1932-1941 - Socialist Realism

• In 1932, the party leadership announced that RAPP would be closed down and replaced by a new Union of Soviet Writers.

  • This brought the Cultural Revolution to an end.
• Stalin recognised the importance of writers, calling them "engineers of human souls".
• The standard plot of literature in the 1930s was of a hero from the people is guided by the party to greater things.

  • This theme was developed in much of the "high" literature through works by Sholokov and Gorki.
• "Lowbrow" literature was usually concerned with war stories or detective novels where a police agent thwarts the evil capitalists.
• The low price of socialist books and the tenfold growth in library acquisitions ensured the population had easy access to this material.
• Socialist Realism led to a rejection of abstract art as posters, paintings and sculptures presented images of workers and peasants, working for socialism and gaining strength through their efforts.
• Vast statues of Stalin started to appear in addition to the numerous ones of Lenin.
• In architecture, the visionary ideas of the Cultural Revolution gave way to "Stalinist baroque", better known as the "wedding cake" architecture.
• Many public buildings were built with "wedding cake" which made use of classical lines, but the best example is Moscow University which was rebuilt in 1945.
• The Moscow metro system was another fine example of Stalinist baroque.
• Music also suffered from pressure to toe the line.
• In 1935, Stalin walked out of a performance of Shostakovich's opera Lady Macbeth, a politically correct story of adultery, due to his shock at the bedroom scene where trombones were used to underline what was happening.
• Although jazz was briefly tolerated in the lighter atmosphere following the Cultural Revolution, renewed restrictions began in 1936.
• Communist propaganda began associating jazz with drugs, promiscuity, homosexuality as well as western decadence.
• In the most conservative social and cultural atmosphere in the late 1930s, jazz did not fit in.
• As the threat of future war grew in the late 1930s, the party leadership recognised the need to bind the Soviet people together in the event of an attack.
• In the arts and popular culture, there was on emphasis on nationalism and patriotism from the late 1930s.
• Eisenstein's film Alexander Nevsky (1938) reflect the trend of nationalism in popular culture.
• The German invasion of 1941 had an enormous impact on all aspects of Soviet life and required Soviet citizens to devote all of their energy to defending the country.
• Stalin declared in 1941 - "let the images of our great ancestors inspire you during the war".
• There was even greater emphasis on past military leaders and national heroes such as Kutuzov, who was the hero in the war against Napoleon.
• It would be misleading to present Soviet arts and popular culture between 1924 and 1941 as remaining constant.
• The extent of the government's role and its aims did vary with circumstances.
• Despite the directives issued by the government, there was some variety in the content produced and although restrictions were generally oppressive, there were those prepared to push the boundaries of what was acceptable.
• Nonetheless, the overall picture is the party leadership using the arts and popular culture as instruments of social control to maintain their political power.