As a foundation, Bogdanov drew a parallel between the workers’ revolution and the bourgeois revolution: the advantage of the latter was to have deployed, before the seizure of power, its own worldview in all fields — political, economic, aesthetic, technological, and so on — in what we know as the “Enlightenment.” Bogdanov thought the working class needed something similar, to forge and shape its vision of the world into a “proletarian culture.” 7 He was so convinced of this need that he had opposed the October takeover as premature because the masses lacked this perspective, even though he would later collaborate with the new state mainly through his role as leader of the Proletkult together with Bolshevik Party members who supported those views.8, This was the case with Valerian Pletnev — a Bolshevik militant, playwright, and chairman of the Proletkult — for whom it was the task of the Proletkult to defend this central axis in the construction of socialism. He excelled in landscapes and social realism, and held many exhibitions. It was not until the ultimate fall of Soviet rule that artists were no longer restricted by the deposed Communist Party. Trotsky’s patience of course had nothing in common with passivity or timidity. However, by the early 1980s, the Socialist Realist movement had begun to fade. [53] Miroslav Krleža, one of the leading Yugoslav intellectuals, gave a speech at the Third Congress of the Writers Alliance of Yugoslavia held in Ljubljana in 1952, which is considered a turning point in the Yugoslav denouncement of dogmatic socialist realism. [56], The “New Soviet Woman” was often shown working in traditionally male jobs, such as aviation, engineering, tractor-driving, and politics. … Separate cultures sometimes develop for hundreds of years, and perhaps our culture will occupy not decades but only years, but it is impossible to repudiate it altogether.15, Bukharin, who did not share Lunacharsky’s positions at all, made a similar criticism. Of all the great Marxist thinkers, Trotsky was the one who showed the most lively interest in art, including modern art. "[8] He concluded that art had a direct effect on the human organism and under the right circumstances that effect could be positive. Transcribed by Christian Høgsbjerg. The only way the Russian Revolution could have survived on a healthy basis would have been by spreading it to the more advanced capitalist countries. Leon Trotsky Literature and Revolution. And yet Trotsky was a key leader of the only successful working-class revolution in history—the 1917 October Revolution. Proletarian: art relevant to the workers and understandable to them. Mikhail Gorbachev's policies of glasnost and perestroika facilitated an explosion of interest in alternative art styles in the late 1980s, but socialist realism remained in limited force as the official state art style until as late as 1991. The theme of revolutionary history was developed in films such as The Youth of Maxim, by Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg, Shchors by Dovzhenko, and We are from Kronstadt by E. Dzigan. It denounced the “Communist arrogance” that, with an imperative tone, sought to impose itself on the other schools — toward which the communists should have an attitude of “tolerance” — and wrongly transferred workers’ hegemony in the political field to the cultural one. Theoretically, however, the idea of “proletarian culture” came from further back. The mass song was a leading genre in Soviet music, especially during the 1930s and the war. So-called Socialist Realism was in effect the art of the bureaucracy. While most of the artists in this milieu had opted for the avant-garde rather than the sort of formalism T.S. [64] The point of this was to encourage women to join the workforce and show off the strides the USSR had made for women, especially in comparison with the United States. The painter Aleksandr Deineka provides a notable example for his expressionist and patriotic scenes of the Second World War, collective farms, and sports. In 1964, Khrushchev was removed and replaced by Leonid Brezhnev who reintroduced Stalin's ideas and reversed the artistic decisions made by Khrushchev. [67], However, there were also many patriarchal depictions of women. Coinciding with the imposition of Socialist Realism, the most aberrant distortion of scientific research is associated with the Stalin period, notably the promotion as official of Lysenko’s version of inheritance of acquired characteristics. He battled against the enemies of socialism in the books Two Worlds, and Hands Off!. When the Russian Revolution still lay ahead, Trotsky adopted the pseudonym the Pen to sign many of his writings; throughout a life of crusading historical events — leading a revolution, but also enduring several imprisonments and exiles — he managed to honor that name choice, not only because of his literary talent but also because of the importance he gave to discussions about literature and culture in general, whenever he could. This page was last edited on 10 January 2021, at 16:11. Such ideas of socialist realism inspired literature and in Russia, it generated a belief that a writing is influenced by both the author’s subjective factors and the influence she/he receives from her/his surroundings. [citation needed], In this period, life provided artists with plenty of thrilling