During the years of the first and second five-year plans, a cultural revolution was carried out in the USSR. The most important task of cultural construction during the first five-year plan was to eliminate illiteracy. In 1926, in the USSR, among the population aged 9 years and older, there were only 51.1% literate, and among individual nationalities, literate people made up an insignificant part: Kazakhs - 9.1%, Yakuts - 7.2, Kirghiz - 5, 8, Tajiks - 3, Turkmen - 2.7%.
At the call of the Communist Party, a mass movement for the elimination of illiteracy under the slogan "Literate, educate the illiterate!" unfolded with renewed vigor throughout the country. Hundreds of thousands of people were involved in this movement. The total number of people who took part in the elimination of illiteracy in 1930 throughout the country was about 1 million people. In 1930 - 1932 more than 30 million people were enrolled in various schools for the eradication of illiteracy.
In order to put an end to the illiteracy of the population once and for all, it was necessary to stop the flow of illiterates from the younger generation by introducing universal compulsory education in the country.
Universal compulsory education was of great economic and political importance. V.I. Lenin pointed out that an illiterate person is outside of politics, he cannot master technology and consciously take part in the construction of a socialist society.
According to the decisions of the party and the government, universal free education in the amount of a 4-year primary school (for children 8, 9, 10 and 11 years old) began to be carried out from the 1930/31 academic year. In industrial cities, factory districts and workers' settlements, from 1930/31, compulsory 7-year education was introduced for children who graduated from a 4-year school. By the end of the first five-year plan, universal compulsory education was basically carried out throughout the entire territory of the USSR.
During the years of the first two five-year plans, grandiose school construction began throughout the country. In 1929 - 1932 13 thousand new schools were built for 3.8 million student places, and in 1933-1937. - 18778 schools.
The introduction of universal primary education and the large scale of school construction made it possible to increase the number of students in primary and secondary schools in 1937 to 29.6 million people (and in 1914 - 8 million people). Enormous successes have been achieved in the development of school education in the Union republics. For example, by 1938 the number of students in the Tajik SSR had increased by 682 times compared to 1914. Hundreds of new pedagogical institutes and technical schools were created in the RSFSR and other republics. The growth of the network of higher and secondary educational institutions made it possible to train over 400,000 specialists with higher and secondary education during the first five-year plan, and about 1 million people during the second five-year period.
Soviet science achieved significant success during the years of the first and second five-year plans. The tasks of economic construction set forth in the five-year plans demanded that scientists establish the closest connection with production, with the practice of socialist construction. The works of I.P. Pavlov, I.V. Michurin, A.E. Fersman, N.D. Zelinsky, K.E. Tsiolkovsky, A.P. Karpinsky, V.A. Obruchev and others received worldwide recognition and fame. During the period of the first two five-year plans, the Academy of Sciences of the Byelorussian SSR, as well as branches of the USSR Academy of Sciences in the Urals, the Far East, in the Azerbaijan, Armenian, Georgian, Kazakh, Tajik, Turkmen and Uzbek Union Republics were created and launched.
A new intelligentsia arose in the Soviet country, emerging from among the workers and peasants, closely connected with the people, infinitely devoted and faithfully serving them. She provided great assistance to the Communist Party and the government in building a socialist society. As for the old specialists, the absolute majority of them finally went over to the side of the Soviet government.
Cultural revolution - a set of measures carried out in Soviet Russia and the USSR, aimed at a radical restructuring of the cultural and ideological life of society. The goal was the formation of a new type of culture as part of the construction of a socialist society, including an increase in the proportion of people from the proletarian classes in the social composition of the intelligentsia.
The term “cultural revolution” in Russia appeared in the “Manifesto of Anarchism” by the Gordin brothers in May 1917, and was introduced into the Soviet political language by V.I. Lenin in 1923 in his work “On Cooperation”: “The cultural revolution is ... a whole revolution, a whole period of cultural development of the entire mass of the people.
The Cultural Revolution in the USSR, as a purposeful program for the transformation of national culture, often stalled in practice and was massively implemented only during the first five-year plans. As a result, in modern historiography there is a traditional, but, according to a number of historians, not quite correct, and therefore often disputed correlation of the cultural revolution in the USSR only with the period 1928-1931. The Cultural Revolution in the 1930s was understood as part of a major transformation of society and the national economy, along with industrialization and collectivization. Also, during the cultural revolution, the organization of scientific activity in the Soviet Union underwent a significant restructuring and reorganization.
Cultural revolution in the early years of Soviet power.
The Cultural Revolution as a change in the ideology of society was launched shortly after the October Revolution. On January 23, 1918, a decree appeared on the separation of the church from the state and the school from the church. Subjects related to religious education were removed from the education system: theology, ancient Greek, and others. The main task of the Cultural Revolution was to introduce the principles of Marxist-Leninist ideology into the personal convictions of Soviet citizens.
