Stalinist Cultural Change

Question 1

How did Stalin view cultural pursuits?

Answer 1

-lit, art, architecture, sculpture, theatre, film + music considered valuable if supported socialist ideology + creation new ‘socialist man’

Question 2

What happened to writers from 1932?

Answer 2

-all had belong to ‘Union of Soviet writers’
-similar bodies for musicians, filmmakers, painters + sculptors

Question 3

What did the new norms demand?

Answer 3

-adherence to doctrine of ‘social realism’
-for writers union it meant showing Soviet life as what it could become not it’s reality

Question 4

How did this notion impact people?

Answer 4

-people led to appreciate socialist reality’
-see the reflection of future in present

Question 5

How was lit and art used?

Answer 5

-to show march to communism inevitable

Question 6

What was Soviet writing supposed to do?

Answer 6

-glorify working man + communities working together embracing new tech
-messages be uplifting, optimistic + positive

Question 7

What did the Stalinist era bring?

Answer 7

-solid + imposing classical formed in architecture + recognisable ‘real’ subject matter in painting
-landscape art revived, music return to Russian classical composers like Glinka

Question 8

What happened to architecture?

Answer 8

-Moscow transformation epitomised socialist realism in architecture
-style monumental e.g. Moscow metro 1935 with stations deigned as ‘palaces of light’

Question 9

What was the grandest architectural design of all?

Answer 9

-the “palace of the soviets’ but never completed
-designed be tallest building in world history with gigantic statue of Lenin