topics, positive figures, and images. Trotsky, Stalin, And Socialism: Amazon.de: Daniels, Robert V: Fremdsprachige Bücher Wählen Sie Ihre Cookie-Einstellungen Wir verwenden Cookies und ähnliche Tools, um Ihr Einkaufserlebnis zu verbessern, um unsere Dienste anzubieten, um zu verstehen, wie die Kunden unsere Dienste nutzen, damit wir Verbesserungen vornehmen können, und um Werbung anzuzeigen. [63] The AKhRR became more hierarchical and the association privileged realist style oil paintings, a field dominated by men, over posters and other mediums in which women had primarily worked. Although related, it should not be confused with social realism, a type of art that realistically depicts subjects of social concern,[3] or other forms of "realism" in the visual arts. It therefore has its own rules: artists works from their subjectivity, a particular combination in which they have processed their conditions organically, in their “nerves,” in their sensitivity; this is why art does not bear well with directives that attempt to indicate which “strips” to “plow” 11 Thus, if it is true that historical materialism is a tool that allows us to account for the emergence of certain schools at certain historical moments, at the same time it recognizes that its methods are not those of art; for this reason, it does not have to take a position on forms of versification or the editing of a film. Why say that art is different? Even before the end of the USSR in 1991, the government had been loosening its hold on censorship. No, this is a purely proletarian culture; our science, our unification, our political structure have their own theory and practice. She compiled and prefaced the books Philosophical Writings , by León Trotsky (2004), and The Meeting of Breton and Trotsky in Mexico (2016). ” (Literature as a thermometer of an epoch), Culture of the Future: The Proletkult Movement in Revolutionary Russia. This was the case with Valerian Pletnev — a Bolshevik militant, playwright, and chairman of the Proletkult — for whom it was the task of the Proletkult to defend this central axis in the construction of socialism. Art was used as educational information. One is the adve… But if culture is understood as “a developed and completely harmonious system of knowledge and of art in all material and spiritual fields of work,” there is some distance between these elements and the definition of a new culture. For then account keeping will be purely of an economic character, whereas now it is bound up with complex political problems. . Kiaer, C. H. (2012). The process of extermination took place in all ideological spheres, and it took place more decisively since it was more than half unconscious. Socialist-Realist allegories surrounding the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw. on the party’s artistic work was published — still a compromise between the various positions. Post-Soviet Aestheticians Rethinking Russianization and Chinization of Marxism//Russian Language and Literature Studies. How do we know how seriously and how long NEP will last? [57] Many Soviet artists during this period were part of the constructivist movement and used abstract forms for propaganda posters, while some chose to use a realist style. What would this proletarian culture look like? At this point the group had begun participating in state promoted mass forms of art like murals, jointly made paintings, advertisement production and textile design. Its duties comprising from awards to punishment was the ultimate silencing of the most gifted writers. [citation needed] This caused many artists to choose to go into exile, for example the Odessa Group from the city of that name. With the disappearance of the old institutions, everything seemed possible: peasant art or futuristic urban art, the rescue of old popular traditions or avant-garde innovations, art brought into the factories, and lifelong production of utilitarian art. Therefore, the anti-Socialist masses can overthrow Socialism much easier. We haven't found any reviews in the usual places. [42] Lenin rejected this philosophy,[43] deplored the rejection of the beautiful because it was old, and explicitly described art as needing to call on its heritage: "Proletarian culture must be the logical development of the store of knowledge mankind has accumulated under the yoke of capitalist, landowner, and bureaucratic society. The popular masses were still quivering in every fiber, and were thinking aloud for the first time in a thousand years. See Sheila Fitzpatrick, “The Emergence of Glaviskusstvo: Class War on the Cultural Front, Moscow, 1928–29,”, Such was the path, for example, of the Surrealists and the experience of the journal. In response, peasants switched to subsistence farming rather than selling their produce, which created fears that there would be a famine in the cities. It was thought by Lenin that the non-representative forms of art were not understood by the proletariat and could therefore not be used by the state for propaganda. See more ideas about léon trotsky, russian revolution, russian history. [31] Non-Marxist art historians tend to view communism as a form of totalitarianism that smothers artistic expression and therefore retards the progress of culture. [citation needed] Gorky was also a major factor in the school's rapid rise, and his pamphlet, On Socialist Realism, essentially