To implement the program in the first months of Soviet power, a network of bodies of the party-state management of the cultural life of society was created: Agitprop (department of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks), Glavpolitprosvet, Narkompros, Glavlit and others. Cultural institutions were nationalized: publishing houses, museums, film factories; freedom of the press was abolished. In the field of ideology, atheistic propaganda was widely deployed, persecution of religion began, clubs, warehouses, and factories were set up in churches.
Most of the masses of the people were uneducated and illiterate: for example, from the results of the 1920 census, it followed that on the territory of Soviet Russia only 41.7% of the population over 8 years old could read. The cultural revolution involved, first of all, the fight against illiteracy, which was necessary for the subsequent scientific and technological development and, at the same time, the exclusion of the masses from the assimilation of higher cultural values. Cultural work was deliberately limited to elementary forms, since, according to a number of researchers, the Soviet regime needed a performing culture, but not a creative one. However, the pace of eradication of illiteracy was unsatisfactory for a number of reasons. Universal primary education in the USSR was de facto introduced in 1930. Mass illiteracy was eliminated after the Great Patriotic War.
At this time, the national alphabets of several nationalities were created (Far North, Dagestan, Kirghiz, Bashkirs, Buryats, etc.). A wide network of workers' faculties was deployed to prepare working youth for admission to universities, into which the path was first opened for young people of proletarian origin, regardless of the presence of primary education. In order to educate a new intellectual elite, the Communist University, Istpart, the Communist Academy, and the Institute of Red Professors were established. To attract "old" scientific personnel, commissions were created to improve the life of scientists, and relevant decrees were issued.
At the same time, repressive measures were taken to eliminate intellectual political opponents: for example, more than 200 prominent representatives of Russian science and culture were expelled from the country on the Philosophical Ship. From the end of the 1920s, bourgeois specialists were "forced out": "Academic business", "Shakhty case", "Industrial party case", etc. prisoners to carry out important research and development work.
The Komsomol played an important role in carrying out the tasks of the party in carrying out the cultural revolution.
The results of the cultural revolution in the USSR.
The successes of the Cultural Revolution include an increase in the literacy rate to 87.4% of the population (according to the 1939 census), the creation of an extensive system of general education schools, and a significant development of science and art. At the same time, an official culture was formed based on the Marxist-class ideology, "communist education", mass culture and education, which was necessary for the formation of a large number of production personnel and the formation of a new "Soviet intelligentsia" from the worker-peasant environment.
According to one of the points of view, during this period, by means of Bolshevik ideologization, a break was made with the traditions of the centuries-old historical cultural heritage.
On the other hand, a number of authors dispute this position and come to the conclusion that the traditional values and worldviews of the Russian intelligentsia, petty bourgeoisie and peasantry were only slightly transformed during the cultural revolution, and the Bolshevik project of creating a more perfect, harmonious, collectivist person of a new type , that is, the "new man", should be considered largely a failure.
The totalitarian regime of I.V. Stalin and its signs and consequences.
1) The USSR is a totalitarian state, since the basis of the economy is a command and administrative system, consisting of party and state authorities.
2) One person is in power (Stalin)
3) Mass repressions, violation of law and human rights, terror of the NKVD.
4) Political hypocrisy and lies that declare the USSR a democratic country (1936 constitution).
5) Propaganda of readiness to give all one's strength and life for the country, the party, and specifically Stalin.
6) The system of concentration camps (GULAG).
7) The buildup of military potential for completely non-peaceful purposes (the capture of the Baltic states, Western Ukraine and Belarus, Bessarabia in 1939, the war with Finland in 1940).
8) Dual policy in the international arena (see clause 7) with official peace statements and as a result - exclusion from the League of Nations, an agreement on friendship and distribution of spheres of influence in fascist Germany (with official condemnation of fascism).
9) The concentration of all state power in the hands of one party and its representatives.
10) Outright genocide of their own people (civil war and ongoing repression).
11) Cultivation of a "new man" - a man selflessly devoted to the ideas of communism (education in schools, the "October-pioneers-Komsomol-communists" system).
The political and social upheaval in Russia proved to be the forerunner of the Cultural Revolution. In a short time it was necessary to solve the problems of eliminating illiteracy, creating a system of public education, shaping the cadres of the new intelligentsia and ideologically re-educating the old, creating the necessary conditions for the development of literature, art and the humanities, and using scientific achievements for socialist transformations. The ultimate goal was to create a proletarian culture. An ideological press was created, any manifestations of dissent were fought, religion was mercilessly eradicated, prominent cultural figures were expelled from the country, and its remaining representatives were subjected to mass repressions.
