Culture and Society Flashcards
When was the soviet union of writers formed and what was its objective?
Formed in 1934 with the objective to convince all writers that they must struggle for socialist realism
What are the rules of the Soviet Union of writers? (3)
- work acceptable to the party
- work must be understandable to workers
- contain socialist role models and be optimistic and uplifting
Who was in control of education?
The people commissariat for education
Who were universities under the control of?
Veshenka, the economic planning agency
When were selective secondary school reintroduced and what were these schools like?
They were reintroduced in 1935 and they had rigid academic curriculums, formal teaching, report cards and uniforms
What was being a teacher in the USSR like?
•teachers and university lectures watched closely and could be arrested
- high targets under the Stakhanovite system
- if students failed teachers could be purged
What was the literacy rate by 1941?
94% in the towns and 86% in the countryside
Why was having a literate population important?
They could more easily absorb propaganda
What was Lenin’s policy towards religion?
He had allowed freedom of religious worship while destroying much of the ‘earthly’ power of the Russian Orthodox Church
What happened to the Orthodox Church under Lenin?
Lands were seized. Births, marriages and deaths and schools secularised. Priests were persecuted and atheistic propaganda circulated
What happened to freedom of religion under Stalin?
Worship was restricted to registered congregations only
What happened to religion under the Stalin constitution?
The publication or organisation of religious propaganda was criminalised
What happened to Soviet Muslims under Stalin?
- Property and institutions seized
- Sharia courts abolished
- Pilgrimages to Mecca banned in 1935
- Frequency of prayers, fast and feasts reduced
- Wearing a veil forbidden
What was the consequence of anti Muslim policies under Stalin?
Backlash in some central Asian Muslim communities where traditionalists murdered those who obeyed the soviet injunctions
How many churches and mosques had been closed by 1941?
40,000 churches and 25,000 mosques
Why was faith amount the religious strengthened?
Strengthened by attacks during the period of collectivisation and the purges
What was Lenin’s policy towards woman?
Sex discrimination was outlawed and the family was regarded as a relic of bourgeois society and woman took jobs alongside men
What was life like for woman in the 1920s?
The proportion of woman in the workplace was similar to before WW1. Russia had the highest divorce rate in Europe and high marriage rate
What law regarding woman was passed in 1929?
A law which made abortion legal on demand in an attempt to give women freedom of choice
What was the great retreat?
A conscious rejection of the social experiments of the lost revolutionary period
What were the reasons for the great retreat?
- Fall in population (not helped by purges and poor living conditions)
- Disruption cause by family break ups
- Fear of war
When was there a new family code put forward?
Put forward in May 1936 and made into law in June
What was in the family code of 1936?
- Abortion made illegal
- Made more difficult to get a divorce (fees and long proceedings)
- Contraception banned
- Mothers of 6 given tax exemptions
- Child support fixed at 60% if income
- Children who committed violet crime treated like adult from age 12
- Adulatory criminalised
- Decrees against prostitution and homosexuality
What were the results Stalin’s emphasis on family life and his encouragement of woman to leave paid employment when they married?
The number of woman working in factories continued to rise. Divorce rate still high (37% in Moscow) and abortions still common
What was education like in the 1920s?
An emphasis on acquiring knowledge was despised, ideology was more important. Examinations were denounced as bourgeois and removed. there was focus on vocational training
What was the school quota system and when was it abandoned?
the quota system, whereby a high proportion of working class children were given places at secondary school, was abandoned in 1935
What was komsomol and who was it for?
Komsomol was the all Leninist union young communist league; the youth division of the communist party which catered for those aged 10 to 28
What did Komsomol teach?
it taught communist values, smoking, drinking and religion discouraged and instead organsied activities which would inspire socialist values
When did Komsomol become directly affiliated with the party?
1939
What was Komsomolskaia Pravda?
A youth newspaper
What is socialsit realism?
An artistic movemonet by which artistic work was supposed to reflect and promote the ideals of a socialist society.
What did Stalin think with regards to culture?
He felt that culture could be shaped in the same way industry and agriculture could and that a cultural revolution was needed to create a truly socialist state
Who was Maxim Gorky and what did he do?
He was an author who wrote about Stalin’s first five year plan as an industrial achievement. He had previously been critical of the regime
Who was Alexander Solzhenityn and what did he do?
He was an author who spent many years in a gulag for his writings
Example of censorship in theatre and film?
- Between 1937-9, 60 plays banned
2. Between 1937-9, 68 films withdrawn in mid production
What did Stalin claim with regards to music?
He claimed to be able to recognise socialist music when he heard it and know what type would inspire people
Why were many urban working men enthusiastic about Stalin’s policy of rapid industrialisation?
They hoped it would bring more jobs and raise the standard of living, they also saw the advantages of foreigners and bourgeois managers
Who did the best out of Stalin’s policies?
Skilled workers
What was life like for most working men?
harsh due to strict labour discipline causing people to move from job to job so as not to aquire a poor working record