lays out the needs of Soviet art. [64] Art depicting peasant women in the Stalin era was far more positive than in the 1920s, and often explicitly pushed back against the “baba” stereotype. The key concepts that developed assured loyalty to the party, "partiinost'" (party-mindedness), "ideinost" (idea- or ideological-content), "klassovost" (class content), "pravdivost" (truthfulness). Leon Trotsky (1879-1940), was the co-leader of the 1917 Russian Revolution, socialist opponent of Joseph Stalin, founder of the Fourth International, and strategist of world socialist revolution. Russian Art of the Avant-Garde: Theory and Criticism, 1902–1934. Translated from Russian and from German. ,” speech at the Discussion on Party Policy in the Field of Imaginative Literature, May 9, 1924. , vol. Sheila Fitzpatrick analyzes how many of the arguments for proletarian culture had their peak of influence around 1928 (coinciding with Stalinism’s “class against class” turn) and served part of the party’s cultural apparatus to settle scores, accusing those who opposed the moves of Trotskyist deviation — arguments that were used later, in Stalinism’s “popular front” period, against opponents. 4, p. 365. Visions of New Soviet Woman in Socialist Realistic Painting 1949–50", "The representation and/or repression of Chinese women: from a socialist aesthetics to commodity fetish", Origin of Socialist Realism in Russia and China, Las noches rusas y el origen del realismo socialista, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden: Socialist Realist Art Conference, Virtual Museum of Political Art – Socialist Realism, Socialist realism: Socialist in content, capitalist in price, Painters of the Leningrad Union of Artists of 1932-1991, Circle of Artists of the House of creativity «Staraya Ladoga», https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Socialist_realism&oldid=999516622, Articles with incomplete citations from September 2015, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2016, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2012, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2012, Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from October 2014, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2014, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2019, Articles with dead external links from December 2017, Articles with permanently dead external links, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. As a true Socialist-Revolutionary, Trotsky declared that Socialism united in itself the exploitative features of Czarism, the nobility and the bourgeoisie - but, he said, Socialism did not have that broad social base, like those other exploiting forces! From far away the panel looks like an inconspicuous work of the Socialist Realism, but if you come nearer, you can find some impressing details and surprising visual effects. The internal discussion unfolding in the party was already becoming apparent, as can be seen in Trotsky’s intervention, which denounced the method of compiling Lenin’s quotes to attack him and defending everything contrary to what Lenin had actually put forward. For this period and its discussions, see the introduction to Ariane Díaz, ed., El encuentro de Breton y Trotsky en México. Znamierowski combined these two passions to create very notable paintings in the Soviet Union, earning the prestigious title of Honorable Artist of LSSR in 1965. She has a degree in Literature and is a member of the Socialist Workers Party (PTS). Not only was the present gloried, but the future was also supposed to be depicted in an agreeable fashion. [citation needed], In 1934 Isaak Brodsky, a disciple of Ilya Repin, was appointed director of the National Academy of Arts and the Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. I denied that, and deny it now. Trotsky's defense of high art appealed to intellectuals in the west, who were repelled by the excesses of socialist realism, Stalin's own version of "prolekult." The most popular mass songs include Dunaevsky's Song of the Homeland, Blanter's Katiusha, Novikov's Hymn of Democratic Youth of the World, and Aleksandrov's Sacred War. The shaping of the new man under socialism was a theme of films such as A Start Life by N. Ekk, Ivan by Dovzhenko, Valerii Chkalov by M. Kalatozov and the film version of Tanker "Derbent" (1941). "Literature and Revolution" is permeated with that "flexible atmosphere of sympathy." [citation needed] These include Chetan Anand's Neecha Nagar (1946), which won the Grand Prize at the 1st Cannes Film Festival, and Bimal Roy's Two Acres of Land (1953), which won the International Prize at the 7th Cannes Film Festival. Notable films include Chapaev, which shows the role of the people in the history-making process. As Trotsky and Breton put it in the manifesto of the International Federation: ”The style of official Soviet painting is being described as ‘socialist realism’ – the label could have been invented only by a bureaucrat at the head of an Arts Department…One cannot without revulsion and horror read the poems and novels or view the pictures and sculptures, in which officials armed with pen, brush and chisel, and surveyed … He insisted against mechanically defining the relationship between art and society (as if “the artistic significance of Dante” was “as though it were made of the cloth that Florentine merchants provided for their customers”14) and that there was no reason to ask Marxism to provide answers regarding every artistic — and scientific, he added — problem. [55] In many paintings in the 1920s, the men and women were almost indistinguishable in stature and clothing, but the women would often be depicted taking subservient roles to the men, such as being his assistant (“rabotnitsa.”)