The development of culture in the 1920s-1930s is considered through the prism of the concept of "cultural revolution" (it was first used by V. I. Lenin in his work "On Cooperation"). The enormous importance of the tasks of cultural construction was determined by two factors: the cultural backwardness of Russia (80% of the illiterate) and the need to educate the "new man".
There are three periods of cultural construction:
- After the revolution, during the civil war, the methods of "war communism" were used (including the mobilization of specialists, etc.). The task was to quickly overcome illiteracy, for which extraordinary methods of "literacy" were used (up to the arrest of those who did not want to study).
- NEP: rejection of emergency methods, a certain pluralism in cultural policy. At the same time, at the beginning of the NEP, there was a "crisis of culture" - the removal of many institutions from the budget and their closure.
— Since the late 1920s. in many ways a return to emergency methods.
Illiteracy eradication
The struggle for universal literacy has become one of the decisive prerequisites for radical transformations in social relations, the national economy, and culture. In December 1917, an out-of-school department was created in the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR under the leadership of N.K.
Decree of the Council of People's Commissars "On the elimination of illiteracy among the population of the RSFSR" (1919), the creation of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for the Elimination of Illiteracy and courses for teachers - liquidators of illiteracy (1920), the All-Russian Voluntary Society "Down with illiteracy!" (1923), the publication of mass primers and other manuals for adults, an increase in the number of clubs, reading huts, libraries, peasant houses, an all-Union cult campaign initiated by the Komsomol (1928), the introduction of classes on the technical minimum and agro minimum and the obligatory political literacy course contributed mainly to the decision to 1940s task of eradicating illiteracy.
Education and science
A unified school system has emerged in the country, consisting of three types of schools: primary (grades 1-4), incomplete secondary (grades 1-7) and secondary (grades 1-9, and then 1-10 grades). In 1934, a decision was made to resume the teaching of history, which was canceled after the revolution. The restructuring of secondary specialized and higher education begins. As early as 1919, workers' faculties were created in the universities, which were supposed to quickly prepare the almost illiterate working and peasant youth for higher education. In the early 20s. the teaching of the social sciences in the universities is being reformed and is being concentrated in the hands of party members. "Purges" of teachers and students begin. The class principle of selecting students for universities was introduced - the children of the so-called former (nobles, clergy, officers of the tsarist army, merchants, officials) were deprived of the right to receive higher education.
In the late 1920s The country introduced an accelerated system of training specialists in technical universities for 3-4 years. In the 1930s the network of such universities grew rapidly, and the output of engineers and technicians increased sharply. The network of universities expanded extremely slowly, liberal education began to recover in full only from the mid-1930s. With the release of I. V. Stalin's "Short Course in the History of the CPSU(b)", a kind of "standard" appeared, according to which everything written and expressed was verified. The opening of universities and technical colleges in all national union republics can be considered a serious achievement of the first two decades of Soviet power. Education was ideologized. During the cultural revolution, a new Soviet intelligentsia was formed.
Scientific atheism has become one of the new compulsory subjects in all universities. Almost all religious educational institutions were closed. The All-Union Society of Atheists was created, which carried out mass anti-religious events. It was declared that being in the ranks of the Communist Party and Komsomol, pioneers is incompatible with faith. In fact, it was about changing the worldview and this was done by force.
The center of scientific life in Russia was the Academy of Sciences, which by the end of the 1920s. became part of the Soviet ideological and cultural system. Since the beginning of the 1930s. international contacts were curtailed, Soviet scientists were practically not allowed to go on business trips abroad, and foreigners almost ceased to be invited to the USSR.
Government policy
On the one hand, the suppression of dissidents: in 1921, together with the poet N. Gumilyov, a prominent jurist V. Tagantsev was shot; in 1922 — the "philosophical ship", the famous expulsion of the intellectual elite (the philosopher Berdyaev, the historian Karsavin, the sociologist P. Sorokin, about 200 people in all); since the late 1920s — a series of trials against the engineering and technical intelligentsia (“Shakhty case”, “academic case”); process of the "Industrial Party"; the case of the "Labour Peasant Party" and others. The intelligentsia was broken.
At the same time, in order to strengthen the economic and military power of the country, certain areas of science that are of practical importance are being supported.
A) Shortly after the revolution, for the first time in Russia, a research institute was established to study atomic problems under the leadership of Academician A. Ioffe. By 1937 there were 867 research institutes in the country.
B) In the 20-30s. a number of major achievements were made: S. Lebedev developed a process for producing synthetic rubber; Tsiolkovsky, Zander, Kondratyuk - the prerequisites for the creation of rocket and space technology. The work of the classic of physiology, academician I. Pavlov and the famous breeder I. Michurin, continues successfully. Arctic researchers O. Yu. Schmidt and I. D. Papanin, geologist I. M. Gubkin, biologist N. I. Vavilov, physicists A. F. Ioffe, P. L. Kapitsa, I. V. Kurchatov, aircraft designers A. N. Tupolev and O. K. Antonov, geochemist V. I. Vernadsky.
The main scientific and design forces are concentrated on strengthening military power. The best samples of military equipment in the world were designed, in particular the T-34 tank and the Katyusha rocket launcher.
C) In the second half of the 1930s. the process of politicization and ideologization of Soviet science intensified. Agricultural scientists N. D. Kondratiev and A. V. Chayanov, philosopher P. A. Florensky, biologist N. I. Vavilov, writer I. E. Babel, poet O. E. Mandelstam were repressed. Aircraft designers A. N. Tupolev and N. N. Polikarpov, physicist L. D. Landau were arrested and worked in a special design bureau-prison.
artistic life
The regime allowed for a certain diversity, there were many currents and groupings. The extremist movement advocated a complete break with the "old culture" (Proletkult organization); The RAPP writers' organization stood for purely "proletarian literature". Since the second half of the 1920s. literature and art were seen as one of the means of communist enlightenment and education of the masses. At the turn of the 1920-1930s. the number of literary associations increased: the Pereval, Lef groups, the Union of Peasant Writers, the Serapion Brothers group, the Literary Center of Constructivism, the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia, the Society of Moscow Painters, etc. Through various creative unions, the state directed and controlled the entire activities of the creative intelligentsia in the right direction.
From the late 1920s and into the 1930s. the policy of "unification of culture" becomes the main one - the suppression of any diversity and dissent. In 1934, the Union of Soviet Writers was created (headed by M. Gorky, the founder of the method of socialist realism). A. N. Tolstoy, M. A. Sholokhov, A. A. Fadeev came to the fore among the writers. On the theater stages, in addition to plays of the classical repertoire (A. N. Ostrovsky, A. P. Chekhov, A. M. Gorky), the first Soviet plays were staged - “A Man with a Gun” by N. F. Pogodin, “Love Yarovaya” by K. A. Treneva and others. Many cultural figures became victims of repression (poets N. Klyuev and O. Mandelstam, theater reformer Vs. Meyerhold, etc.); others for many years lost the opportunity to publish (M. Bulgakov), others put their talent at the service of the regime, adapted (A. Tolstoy).
Until the mid 1920s. the influence of the "Silver Age" of Russian art affected. Many masters were fascinated by the idea of making high classical culture the property of the people. New forms of art propaganda arose: rallies, concerts, theatrical performances in the streets and squares. From the mid 1920s. the diversity of forms of creativity began to be suppressed. The Communist Party sought to put under its control the activities of people of art, when evaluating their works, not the artistic value and skill of the creators were brought to the fore, but ideological attitudes, loyalty to the party (Stalinist) line.
In the 1930s The material base of cultural propaganda was significantly expanded: hundreds of new theaters were opened, thousands of clubs, libraries and museums were built. Artistic activity has become widespread.
Cinema was of great importance. Films about the revolution (“Lenin in October”, “Trilogy about Maxim”, films by S. M. Eisenstein “Battleship Potemkin”, V. I. Pudovkin’s “Mother”), about the civil war (“Chapaev”) were especially popular. , comedies ("Volga-Volga", "Circus").
The classics of socialist realism in the visual arts were the works of B. V. Ioganson (1933, the paintings “Interrogation of the Communists”, “At the Old Ural Factory”, “Speech by V. I. Lenin at the III Congress of the Komsomol”). In the 1930s K. S. Petrov-Vodkin, P. P. Konchalovsky, A. A. Deineka continue to work, M. V. Nesterov creates a series of beautiful portraits of his contemporaries. In the work of artists, revolutionary themes and the glorification of "heroic deeds" gradually began to prevail.
The pinnacle of the development of sculpture of socialist realism was the composition "Worker and Collective Farm Woman" by V. I. Mukhina (1889-1953), made for the Soviet pavilion at the world exhibition in Paris in 1937.
architecture in the early 1930s. constructivism continues to be the leading one (Lenin's Mausoleum, designed by A. V. Shchusev, 1930). By the end of the 1930s. magnificent stucco molding, huge columns with pseudo-classical capitals come into fashion, gigantomania and a tendency to deliberate richness of decoration, often bordering on bad taste, are manifested. This style is sometimes referred to as "Stalin's Empire".
