Topic 3 facts Culture and Society Flashcards
What was Stalin’s ‘Great Retreat’?
reversed the social experiments of Bolshevism after the revolution
what were the qualities of the socialist man and woman?
- party-minded
- educated in socialism and science
- works for the good of everyone
- urban and modern
what was the divorce rate in Russia like in the 1920s?
- highest in Europe
- 25 x higher than Britain
- easy divorce often led to women being abandoned
- only 7% of divorces were by mutual agreement
what was life like for women in 1920s?
- easily be divorced
- domestic violence and rape still common
- survey showed women worked 8 hr day outside home and 5hrs of domestic tasks at home
- 12.8% of party in 1928 were women
what was the Komsomol?
the young communist league made up of mostly unmarried women engaged in politics
what was the Zhentodel and when was it set up?
- set up in 1919
- a women’s department that focused on social services, education and protecting women in work
when was the new family code written?
1936
what did the new family code comprise?
- abortion outlawed
- contraception banned
- divorce made harder and more expensive
- mothers with 6 children rewarded with 2000 roubles a year for 5 years
- adultery was criminalised
did the new family code have any significant impact?
- divorce rate remained high (37% in Moscow in 1934) and there were over 150k abortions to every 57k live births
- the years 1929-40 saw a falling rate of population growth
what were the impacts on the church during Stalin’s great retreat?
- between 1929-2940, the holy days of Sunday was abolished
- Stalin’s 1936 constitution criminalised the publication or organisation of religious propaganda
- many priests were victims of the purges (800 higher clergy and 4000 priests imprisoned)
- by 1941, 40k christian churches and 25k Muslim mosques were closed and used for other purposes
who were Narkompros?
the people’s commissariat for education which provided nursery schools, infant schools and secondary schools.
what percentage of teachers were communists in the 1920s?
only 3.1% in primary and 5.5% in secondary
what were the impacts on education during Stalin’s great retreat?
- the quota system was abandoned in 1935 and selection reappeared for all
- only 65% of the population had been literate before the revolution. By 1941, 94% of 9-49 yr olds in towns were literate and 86% in the countryside
what percentage of time was devoted to each subject?
- 30% russian lang and lit
- 20% maths
- 15% science
- 10% soviet style history
what was the Komosomol and when was it founded?
- founded 1926
- a youth organisation who catered for those aged 10-28 yrs
- it taught communist values and had close links to the party
when did the Komosomol become directly affiliated with the party?
1939
how were the workers affected by Stalinist policies?
- skilled workers did the best as there was a spread of technical education and training opportunities
- the introduction of wage differentials from 1931 and the Stakhanovite movement benefited skilled workers
- living standards dropped considerably with 1933 being the worst year
- overall food consumption in 1933 lower than in 1900 and meat consumption was 1/3 of 1928 figure
what was The Proletkult?
- the Commissariat of popular enlightenment (ministry of education and culture) set up by the Bolsheviks after the revolution
who headed the Proletkult?
Anatoly Lunacharsky
what did the Proletkult do?
- focus moved away from high art to art directed at the mass audience. Workers and peasants were encouraged to produce their own culture
- some radical spoke of getting rid of existing libraries, art galleries and the bourgeois culture of the past
how many members and art galleries did the Proletkult have?
400k members with 80k active art stuidos
when and why was the Proletkult closed?
- its popularity and size worried the Bolsheviks
- regional offices were closed in 1921 and 1922
what was Avante-garde?
- rejected old styles
- many artists welcomed the revolution as an opportunity for cultural experiment and ending Tsarist censorship
- the style was modern and used straight lines and geometrical shapes
what was social realism?
- in 1934 the newly founded Union of Writers proclaimed Socialist Realism to be the ‘definitive Soviet artistic method’. Avante garde artists were excluded
- Stalin liked realism as it was easily understood by the masses to tell a story (good vehicle for propaganda)
how did Cinema change during this period?
- soviet cinema audiences preferred the works of Hollywood rather than explicit propaganda films
- cinema grew fast, 300 million tickets sold in 1928 alone, though this was nearly entirely restricted to the cities
- between 1936-7, 68 films of 150 had to be withdrawn in mid-production and another 30 taken out of circulation
what was Proletkino?
formed specifically for the production of political films in line with party ideology
how was Theatre impacted during this period?
- 10 out of 19 plays and ballets were ordered to be withdrawn 1936-7
- 1937-8 60 plays were banned from performance
- 10 theatres closed in both moscow and leningrad
- re-enactment of the storming of the Winter palace in Nov 1920. It involved 10k people and included the palace istself
how many writers were killed during the purges?
1500
what did Robert Service note about Stalin in his biography?
‘More great intellectuals perished in the 1930s than survived’
what was the impact on literature during this period?
- novels used simple, direct language and cheap mass edition books accessible to new literature readership
- titles like: Cement, The driving Axle, The Great Conveyor belt
who was Gorky?
a highly esteemed socialist writer who left Russia in 1921 due to the direction of the Bolsheviks. Stalin got him to return and become president of the Soviet Writers’ Union. Main street in Moscow named after him