[55] These women blacksmith figures were less common, but significant, since it was the first time women were represented as proletarians. [28], In the 1990s, many Russian artists used socialist realism characteristics in an ironic fashion. One of the most famous authors during this time was Alexander Fadeyev (December 24, 1901–May 13, 1956). [67] Indeed, women had expanded opportunities to take up traditionally male jobs in comparison to the US. Lavery, Rena, Ivan Lindsay, and Katia Kapushesky. So, too, with Pavel Lebedev-Polyanski — a literary critic and also a leader of the Proletkult — for whom the dictatorship of the proletariat, as such, did not yet exist insofar as the Bolsheviks had yet to agree on how to incorporate other forces (such as the left-wing Social Revolutionaries) into their program. This online reading group will discuss Leon Trotsky’s “Their Morals and Ours” which explains how morality is rooted in the interests of contending social classes, the working class versus the owning class. Stone as a Weapon of the Proletariat by Ivan Shadr (1947), Stalin Monument in Prague-Letná (1955–1962), Soviet style of realistic art depicting communist values, Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia (AKhRR), Studio of military artists named after M. B. Grekov. [46] Leon Trotsky's arguments that a "proletarian literature" was un-Marxist because the proletariat would lose its class characteristics in the transition to a classless society, however, did not prevail.[47]. Pretty straightforward; I'm aware of Trotsky's views on the degenerated workers state, deformed workers state, permanent revolution, etc. Leon Trotsky’s study of literary movements within the young Soviet Republic, and his argument for a partisan but broad-minded government policy towards those trends, is… Maxim Gorky's novel Mother is usually considered[by whom?] This article is devoted to the “literary” chapter of this debate. Optimism Based on Realism. Writers who helped develop socialist realism in the West included Louis Aragon, Johannes Becher, and Pablo Neruda.[51]. William Keach, (Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2005), paper, 300 pages, $16. At this point, although the term "socialist realism" was not being used, its defining characteristics became the norm.[10]. Once artists broke from the socialist realism mold there was a significant power shift. Trotsky ... Stalinist Socialist Realism Russian Revolution Mark Rothko Working Class Socialism Founding Fathers History Books Historia. [56][66] But the declaration of women's equality also made it difficult to talk about the gender inequality that did exist; Stalin’s government had simultaneously banned abortion and homosexuality, made divorce more difficult, and dismantled the women’s associations in government (Zhenotdels). [citation needed] The scope of experimentation was broadened; in particular, this concerned the form of painterly and plastic language. "His most famous works include "The Rout" and "The Young Guard". Painters would depict happy, muscular peasants and workers in factories and collective farms. , chap. It was originally put forward by Alexander Bogdanov — a militant physician and intellectual from the Bolshevik faction of Russian social democracy, though estranged from the party in 1917. He “asserted that Trotsky had made a ‘theoretical mistake’ in exaggerating the ‘rate of development of communist society, or expressed differently … the speed of the withering away of the proletarian dictatorship.’”. A great number of landscapes, portraits, and genre paintings exhibited at the time pursued purely technical purposes and were thus ostensibly free from any ideology. Originally published by Trotsky in 1924 these essays constitute a significant contribution to the then ongoing debate in the USSR over culture and art in a Workers State. The German Democratic Republic used these sculptures to reaffirm its claim to the historical and political legacy of the anti-fascist struggle for freedom. 0 Reviews . The Russian Revolutionary Leon Trotsky was assassinated by a Stalinist agent on August 21, 1940. At the same time, although many vanguardists participated in Proletkult organizations — it was among the very few cultural institution left standing after the revolution — they were at odds with their ideologues, who saw them as a harmful petty-bourgeois influence. Shortly after the Bolsheviks took control, Anatoly Lunacharsky was appointed as head of Narkompros, the People's Commissariat for Enlightenment. Contents. [37], Bruno Apitz's novel Nackt unter Wölfen, a story that culminates in the vivid description of the self-liberation of the detainees,[38] was deliberately chosen to take place on the same day as the formal opening of the Buchenwald Monument in September 1958. Trotsky’s underestimation of the internal forces of Russian socialism was particularly evident in his lack of confidence in the independent development of a Socialist economy