An integral part of the cultural life of society was physical education and sports, encouraged by the state - the country needed physically strong citizens who were able to join the ranks of the Red Army, in the most difficult conditions to build factories, plants, railways. To encourage sports in the 1930s. a system was created for passing the standards of the TRP (ready for labor and defense), GSO (ready for sanitary defense), "Voroshilovsky shooter". Gradually began to develop and professional sports.
A number of peoples received an alphabet on a Russian basis. This undermined the connection with the roots of national culture. The country was cut off from the Russian diaspora, there was strict censorship.
Outcomes of the Cultural Revolution
- The level of literacy has increased.
- A system of general education schools and higher educational institutions has been created.
- Significant development was received by science and art.
- An official culture was formed based on the Marxist-class ideology, "communist education", mass culture and education, which was necessary for the training of a large number of production personnel and the formation of a new "Soviet intelligentsia" from the worker-peasant environment.
- The totalitarian system consistently and methodically destroyed the freedom of creativity, spiritual search, and artistic self-expression.
Cultural Revolution (1917-1928)
October 1917 considered the beginning of a new period in the history of national culture, although the consequences of the political upheaval did not immediately manifest itself in the cultural life of society.
A distinctive feature of the Soviet period in the history of culture is the great role of the party and the state in its development. Through a system of state and public organizations, the Communist Party directs the development of public education, cultural and educational work, literature, art, and conducts work on the ideological and political education of the people in the spirit of Marxist-Leninist ideology. The state finances all branches of culture, takes care of expanding their material base. Starting from the first five-year plan, cultural construction is planned throughout the country. A significant place is occupied by questions of culture in the activities of the trade unions and the Komsomol.
During the years of socialist construction, the Marxist-Leninist ideology was established in Soviet society. Mass illiteracy was liquidated, a high level of education of the entire population was ensured.
The struggle for the establishment of Marxist ideology demanded above all the organization of socialist forces. in 1918 The Socialist Academy was opened, the main task of which was the development of topical problems in the theory of Marxism, in 1919. Communist University. Ya. M. Sverdlov for the propaganda of communist ideas and the training of ideological workers.
The formation of Marxist social science was closely connected with the restructuring of the teaching of social sciences at universities and colleges. It began in 1921, when a new charter of higher education was adopted by decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, which eliminated its autonomy.
With the victory of the socialist revolution, the essence of relations between the state and religious organizations changed radically. The separation of the church from the state and the school from the church (Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of January 23, 1918), the widespread deployment of atheistic propaganda among the population contributed to the liberation of culture from the influence of the church. The main task of the party was to promote "the actual liberation of the working masses from religious prejudices ...". Lenin named religion among the most important manifestations of survivals, remnants of serfdom in Russia.
Communist scientists united in societies for the scientific development, popularization and propaganda of Marxism-Leninism: in 1924-1925. The Society of Militant Materialists, the Petrograd Scientific Society of Marxists, and the Society of Marxist Historians were created.
With the general improvement of the economic situation of the country since 1923. began a pearl in school construction. The growth of state investments, the patronage of enterprises and institutions, and the assistance of the rural population made it possible to begin the transition to universal primary education. the need for this was dictated by the needs of the country. completing the restoration of the national economy and standing on the threshold of the socialist revolution. In August, the bull adopted a decree "On the introduction of universal primary education in the RSFSR and the construction of a school network." According to the 1926 census. the number of literate people in the republic has doubled compared to pre-revolutionary times. Workers' faculties, opened in 1919, continued to function. countrywide.
Mass media were used for cultural and political education of the people. Along with the periodical press, radio broadcasting became more and more widespread. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Soviet power, a radio station named after V.I. Comintern is the most powerful radio station in Europe at the moment. Monumental propaganda became a new form of political-educational and cultural-educational work: in accordance with the Leninist plan, in the first years after the revolution, dozens of monuments to outstanding thinkers and revolutionaries, cultural figures were laid and opened: Marx, Engels, the obelisk of the Soviet constitution. In the first years of Soviet power, a tradition of mass holidays dedicated to revolutionary dates developed. A lot of work was done to attract the working people to the theater, fine arts, and classical music. For this, targeted free performances and concerts, lectures, free excursions to art galleries were organized.
The relative isolation of art was destroyed, it became more independent from the ideological and political struggle in society. The task arose of creating a new artistic culture that would meet the historical tasks of the working class, which had become dominant, as well as a new multi-million audience.
One of the most difficult areas of confrontation between bourgeois and proletarian ideologies was literature and art. The artistic life of the country in the first years of Soviet power amazes with an abundance of literary and artistic groups: "Forge" (1920), "Serapion Brothers" (1921), the Moscow Association of Proletarian Writers - MAPP (1923), the Left Front of Arts - LEF (1922. ), "Pass" (1923), Russian Association of Proletarian Writers - RAPP (1925), etc. The Soviet state took measures to protect the people from harmful ideological influence and prevent the release of works of an anti-Soviet, religious, pornographic or hostile nature to any nationality.
