Soviet Culture Socialist Realism Cult of Personality Futurism

Emphasis on exploring the possibilities of the future Influenced visionary utopianism e.g. using architecture to create a new society based on communal living.

Aims of Policy Remove traces of ‘bourgeois’ culture Use culture to instil socialist values Present positive images of achievement Support government policy At the end of 1930 two added: Promote cult of Stalin Encourage patriotism in face of war

Origins Socialist Realism – term appeared in an article in the Literary Gazette in May It stated: "The masses demand of an artist honesty, truthfulness, and a revolutionary, socialist realism in the representation of the proletarian revolution." Cultural Revolution – After 1924 concerted effort to use culture to their own ends Culture became instrument of Party Leadership

Socialist Realism

1932 – closed down RAPP (Russian Association of Proletarian Writers) Works rooted in the people conveying a sense of reality. Theme of heroes connected to the party. Low cost of literature like this allowed it to be bought and read by more people Some writers conformed, others were sent to the Gulag or left the USSR. Writers

Music Dmitri Shostakovich ( ) Well received by the public but not by the party Lady Macbeth of Mtensk. Stalin walked out in shock during the bedroom scene where trombones were used. It was better to stick to well-worn themes. Condemned by Stalin he wrote music censored by the regime.

Cult of Personality Vozhd – The Boss Turned into almost like a Hollywood star, with statues and portraits. Marfa Kriukova’s The Tale of Lenin – a folk tale with representations of Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin