SECTION 6 SOCIALIST REALISM AND THE CULT OF PERSONALITY YOU NEED TO KNOW: This links to work on The Terror and the topic of Social Issues (women, family and education). Unlikely to be a distinct question, but will add to a question on the theme of control. EXAMPLE EXAM QUESTION: How far do you agree that Socialist Realism was Stalin’s most important method of social control? (30 marks)

RUSSIAN ART AND CULTURE BEFORE STALIN Revolutionary- art broke away from traditional ideas. Abstract Paintings were popular The worlds 1 st electronic instrument was invented. Cinema was experimental. Art celebrated modern industrial technology. Art also promoted the revolutionary government e.g. films celebrating the struggle of workers against the Tsar.

“Black Square” Malevich The Theremin

WHAT DID STALIN THINK OF SOVIET ART? In 1930 Stalin expressed his discontent with Soviet art. (in an article The Bolshevik). Art should express government opinion rather than individual creativity. Stalin felt Abstract art meant nothing to the average peasant or worker.

REORGANISING THE ARTS LITERATURE April 1932: Decree on the Reformation of Literary-Artistic Organisations. This established the Union of Soviet Writers, which attempted to define the style appropriate for Russian authors. Ivan Kulik, President of the Ukrainian Writer’s Union, argued that all Soviet writers who were behind the revolution should adopt a style that he described as “Socialist Realism”. SOCIALIST REALISM When the 1 st All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers met in 1934: Socialist Realism was officially adopted as the new Soviet style. “Socialist Realism”= aiming to provide a true reflection of reality. To participate in the building of socialism. Art had to be full of, Party spirit, national spirit and art reflecting this new thinking. The emphasis was “art for the workers”. A shift from experimental back to traditional. It is clear that art forms were to be used to sell government economic and social policy to the Russian people.

ART FOR THE WORKERS In 1929 the All-Union-Co-operative of Workers in Representational Arts was established. They were set targets regarding the number of works of art they were expected to produce and the subject matter. e.g. In artists sent to collective farms and Five Year Plan sites. During the 2 month placement they were expected to record the work they witnessed the Party further tightened controls on art. They set up the KPDI (Committee for Art Affairs). There was a purge by Yezhov of Soviet artists. Art was now to be designed to inspire the workers. e.g. in Sculpture: A model of the Dnieper Dam. The Five Year Plans were also the focus of many posters and paintings. Russian artists attempted to glorify the achievements of collectivisation. Socialist Realism continually stressed the plenty enjoyed in the villages and the easy availability of new technology on farms. (The truth was hardship and famine).

-Sergei Gerasimov "Collective Farm Harvest Festival" (1937) He was Stalin’s favourite artist

Gustav Klucis: Long Live Stakhanovites! (1936)

They are Writing about us in Pravda" (Aleksei Alexandrovich Vasilev, 1951)

CITIES FIT FOR HEROES Urban workers were the totalitarian regime’s new heroes. Stalin commissioned the Union of Soviet Architects to redesign Russia’s cities. Moscow was the 1 st to be recreated as “ a truly socialist city”. The plan had a short period of time to be completed in. (Like the Five Year Plans). A success was the Moscow metro stations. These were grand designs. Government buildings were also built in a grand style.

ART FOR THE LEADERS Soviet leaders also featured heavily in Socialist Realist art. History was rewritten to glorify Stalin. Stalin created the “Myth of Two Leaders” putting himself alongside Lenin. Stalin’s role in the early days of Communist rule was greatly emphasised. Trotsky was eliminated from Party history. Stalin = Lenin’s right-hand man. Stalin = “The Lenin of today”

REMAKING THE PAST Two histories, both written in 1938 and edited by Stalin himself, were central to creating the new myth. Paintings created fictional historical situations from the years in which Stalin was always at Lenin’s side. Photographs were altered, erasing Trotsky and other former leaders. Communists who had been purged were also removed.

YEZHOV IS REMOVED FROM THE SECOND PHOTOGRAPH

THE CULT OF PERSONALITY Officially, Lenin remained the more important figure. In 1930 Lenin’s tomb in Moscow was rebuilt. The Lenin cult was crucial to Stalin. It allowed Russian citizens to form an emotional bond with the regime. From the mid-1930’s artists and journalists generated a “cult of Stalin” linked to Lenin. Communist newspapers like Pravda praised Stalin’s wisdom on a daily basis. Stalin’s birthday was turned into a national celebration. The purpose of the cult was to make ordinary citizens identify with the leader. Local problems were blamed on regional leaders and not Stalin. From the Stalin cult focussed on Stalin as a war leader. After the war the focus was on Stalin’s success in the war. Towards the end of his life the cult focussed on Stalin as an intellectual. BUT in reality, very little of Stalin’s true personality was revealed. His personal life was kept extremely private. Stalin was not photographed with family but instead air force heroes, Stakhanovites and Russian explorers. The cult focussed on the achievements of the regime rather than on Stalin as an individual.

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