Many new theater groups arose, usually not long-lived, because they were most likely built on enthusiasm, and not on a clear ideological and aesthetic platform and did not have a material base. The theaters created in those years, the Bolshoi Drama Theater in Leningrad, the first artistic director of which was A. Blok, Theatre. Sun. Meyerhold, Moscow Theatre. Moscow City Council. By this time, the beginning of a professional theater for children, at the origins of which stood N. I. Sats, dates back.
Famous figures in the artistic life of the republic in the first Soviet decade were those writers and artists whose creative activity began and was recognized even before the revolution: V. V. Mayakovsky, S. A. Yesenin, D. Bedny, M. Gorky, K. S. Stanislavsky, A. Ya. Tairov, B. M. Kustodiev, K. S. Petrov-Vodkin. These names personified the continuity in the development of Russian artistic culture, its richness, variety of styles and trends. M. Gorky occupied a special place in this galaxy. On his initiative, the publishing house "World Literature" was created with the aim of widely publishing the classics of world literature for the people.
The first comprehension of the occurred revolution refers to its first months and years. These are Mayakovsky's poems, Blok's poem "The Twelve", posters by D. Moor, paintings by A. A. Rylov "In the Blue Space", K. F. Yuon "New Planet", K. S. Petrov-Vodkin "1918 in Petrograd" .
The new revolutionary reality required a new method of its implementation. It is conditionally possible to distinguish two main currents in the artistic culture of that time: one led the search in line with post-revolutionary realistic art, the other connected socialist art with new forms. There was a sharp struggle between the supporters of the "formal school", the Lefites and the defenders of the "new realism". But real artists stood above group isolation, there was a process of mutual influence and mutual enrichment of various trends in artistic culture.
Literary and art magazines played an important role in the artistic life of the republic. In the 1920s, a certain type of Soviet periodical was formed, continuing the traditions of Russian journalism. Such new magazines as Novy Mir, Krasnaya Nov, Molodaya Gvardia, Oktyabr became popular. "Star", "Print and Revolution". Outstanding works of Soviet literature were published for the first time on their pages, critical articles were published, and heated discussions were held.
The best works of that time were created outside the framework of any one direction. The classics of Soviet literature were the poems and lyrics of V. Mayakovsky, who was a member of the LEF, S. Yesenin, who joined the Imagists, the novel "Chapaev" by D. Furmanov, one of the organizers of the proletarian literary movement.
By the mid-20s, the emergence of Soviet dramaturgy, which had a huge impact on the development of theatrical art, dates back. Major events of the theatrical seasons of 1925 - 1927. became "Storm" by V. Bill-Belotserkovsky at the Theater. MGSPS, "Love Yarovaya" by K. Trenev at the Maly Theater, "The Rupture" by B. Lavrenev, at the Theater. Vakhtangov and the Bolshoi Drama. Classics occupied a strong place in the repertoire. Attempts to read it again were made both by academic theaters (A. Ostrovsky's Hot Heart at the Moscow Art Theater) and by the "leftists" (A. Ostrovsky's Forest and N. Gogol's Inspector General at the Meyerhold Theatre).
The leading creative processes in the visual arts of the 1920s were reflected in the activities of groups such as AHRR (Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia), OST (Society of Easel Painters), "4 Arts" and OMH (Society of Moscow Artists). The artists who were part of the AHRR sought to reflect modern reality in forms accessible to the perception of the general public: G. Ryazhsky's "Delegate", E. Cheptsov's "Session of the Village", the famous "Tachanka" by M. Grekov. The OST group set itself the task of embodying in images the relationship between man and modern production: "Defense of Petrograd" by A. Deineka, "Heavy Industry" by Y. Pimenov, "The ball flew away" by S. Luchishkin.
If the drama theaters rebuilt their repertoire by the end of the first Soviet decade, the main place in the activities of opera and ballet groups was still occupied by the classics. The preservation and popularization of Russian musical classics was the leading direction in the work of musical theaters and orchestras, which developed despite the resistance of some associations of musicians. Cinema was the most important means of propaganda and cultural work among the masses. The outstanding masters of Soviet cinema, whose work developed in the 1920s, were Dziga Vetrov, who opened a new direction in documentary film, associated with the artistic interpretation of true facts, S. M. Eisenstein - the author of Battleship Potemkin, October, which laid the foundation for revolutionary theme in an artistic way.
Cultural life in the USSR in the 20-30s.
