1.3c How effective was the Soviet's use of culture and the arts? Flashcards
When was the Prolekult?
1917-20
What was prolekult?
A deliberate challenge to high culture by the government
What was used as incentives at Prolekult festivals?
Extra rations
What was the Prolekult magazine?
Smithy - contained poems about factories and machines
Define constructivists
a key strand of the Prolekult culture who focused on the worker and industrial technology
Define Avant Garde
Experimental art following WW1
When was the Avant Garde period?
Just after WW1
Why was Avant Garde not well suited to the Russian peasants?
They couldn’t understand it
Give an example of Avant GArde being too advanced for Russian peasants
Mystery Bouffe was cancelled after 1 performance because it was so confusing
Give an example of an artist who started creating propaganda for the Government
Mayakovski
When was the Cultural Revolution?
1920s-1930s
What was the Cultural Revolution
An attempt to sweep away old Bourgeois elements of society
What was the slogan of the Cultural Revolution?
Boy meets Girl meets Tractor
What was the ‘cult of the little man’?
Glorification of workers achievements
What was Komsomol?
the Communist youth organisation used to root out Bourgeois elements
What is RAPP?
Russian Association of Proletarian Culture
What did RAPP do?
Attacked experimental artists and encouraged cultural activities in factories
When was the period of Socialist Realism?
1930s - 1950s
What was Socialist Realism?
Presenting idealistic images as Socialist life
As part of Socialist realism, what film was produced?
‘October’ depicting the October Revolution
What damning statistic is there about the filming of ‘October’ as part of Socialist realism?
More people died in the filming than in the real thing
As part of Socialist realism, how did the music industry suffer?
They were pressured to promote the state too much
As part of Socialist realism, what instrument was banned?
The saxophone because jazz was associated with decodance
As part of Socialist realism, what was the Stalinist architecture called?
Baroque
What did murals on the underground show?
Socialist Realism
As part of Socialist realism, how did the focus of literature change?
The emphasis switched to party heroes from the cult of the little man
As part of Socialist realism, what was the standard plot of literature?
Someone is guided to better things by the party
How did Stalin refer to artists?
‘Engineers of Human Souls’
Under Stalin, why were there signs of a reduction in restrictions on art and culture?
Due to the focus on WW2
Under Stalin, which 2 artists were able to give public readings?
Anna Akhmatova & Boris Pasternak
What piece of technology, released under Khrushchev, was a huge problem for the government?
Self publishing tape recorder - Magnitizdat
From 1955, what radio station began broadcasting US music into the USSR?
‘The voice of America’
Due to Khrushchev’s personal intervention, what book was allowed to be published due to de-Stalinisation
‘One day in the life of Denisovic’ - told about awful Gulag stories
Under Brezhnev, why were writers most likely to get into trouble, rather than messages about government?
For touching on sexual themes
Which guitarist became popular due to his focus on sex?
Vgsotsky
What happened at Vgsotsky’s funeral?
There was a huge outpour of sadness, showing the alienation of young people
Why could Derevenschki’s ‘School of village prose’ be seen as criticism of Soviet life?
It longed for a world of the past
What did artists who conformed to the government or worked for them become known as?
Russites
What art gallery did Brezhnev launch a propaganda campaign against and why?
Novosibirisk - displayed dissident art
How did Brezhnev deal with the Novosibirisk art gallery incident?
Employed people to attack it, claiming they were outraged
What was the international repercussions of the Novosibirisk gallery attack?
It was broadcast live on TV and so the government were forced to put it back on display
Why was Joseph Brodsky arrested?
For reading his poems at secret gatherings
Why was the Joseph Brodsky case so significant? (international)
Records of his arrest were smuggled abroad and people campaigned for his release
What happened to Joseph Brodsky in the end?
Expelled from the USSR after 2 years
What did Khrushchev say about modern art?
‘a donkey could smear better art with her tail’
What happened with the case of Boris Pasternak?
One of his banned books was smuggled out of the country and won a Nobel prize in Italy which Khrushchev didn’t allow him to collect
What happened with Andrei Sinyevsky and Yuli Daniel?
They were arrested which sparked protest of students and intellectuals
How many students protested for Andrei Sinyevsky and Yuli Daniel?
200
How many intelectuals signed the letter for Andrei Sinyevsky and Yuli Daniel?
63
To what percentage did Andropov restrict the output of songs by non official composers?
20%
Under Stalin, what was Zhandovschina?
An attempt to remove all aspects of Bourgeois culture in 1946 by Zhandov, party leader in Leningrad
What did Zhandov do to popular musician, Shostakovich?
Invited him into his office to tap out basic tunes and told him there’s no point producing something that can’t be hummed to