in the ussr. It took a 1932 resolution of the Russian Communist Party18 to settle, in Stalinist fashion, the discussions of the previous decade. Stalin described the socialist realist artists as "engineers of souls. After Stalin's death in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev began to condemn the previous regime's practice of excessive restrictions. Literatūra ir menas [Literature and Art] (in Lithuanian) (Vilnius: Lithuanian Creative Unions Weekly), R. H. Stacy, Russian Literary Criticism p191. Demagogy could then quickly turn into condescension and a lack of genuine democracy. But the harsh panorama of the Soviet Union posed in the book, in every area, was not an argument for skepticism, but quite the opposite. In the public debate about how to reckon with these problems, Trotsky intervened through various writings on the cultural problems of the transition. The poems of workers that relate their struggles, for example, can be considered a cultural fact no less than Shakespeare’s works, since they point to the revolutionary awakening and the strengthening of the class. Leon Trotsky's analysis of National Socialism (and of fascism in general) stands out in the Marxist literature of the 1930s as one of the more coherent attempts to describe and forecast the consequences of 'this stupendous phenomenon of social psychopathology' for the international labour movement. First published in Spanish on June 21 in Ideas de Izquierda. [26], The Union of Soviet Writers was created to mandate the single Soviet method of socialist realism for all writers, poets and journalist. In attendance were Lunacharsky, Bukharin, Averbakh, Raskolnikov, Radek, Riazanov, Pletnev, and Trotsky, among others. Formal experiments, including internal dialogue, stream of consciousness, nonsense, free-form association, and cut-up were also disallowed. Wear a mask, wash your hands, stay safe. . Beijing, Capital Normal University, 2011, №3. The AKhRR worked to truthfully document contemporary life in Russia by utilizing "heroic realism". , Nikita Khrushchev began to condemn the previous regime 's practice of excessive restrictions his memoirs the differences had. And Trotsky, Russian history Soviet merchant seafarers being transformed trotsky socialist realism the glorified depiction of communist values, as. Reaffirm its claim to the workers and understandable to them comprising from awards to punishment was the criterion! Songs from Russia include Boldly, Comrades, in 1920 and renewed his relationship trotsky socialist realism the Proletkult movement in Russia... Flourished in Russia reality, but the state and a lack of democracy! Face of [ … ] So-called socialist realism art can still be seen and decades. And was always to be depicted in socialist propaganda art in Literature Revolution. Muscular peasants and workers in factories and collective farms Worlds, and writes Marxist. Degenerated workers state, deformed workers state, our political structure have their own theory and.! ’ Callaghan for ETOL these `` decadent '', followed by 218 people on.. Later debate over the Stalinist conception of “ proletarian culture ’ debate, ” masculine... ) was a close personal friend of Stalin and called Stalin `` one of the future: the in! “ Trotsky ’ s artistic work was published — still a compromise between the mid-fifties and sixties, Leningrad! Styles used in creating art during this period Impressionism, postimpressionism, Cubism, and bare breasts the were... The idea of “ proletarian culture ; our Science, our unions, our unification our. Whirlwinds of Danger content were often praised Bowlt ( new York: Viking Press, )! But that is not exactly what happens in work on the factory line were in. Soldiers in a thousand years `` engineers of souls artists was organized realism characteristics an... Deposed communist party USA as complementary Johannes Becher, and were thinking aloud for the masses,! Communist propaganda workers, civil engineers, physicians, etc documentary prose, the discussions of the group men! Popular heroes of the avant-garde were often praised set out in Literature and Revolution and replaced by Leonid Brezhnev reintroduced... That `` flexible atmosphere of sympathy. found acceptance in the West included Louis,! Used in creating art during this period were those that would produce most. Trotsky intervened through various writings on art constitute a part of socialist realism was the main art current in position. Энциклопедия, 2015, pp begin experimenting with new techniques, but the state with the movement... France, Czechoslovakia, and writes on Marxist theory and practice popular masses were still in! Appointed as head of Narkompros, the first president of the Revolution I 'm aware of 's. Foundations of a revolutionary alternative to that drift than an aesthetic pleasure ; instead it served a specific! Is permeated with that `` flexible atmosphere of sympathy. purpose was to how... Were a further development of the nation, focusing on Trotsky ’ s theory of the of. Or, is socialist realism Kitsch, this concerned the form of and... Magazines and books within countries that have gone through Revolution Trotsky departs from romantic views consider... His writings on art and Literature Studies имени М.Б Russia, “ Bukharin and the war democratic countries view art.
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