The struggle for the establishment of the Marxist-Leninist ideology in the minds of people and in science was the leading direction in the ideological life of society. At the same time, the requirements of the party to social scientists became tougher: those who doubted the absolute correctness of the chosen methods of socialist construction, offered to preserve the principles of the new economic, warned of the danger of forced collectivization, were dismissed. The fate of many scientists has developed tragically. Thus, prominent Russian economists A. V. Chyanov and N. D. Kondratiev were arrested and subsequently shot.
In the early 1930s, signs of Stalin's personality cult began to appear in ideological work.
At the turn of the 1920s and 1930s, new trends emerged in the literary and artistic life of Soviet society. Gone are the political differences among the artistic intelligentsia, the majority of writers and artists accepted the new social system as historically conditioned and historically established for Russia. In literature and art, there was a turn towards realism, a desire for organizational unity. In 1925 The Federation of Soviet Writers was created. The proletarian organizations did a great deal of cultural and ideological work among the workers and contributed to the promotion of talents. The policy of the state in the field of literature and art in the new conditions was determined in the resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of April 23, 1923. “On the restructuring of literary and artistic organizations”, it was decided to liquidate the association of proletarian writers and “... unite all writers who support the platform of Soviet power and seek to participate in socialist construction, into a single union of Soviet writers with a communist faction in it ...”.
The leading theme in the literature of the 1930s was the theme of revolution and socialist construction. The inevitable collapse of the old world, the approach of the revolution is the main idea of M. Gorky's novel "The Life of Klim Samgin" (1925 - 1936). The problem of a person in the revolution, his fate - about this is the epic novel by M. Sholokhov "Quiet Flows the Don" (1928-1940). The symbol of heroism and moral purity was the image of Pavel Korchagin - the hero of the novel by N. Ostrovsky "How the Steel Was Sworn" (1934). The theme of the industrial development of the country was revealed in the works of L. Leonov "Sot", M. Shaginyan "Hydrocentral". A significant place in the fiction of the 1930s was occupied by works devoted to national history and outstanding cultural figures of the past. These are “Peter the Great” by A. Tolstoy, the dramas by M. Bulgakov “The Cabal of the Hypocrites” (“Moliere”) and “The Last Days” (“Pushkin”). Brilliant samples of poetry were created in their work by A. Akhmatova, O. Mandelstam, B. Pasternak. M. Zoshchenko, I. Ilf and E. Petrov successfully worked in the genre of satire. The classics of Soviet children's literature were the works of S. Marshak, A. Gaidar, K. Chukovsky, B. Zhitkov.
Since the end of the 1920s, the Soviet play has established itself on the stages of theaters. Changes in the repertoire, meetings with workers at public screenings and discussions contributed to bringing the theater closer to life. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Great October Revolution, the image of V. I. Lenin was first embodied on the stage. In the performance of the Theater. Vakhtangov "Man with a gun" based on the play by N. Pogodin. Among the theatrical premieres of the 30s, the history of the Soviet theater included V. Vishnevsky's Optimistic Comedy, staged at the Chamber Theater under the direction of A. Ya. Tairov, Anna Karenina, staged by V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko and V. G. Stakhanovskiy at the Moscow Art Theatre.
In 1936 The title of People's Artist of the USSR was approved. The first to receive it were K. S. Stanislavsky, V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, V. I. Kachalov, B. V. Shchukin, and I. M. Moskvin.
Significant steps in its development were made in the 1930s by Soviet cinematography. At the end of the 1920s, its own cinematography base was created: new equipped film studios, cinemas equipped with domestic projectors were created, film production was launched, and sound film equipment systems were created. Soviet silent films gradually forced foreign films off the screen. The growth of the popularity of cinema was facilitated by the appearance of Soviet sound films, the first of which were in 1931. “A ticket to life” (directed by N. Eck), “One” (directed by G. Kozintsev and L. Trauberg), “Golden Mountains” (directed by S. Yutkevich). The best Soviet films of the 1930s told about contemporaries (“Seven Brave”, “Komsomolsk” by S. Gerasimov), about the events of the revolution and the civil war (“Chapaev” by S. and G. Vasiliev, “We are from Kronstadt” by E. Dzigan, "Deputy of the Baltic" I. Kheifits)
The musical life of the country in those years is associated with the names of S. Prokofiev, D. Shostokovich, A. Khchaturian, T. Khrennikov, D. Kabalevsky, I. Dunayevsky. Musical ensembles were created, which later glorified Soviet musical culture: the quartet named after. Beethoven, the Grand State Symphony Orchestra, the State Philharmonic Orchestra, etc. In 1932. The Union of Composers of the USSR was formed.
The process of unification of creative forces was also going on in the visual arts. In 1931 The Russian Association of Proletarian Artists (RAPH) arose, designed to unite the artistic forces of the country, but it could not cope with the tasks assigned to it, and a year later it was dissolved. The formation of unions of artists began, uniting figures of the fine arts of the republics and regions.
The transition to the socialist reconstruction of the national economy required an increase in the education and culture of the working people. Decisive successes in the struggle for literacy were achieved during the years of the first five-year plan, when universal compulsory primary education was introduced for children aged 8-10 years in the amount of 4 years; for adolescents who have not completed primary education - in the amount of accelerated 1 - 2-year courses. For children who received primary education (graduated from school of the first stage), in industrial cities, factory districts and workers' settlements, compulsory education was established at a seven-year school. The implementation of universal education posed complex tasks. it was necessary to strengthen the material base of public education - to build new schools, to provide students with textbooks and stationery. there was an acute shortage of teaching staff. The state invested large amounts, which made it possible during the years of the first and second five-year plans to expand the construction of new schools (almost 40,000 new schools were opened during this period). The training of teaching staff was expanded, largely due to the mobilization of communists and Komsomol members to study at pedagogical universities. The salaries of teachers and other school workers were increased, which became dependent on education and work experience.
A wide network of various evening schools, courses, circles operated in the country, which included millions of workers and collective farmers. High political activity, consciousness, initiative in labor stimulated the desire of the working people for education and culture.
Cultural revolution in the USSR
In the first years of Soviet power - 1920-1930s - in the cultural life of the country, the main event was cultural revolution .
cultural revolution
cultural revolution- these are events that were carried out in the USSR with the aim of radically restructuring the cultural and ideological life in the country.
History of the term
The term first appeared in May 1917 in the "Manifesto of Anarchism" by the Gordin brothers.
Goals
Creation of a new culture reflecting the features of the socialist system
Formation of a cadre of intelligentsia among the workers and peasants
Elimination of illiteracy
To attach to the achievements of culture the widest possible masses of the population
Ideologization of culture in accordance with the principles of socialism, the imposition of ideological uniformity
Rejection of the cultural heritage of the past
Events
January 23, 1918- Decree on the separation of church from state and school from the church. Religious subjects were removed from the education system. The deployment of atheistic propaganda, the persecution of religion began. Clubs and warehouses were created in churches.
State-party bodies have been created to manage cultural life: Agitprop- departments of agitation and propaganda in the party, Glavpolitprosvet- The main political and educational committee of the RSFSR (operated from 1920-1930, then reorganized into the People's Commissariat of Education, chairman - Krupskaya N.K.., Lenin's wife V.I.), Narkompros- People's Commissariat of Education (the state body of the RSFSR, which controlled the activities of cultural institutions, the chairman - Lunacharsky A.V..), Glavlit- The Main Directorate for Literature and Publishing - carried out censorship of printed publications in the USSR from 1920-1991.
Nationalization of cultural institutions: publishing houses, museums.
The freedom of the press has been abolished, strict censorship has been established.
Fight against illiteracy. According to the 1920 census, 41.7% of the population in Russia could read. In 1930 - introduced universal primary education. Created throughout the country educational programs- Centers for the elimination of illiteracy of people under 40 years old. A mass movement to combat illiteracy unfolded under the slogan: "The literate teach the illiterate"
Creation of national alphabets of the peoples of the outskirts of the country. Introducing them to culture (Dagestan, the Far North, Kirghiz, Bashkirs, Buryats, etc.).
Creation of conditions for training workers in universities - opened workers' faculties(working faculties), in which they prepared for admission.
A scientific elite began to form, new institutions were created: the Communist University, the Communist Academy, the Institute of Red Professors.
Scientists from tsarist Russia were actively involved in the work.
Repressions were carried out against ideological opponents. From country to "Philosophical steamboat" (generalized name of the operation for the expulsion of the intelligentsia in 1922-1923 d.) more than 200 scientists and cultural workers were expelled
From the end of the 1920s, trials began against the intelligentsia - "enemies of the people": "Academic Business"(case against scientists of the Academy of Sciences in 1929-1931), "Shakhty case"(specialists of the coal industry were accused. 1928), "The Case of the Industrial Party"(on sabotage in industry by a group of engineers and scientific and technical workers, 1930).
Started work in 1929 sharashki- technical bureaus from the repressed intelligentsia for scientific activities.
Proletkult was created (worked from 1917-1932).
In art, a single method was approved - socialist realism
Results
By 1939, 87.4% of the population became literate in the country.
A large network of schools and other educational institutions has been created.
An official culture and ideology was formed, based on the principles of Marxism-Leninism.
