Art & Religion Under Stalin

Official Culture and Education

Even after the terror events, there is evidence that ordinary people believed in the power of the USSR. The government had complete control over information and propaganda, and this had great influence over ordinary people’s attitude to the regime.

Stalin's control

The government's influence brought Stalin close to running a ‘totalitarian’ state, with complete control over the country.
- In reality, Russia was too complex for this to be the case all the time.
‘Socialist realism’ was the official art form of the regime. Its artist included Kozma Petrov-Bodkin, Isaak Brodsky, Alexander Samokhvalov and Yuri Pimenov.

Socialist realism

Stalin’s decree ‘On the Reconstruction of Literary and Art Organization’ (1932) placed socialist realism at its centre.
They were easy to understand and focused on workers in everyday situations. These workers were depicted as the heroes of Soviet society.
The same rules applied to novels and music. Stalin called official artists ‘engineers of souls’.

The Cultural Revolution

In education, the so-called Cultural Revolution required school students to denounce their teachers for not supporting communism.
Strangely, discipline was relaxed in schools, and middle class young people were often expelled from school.
The aim was to prioritise the education of workers, which had largely been achieved by the mid-1930s.

Stalin in schools

Once the education of workers was complete, Stalin reintroduced the rules which had previously applied, including school uniforms.
New textbooks rewrote history to praise Stalin as Lenin’s loyal assistant.
The core curriculum was shaped in Stalin’s world view.

Religion under Stalin

With regard to religion, the Communists (as atheists) opposed the Orthodox Church and attacked Muslims and Jews.

The Orthodox Church

Communists opposed the Orthodox Church. Many churches were shut down, and priests were imprisoned and even shot.
Only 500 churches were open by 1941, a reduction of almost 50,000 since the beginning of the First World War.
The Kazan Cathedral gave way to Red Square for military parades to take place in the centre of Moscow. But the church could not be destroyed entirely because too many Russians were members.

Islam

Muslims were also attacked. The Sufi sect of Islam was particularly affected in the southern parts of the USSR.
As the government hated foreigners, Muslims were especially at risk as their religion was loyal to forces outside the USSR.
The use of Arabic writing was frowned upon and many non-Russian speakers were ‘re-educated’ to speak Russian.
Muslim schools and places of worship were closed down, and participating in the Haaj pilgrimage to Mecca was forbidden.

Judaism

With regard to Judaism, anti-Semitism was illegal, but many religious Jews were discriminated against.
Stalin wanted to remove Jews to a designated region in the East called the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, but this idea failed.

1The Leadership Struggle, 1924-1929

1.1Struggle for Power 1924-28

1.1.1Stalin & his Rivals

1.1.2The End of Lenin & Stalin

1.1.3Stalin & the Communist Party

2Five Year Plans & Collectivisation

2.1Changes in Industry

2.1.1Industrialisation & Gosplan

2.2Agriculture & Collectivisation

2.2.1Five Year Plans & Grain Hoarding

2.2.2Collectivisation

2.2.3Kulaks

3Purges, Show Trials & The Cult of Stalin

3.1The Use of Terror in the 1930s

3.1.1Purges

3.1.2NKVD

3.1.3Show Trials

3.1.4Labour Camps

3.2Propaganda & Censorship

3.2.1Art & Religion Under Stalin

3.2.2Media & the Cult of Stalin

3.2.3The Cult of Stalin

3.2.4History

4Life in the Soviet Union, 1924-1941

4.1Life in the Soviet Union

4.1.1Living Conditions & Ethnic Minorities in the USSR

5The Second World War, 1941-1953

5.1USSR in the War

5.1.11941-1942

5.1.21943-1945

5.2Stalin & WW2

5.2.1Stalin's Popularity

5.2.2Post-War Consolidation

5.3Post-War Recovery

5.3.1Economic Recovery

5.3.2The USSR by 1953

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