25 - Religion, Minorities, Propaganda And Cultural Change Flashcards
What did Marx famously describe religion as? Who was this statement meant to keep quiet?
“The opium of the people”
Lower classes
What did Lenin recognise about religion in Russia? What did he flexibly allow?
They were very religious
Different religious worships
Who launched a campaign to weaken the Orthodox Church’s powers? What happened to the Church’s lands?
Lenin
Seized
Who were Church schools taken over by? What were monastries turned into?
Muslim schools
Schools, hospitals and prisons
What happened to many Orthodox priests?
They lost their lives
What places of worship did Stalin destroy? What did he confiscate?
Rural churches
Bric-a-brac
What did Stalin’s anti-Rural Church perspective arouse? What did he label his opponents as?
Huge opposition
“Kulaks”
How many churches were open for worship by 1940? What is this a percentage of in comparison to 1917?
500
1%
What did the Bolsheviks promise for the ethnic minorities in 1917? Who opted for independence?
National self-determination
Finns
How were minorities represented in the Communist Party?
As national minorities
What kind of Tsarist laws concerning minorities were abolished? What language became more widely used as a result?
Anti-Semitic laws
Yiddish
What did the Soviet Union become under Stalin? What had to be taught in schools from 1938 and primarily used in the Red Army?
A centralised state
Russian
What Revolution led to a burst of artistic creativity? Who encouraged this?
October Revolution
Lenin
What did Lenin believe solely about art and literature? Who was even more clear about this?
“Art and literature should serve the people”
Stalin
What did Stalin want art and literature to promote? What did this mean by the 1930s?
Socialism
Conforming to Stalin’s standards
What did Stalin believe writers were to people? What did he believe art was really about?
“Engineers of the human soul”
Shaping Soviet society
What Union did all writers have to belong to from 1934? What were they meant to strive towards?
The Soviet Union of Writers
“Socialist realism”
What did writers have to ensure their work could be understood by? What 2 things were the characters meant to politically represent?
Workers Socialism and "class enemies"
What writer praised Stalin’s 1st FYP? How did he describe it?
Maxim Gorky
“High-spiritual value”
Where were anti-Stalin writers taken? What happened to many writers as a result?
Labour camps
They committed suicide
Which composer had to famously tread a fine line after his controversial operas? What was an example of a controversial opera written by them?
Shostakovich
“Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”
What did Lenin and Stalin both appreciate in reaching the masses? What would they try and win the masses over with?
Propaganda
Socialism
Which leader particularly exploited visual propaganda to make him appeal as a worthy successor? How did he portray himself?
Stalin
As a “father figure”
What did Stalin claim to guide the masses through? What paradise was promised?
Collectivisation and industrialisation
Socialist paradise
Who manufactured Stalin’s propagandist image? Who controlled this?
Communist Party machine
The media
Which leader sought to become a political icon? What did he strengthen in turn?
Stalin
His political power
