The State And Cultural Change, 1950s to 1985

Question 1

Sum up the state and cultural change, 1950s to 1985

Answer 1

KHRUSHCHEV— wanted to allow more cultural freedom:
• de-Stalinisation: initiated a series of cultural “thaws”, work that was critical of some aspects of government policy was tolerated
• BUT also freeze periods— gov reimposed tight control

BREZHNEV— much more traditional:
• fought a continual battle with artists & others who refused to conform

Question 2

What and why was Khruschev’s thaw between 1954-64?

Answer 2

Khrushchev wanted to forge an alliance between the PARTY and CREATIVE INTELLECTUALS— permitted more creative freedom in a series of thaws:

• 1953-54: following Stalin’s death:
gov allowed publication of new works of literature— inc. Ehrenburg’s ‘The Thaw’— that were critical of Stalin’s Terror

• 1956-57: following Secret Speech:
Another period of cultural liberalisation.
Works such as Dudintsev’s novel ‘Not by Bread Alone’ (critical of Party bureaucracy under Stalin) published

• 1961-62: following the removal of Stalin’s body from Red Square:
Number of books published that were critical of aspects of Stalin’s rule— Solzhenitsyn’s short story ‘One Day of Ivan Denisovich’, told of the life of a gulag prisoner

Question 3

What happened when artists went a bit toooooo far over Khruschev?

Answer 3

This happened during each thaw— artists went further than the authorities would tolerate:

(( ie. Boris Pasternak’s ‘Doctor Zhivago’ (1954 novel) criticised Leninism. ))

^^^ Khrushchev reimposed restrictions when they began going too far

Question 4

What was Khruschev’s attitude to nonconformity?

Answer 4

He was prepared to tolerate some freedom of expression
BUT
Refused to accept widespread nonconformity:
• alcoholics
• lazy government officials
^^^^^^^ examples of nonconformity that he wanted to challenge

Question 5

What did Khruschev do to challenge nonconformity?

Answer 5

POSTER CAMPAIGN:
- encouraged citizens to challenge nonconformist behaviour— policy known as ‘popular oversight’

Supported by posters such as:
• The Lazy Bureaucrat (1961)
• The Alcoholic (1959)  
created by graphic designers such as:
• V. Fomichev 
• N. Denisovsky 
Encouraged people to:
• look out for nonconformist behaviour 
• challenge it where it occurred

Question 6

Who was Khrushchev particularly critical of?

Answer 6

Nonconformist Women.

Started an official campaign against ‘Stilyaga’ (style hunters): young women who wore Western fashion

Claimed that fashion was FRIVOLOUS and WASTEFUL
Assumed fashionable clothes implied SEXUAL PROMISCUITY

SOOOOOOO official campaigns against Western fashion and ‘loose women’ in the late 1950s and early 1960s

Question 7

What was Brezhnev’s attitude to culture?

Answer 7

He abandoned cultural liberalisation.

1964– authorised Trial of Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel— arrested for producing ‘anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda’— occurred in 1966:
• essentially a show trial
• both writers (risen to fame under Khruschev) sent to labour camps

Question 8

What were the clashes between the dissident artists and the government up to 1985?

Answer 8

Many artists produced work and took part in secret shows:

• 1968: artist Nonna Goriunova— performed Forest Ritual (piece of experimental theatre) in a wood
• 1970s: Moscow Conceptualists— published samizdat literature exposing the dullllness of life under the Commies
• Mitki Collective: Secret shows in Leningrad exposing the hypocrisy of communist officials.
Dmitry ‘Mitya’ Shagin (founder) encouraged his followers to demonstrate their rejection of the system by drinking cheap wine and wearing shabby clothes

Some of these events were raided by the police BUT others carried on without official intervention
YET
Soviet authorities renamed suspicious of any group that championed FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION