1.3 Clashes Between Artists and the Government to 1985

Question 1

Clashes between Literature and Krushchev = Boris Pasternak’s Novel(5)

Answer 1

• Boris Pasternak’s novel ‘Doctor Zhivago’ , was story set during the russian civil war and contained criticism of the revolution
• without reading it, Krushchev banned it but it was smuggled abroad and got very positive feedback
• Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature
• Krushchev banned Pasternak from travelling to Sweden to receive the Prize
• the entire thing was an international emberassment for the Soviet Gov and Krushchev

Question 2

Clashes between Abstract art and Krushchev (2)

Answer 2

• abstract art was another area where noncomformity was not encouraged
• Krushchev went to look at an exhibition of young artists and proclaimed that they were terrible, but no action was taken against the artists

Question 3

Examples of the unnacepting nature of Brezhnev’s government of those writers who tested the boundaries of nonconformity (2)

Answer 3

• the trial of Joseph Brodsky, 1964= poet who was not licensed under the Writers’ Union and was accused of parasitism, was sentenced to five years of hard labour in prison, however his release was granted after two years when it was heard of abroad
• the trial of Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel, 1966= writers who had written short novels that depicted life in Soviet Union as harsh and horrible, they were arrested and accused of anti-soviet propaganda. They were harshly sentenced to send a warning to others

Question 4

What did the government in an attempt to direct cultural output? (4)

Answer 4

• awards were given to those artists and writers who served the interest of the state
• employment could be withdrawn from troublemakers
• any artist or writers that did not follow what was acceptable, were given a talk from gov officials to point out their errors and warn them of the consequences
• but if they still continued, they could be expelled from Soviet Union

Question 5

How did the government deal with abstract and experimental art? (3)

Answer 5

• art gallery directors were sentenced to prison for displaying art by dissident painters
• breshnev’s government launched a campaign against unofficial artists who had shown their art and destroyed the work
• when it turned out foreign press had filmed it, they allowed the art to be put back on display

Question 6

How did Andropov’s government deal with popular culture/music? (3)

Answer 6

• more difficult due to the undergound nature
• gov restricted the output of songs not composed by official Soviet composers
• commission was set up to vet all rock groups before they were given permission to perform

Question 7

How did the general public view the nonconforming artists and the gov’s policies? (3)

Answer 7

• mostly the general public was happy with the traditional cultural output
• undemanding art and entertainment was preffered over more intellectually stimulating work
• nonconforming artists were often viewed by public as self-indulgent and out of touch with the harsh realities of life

Question 8

What are the kwy methods with which the Soviet Government attempted to control the Soviet People? (2)

Answer 8

• heavy use of terror in the Stalin years

- propaganda and control over culture became more important as the terror lessened