Communist Policies on Art and Culture, 1917-1941

What was the communist view on art and culture?

The Communist Party felt art and culture should create the 'new Soviet man' - an ideal socialist who thought and acted according to socialist values. This would completely remove and destroy the culture of tsarist Russia.

How was art and culture controlled under Bolshevik rule?

Under the communist government there was control in 3 main ways through censorship and propaganda:

• ❖ The Commissariat of Enlightenment was set up in 1917, under the leadership of Anatoly Lunacharsky, to support and encourage artists to work with the communist government. Initially, under Lenin, it allowed experimentation; under Stalin, it was used to control artists.
• ❖ Banned books were removed from libraries and schools.
• ❖ All publications, including newspapers and magazines, had to be approved by the government censorship office.

What was the Proletkult movement in communist art and culture?

The Proletkult was:

• ❖ A movement supported by Anatoly Lunacharsky, the head of the Commissariat of Enlightenment, and Alexander Bogdanov.
• ❖ An attempt to create the USSR's own proletarian culture to promote communist values.
• ❖ It began in 1918 and was replaced by social realism under Stalin from the 1930s.

What was the avant-garde movement in communist art and culture?

The avant-garde movement in art and culture:

• ❖ Challenged traditional art and encouraged experimentation.
• ❖ It included Modernism and Futurism - art that conveyed images of the future.
• ❖ It was a popular art movement after the First World War and saw avant-garde films created such as 'Battleship Potemkin' in 1925 by the director, Eisenstein.

What was socialist realism in communist art and culture?

Socialist realism:

• ❖ Was a type of art which portrayed life under socialism in a positive way.
• ❖ Tended to portray ordinary people in ordinary situations, such as work, mines and schools, as heroes.
• ❖ Became the only acceptable form of art under Stalin's rule from the 1930s onwards.