Cultural Change in Soviet Russia Flashcards
“What we need is not a dead cathedral of art …
We need raw art, raw words, raw deeds. Art…should be everywhere.” Vladimir Mayakovsky
What was Futurism?
Artistic movement that rejects past traditions and glorified technology?
What was a dominant cultural influence?
Proletcult. (Proletarian culture movement)
What art movement affected styles of sculpture and architecture?
Constructivism
How were socialist values used in orchestras?
Conductorless orchestras
How did agitprop trains influence Russia?
Encouraged artists to create content, agitprop staff gave speeches and handed out posters and pamphlets, accompanied by theatres.
How was Moscow’s Red Square used to encourage art?
Elaborately decorated, mass street theatre displays such as the Winter Palace.
What were traditional Christian acts replaced with?
Christenings with Octoberings
Couples formalised relationships with red marriages
Cities renamed
Children given names like Ninel
Christian holidays replaced by anniversaries of October Revolution
Honourifics replaced by Comrade
When were compulsory literacy lessons introduced in the Army?
April 1918
What did the head of Red Army training administration, say of the literacy program?
“Our word is our best weapon.” Nikolai Podvoisky
What was the first sentence many Russians learnt to read in the texts of 1920s and 1930s? How did it come about?
Dora Elkina Bolshevik volunteer taught it to a group of soldiers.
Many soldiers were inspired.
“The power of the Communist appeal, which promised that those who had been slaves in the past
could resold themselves into exemplary members of humanity, cannot be overestimated. It is poignantly expressed in the autobiographical narratives of semi-literate Soviet citizens who detailed their journeys from darkness to light.” Jochen Hellbeck
How was literacy achieved? what effect did it have?
1920s volunteers travel through the countryside telling people how to read.
In city free workers reading rooms were established and intensive courses for talented adults were offered.
Gave hope to ordinary citizens, helped them feel enlightened.
When were schools standardised? Through what body was this achieved?
May 1918.
Consolidated Labour Schools were administered by the Commissariat of Enlightenment.
What was the Commissar of Enlightenment, Lunacharsky’s, contribution to schooling?
Classes co-ed, attendance compulsory. Students should learn by doing. Group work encouraged.
“The teacher must be an organiser, an assistant, an instructor
and above all an older comrade, but not a superior officer.”
How many Russians were literate in the mid 1920s? How many were there in 1900? How many in 1930s?
1920s - 51% of Russians
1900 - 23% of Russians
1930s- very few illiterate Russians
How did the Bolshevichki (Inesssa Armand, Nadezhda Krupskaya, Alexandra Kollontai) influence women in the countryside?
Given the right to act as heads of households and granted equal rights in ownership of land.
What was in the Decree on Marriage and when was it released?
Marriage was made a consensual act.
Divorce more accessible.
December 1917
What were other campaigns that involved solving gender inequality?
Women guaranteed right to equal pay in the workplace
Campaigns against prostitution launched
Laws discriminating against children born outside marriage abolished
When was abortion legalised and made free of charge?
November 1920
When was the Women’s Department of the Central Committee Secretariat (Zhenotdel) formed to promote womens rights? Who was it headed by? What did it do?
1919.
Inessa Armand (until 1920), Alexandra Kollontai.
Set up communal kitchens and laundries to liberate women from housework and enable greater effort in party and workplace.
Made efforts to improve womens literacy and industrial skills.
“What I liked was the promise of a happy, classes society in the future
…The revolution gave me the right to feel equal to any man.” Ella Shistyer
“The old type of family has seen its day….
since it needlessly holds back the female workers from more productive and far more serious work.” Alexandra Kollontai, Communism and the Family 1920
