchev's Attempts to Reform Government

1.3.3End of Topic Test - Government 1953-85

1.3.4Stability & Stagnation, 1964-85

1.3.5End of Topic Test - Stability & Stagnation

1.3.6A-A* (AO3/4) - Government 1953 - 85

2Industrial & Agricultural Changes

2.1Towards a Command Economy

2.1.1Nationalisation of Industry, Communism & the NEP

2.1.2End of Topic Test - Towards a Command Economy

2.2Industry & Agriculture in the Stalin Era

2.2.1Five Year Plans & Industrial Change

2.2.2Five Year Plans & Industrial Change 2

2.2.3End of Topic Test - Five Year Plans

2.2.4Agricultural Collectivisation & its Impact

2.2.5Recovery from War after 1945

2.2.6End of Topic Test - Collectivisation & Recovery

2.3Changes in Industry & Agriculture, 1953-85

2.3.1Light Industry, Chemicals & Consumer Goods

2.3.2Investment in Agriculture & Virgin Lands

2.3.3Attempts at Reform after 1964

2.3.4End of Topic Test - Industry & Agriculture

2.3.5A-A* (AO3/4) - Industry & Agriculture

3Control of the People, 1917-85

3.1Media, Propaganda & Religion

3.1.1State Control of Mass Media & Propaganda

3.1.2Attacks on Religious Beliefs & Practices

3.1.3Attacks on Religious Beliefs & Practices 2

3.1.4End of Topic Test - Media, Propaganda & Religion

3.1.5Cults: Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev

3.1.6A-A*/ - Media, Propaganda & Religion

3.2The Secret Police

3.2.1Attacks on Opponents of the Government

3.2.2The Roles of Yagoda, Yezhov & Beria

3.2.3Andropov & Late Opposition to Soviet Rule

3.2.4End of Topic Test - Secret Police

3.3The State & Cultural Change

3.3.1Proletkult, Avant-Garde & Socialist Realism

3.3.2Nonconformity from the 1950s

3.3.3End of Topic Test - State & Cultural Change

3.3.4A-A* (AO3/4) - Control of the People

4Social Developments, 1917-35

4.1Social Security

4.1.1Full Employment Benefits

4.1.2Housing & Social Benefits

4.1.3Khrushchev, Brezhnev & Stable Society

4.1.4End of Topic Test - Social Security

4.2Women & Family

4.2.1Changing Status of Different Groups

4.2.2Changing Attitudes to Family

4.2.3Changing Attitudes to Family 2

4.2.4End of Topic Test - Women & Family

4.3Education & Young People

4.3.1Growth of Primary, Secondary & Higher Education

4.3.2Reduction of Illiteracy

4.3.3State Control of the Curriculum

4.3.4End of Topic Test - Education & Young People

4.3.5A-A* (AO3/4) - Social Developments

5Historical Interpretations

5.1What Explains the Fall of the USSR, 1985-91?

5.1.1Economic Weakness

5.1.2Attempts at Economic Reform

5.1.3Failure To Reform The Communist Party & Soviet Gov

5.1.4Impact of Reforms

5.1.5End of Topic Test - Economic Reform

5.1.6Impact of the Nationalist Resurgence

5.1.7Impact of the Nationalist Resurgence 2

5.1.8End of the USSR

5.1.9Gorbachev & Yeltsin's Responsibility

5.1.10End of Topic Test - Nationalist Resurgence

5.1.11A-A* (AO3/4) - Explaining the Fall of the USSR

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