Culture and Society Flashcards

1
Q

When was the soviet union of writers formed and what was its objective?

A

Formed in 1934 with the objective to convince all writers that they must struggle for socialist realism

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2
Q

What are the rules of the Soviet Union of writers? (3)

A
  1. work acceptable to the party
  2. work must be understandable to workers
  3. contain socialist role models and be optimistic and uplifting
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3
Q

Who was in control of education?

A

The people commissariat for education

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4
Q

Who were universities under the control of?

A

Veshenka, the economic planning agency

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5
Q

When were selective secondary school reintroduced and what were these schools like?

A

They were reintroduced in 1935 and they had rigid academic curriculums, formal teaching, report cards and uniforms

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6
Q

What was being a teacher in the USSR like?

A

•teachers and university lectures watched closely and could be arrested

  • high targets under the Stakhanovite system
  • if students failed teachers could be purged
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7
Q

What was the literacy rate by 1941?

A

94% in the towns and 86% in the countryside

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8
Q

Why was having a literate population important?

A

They could more easily absorb propaganda

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9
Q

What was Lenin’s policy towards religion?

A

He had allowed freedom of religious worship while destroying much of the ‘earthly’ power of the Russian Orthodox Church

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10
Q

What happened to the Orthodox Church under Lenin?

A

Lands were seized. Births, marriages and deaths and schools secularised. Priests were persecuted and atheistic propaganda circulated

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11
Q

What happened to freedom of religion under Stalin?

A

Worship was restricted to registered congregations only

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12
Q

What happened to religion under the Stalin constitution?

A

The publication or organisation of religious propaganda was criminalised

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13
Q

What happened to Soviet Muslims under Stalin?

A
  1. Property and institutions seized
  2. Sharia courts abolished
  3. Pilgrimages to Mecca banned in 1935
  4. Frequency of prayers, fast and feasts reduced
  5. Wearing a veil forbidden
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14
Q

What was the consequence of anti Muslim policies under Stalin?

A

Backlash in some central Asian Muslim communities where traditionalists murdered those who obeyed the soviet injunctions

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15
Q

How many churches and mosques had been closed by 1941?

A

40,000 churches and 25,000 mosques

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16
Q

Why was faith amount the religious strengthened?

A

Strengthened by attacks during the period of collectivisation and the purges

17
Q

What was Lenin’s policy towards woman?

A

Sex discrimination was outlawed and the family was regarded as a relic of bourgeois society and woman took jobs alongside men

18
Q

What was life like for woman in the 1920s?

A

The proportion of woman in the workplace was similar to before WW1. Russia had the highest divorce rate in Europe and high marriage rate

19
Q

What law regarding woman was passed in 1929?

A

A law which made abortion legal on demand in an attempt to give women freedom of choice

20
Q

What was the great retreat?

A

A conscious rejection of the social experiments of the lost revolutionary period

21
Q

What were the reasons for the great retreat?

A
  1. Fall in population (not helped by purges and poor living conditions)
  2. Disruption cause by family break ups
  3. Fear of war
22
Q

When was there a new family code put forward?

A

Put forward in May 1936 and made into law in June

23
Q

What was in the family code of 1936?

A
  1. Abortion made illegal
  2. Made more difficult to get a divorce (fees and long proceedings)
  3. Contraception banned
  4. Mothers of 6 given tax exemptions
  5. Child support fixed at 60% if income
  6. Children who committed violet crime treated like adult from age 12
  7. Adulatory criminalised
  8. Decrees against prostitution and homosexuality
24
Q

What were the results Stalin’s emphasis on family life and his encouragement of woman to leave paid employment when they married?

A

The number of woman working in factories continued to rise. Divorce rate still high (37% in Moscow) and abortions still common

25
Q

What was education like in the 1920s?

A

An emphasis on acquiring knowledge was despised, ideology was more important. Examinations were denounced as bourgeois and removed. there was focus on vocational training

26
Q

What was the school quota system and when was it abandoned?

A

the quota system, whereby a high proportion of working class children were given places at secondary school, was abandoned in 1935

27
Q

What was komsomol and who was it for?

A

Komsomol was the all Leninist union young communist league; the youth division of the communist party which catered for those aged 10 to 28

28
Q

What did Komsomol teach?

A

it taught communist values, smoking, drinking and religion discouraged and instead organsied activities which would inspire socialist values

29
Q

When did Komsomol become directly affiliated with the party?

A

1939

30
Q

What was Komsomolskaia Pravda?

A

A youth newspaper

31
Q

What is socialsit realism?

A

An artistic movemonet by which artistic work was supposed to reflect and promote the ideals of a socialist society.

32
Q

What did Stalin think with regards to culture?

A

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

33
Q

Who was Maxim Gorky and what did he do?

A

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

34
Q

Who was Alexander Solzhenityn and what did he do?

A

He was an author who spent many years in a gulag for his writings

35
Q

Example of censorship in theatre and film?

A
  1. Between 1937-9, 60 plays banned

2. Between 1937-9, 68 films withdrawn in mid production

36
Q

What did Stalin claim with regards to music?

A

He claimed to be able to recognise socialist music when he heard it and know what type would inspire people

37
Q

Why were many urban working men enthusiastic about Stalin’s policy of rapid industrialisation?

A

They hoped it would bring more jobs and raise the standard of living, they also saw the advantages of foreigners and bourgeois managers

38
Q

Who did the best out of Stalin’s policies?

A

Skilled workers

39
Q

What was life like for most working men?

A

harsh due to strict labour discipline causing people to move from job to job so as not to aquire a poor working record