V. M. Kuzmina, J. G. Simonova, A. V. Tretyakov
56
modernisation, the government intended that
USSR should catch up with
the West, achieve economic independence, modernise its defence industry
and develop its basic industries (energy industries, chemical industries and
engineering).
Fig. 1. Poster “Cultural live-productive work” (1930)
In the resolution On Perspectives of the Industrial Development of the
Centralno-Chernozemnyi Region, the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the
National Economy of the USSR confirmed that the internal resources of
the region had not been taken into account in the Five-Year Plan, hence the
major problems of industrial modernisation had not been solved. By
internal resources, the government referred to not only human, economic
and natural factors but also ideological ones. According to the listed
circumstances, it was necessary to shake up the work of the Komsomol
4
4
Komsomol: the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League.
www.cclbsebes.ro/muzeul-municipal-ioan-raica.html / www.cimec.ro
The Formation of Soviet Culture and Ideology by the Creative Intelligentsia
57
and Party organisations, and actively use representatives of the intelligentsia
to help solve the problem of mobilising the population.
5
As the regions were agrarian, the government had one more problem
to tackle - stimulating the transition from peasantry to working class. To
this end it was important to excite the population about the change. To
build a socialist society, an economic spurt was needed to catch up with the
economic growth in developed European countries; the Soviet government
chose the course of forced industrialisation to achieve this. To achieve all
their stated objectives the government had to encourage the population by
all possible means, methods and forms. Party members assigned this job to
cultural figures amongst the intelligentsia.
6
There were a number of facets to
this approach.
Firstly, art workers were required to raise the cultural and educational
levels of the population, because the new government needed to develop a
new generation of Soviet workers and peasants. The work of the
intelligentsia was vital to achieving this. It was recorded at a meeting of the
Narkompros (People’s Commissariat for Education) Arts Sector on 13 July
1930 that “It is necessary to move the centre of gravity to villages and
industrial areas because the public demand for culture is very high.”
In fact, the efforts of the literati, artists, musicians and actors were
already focused on cultural work before this meeting took place. Literary
types were involved in educational activities with the population. The
creative intelligentsia founded various clubs, village libraries and reading-
rooms; organised literary events, musicals, concerts in rural areas; and
arranged meetings with actors and politicians. Voronezh writers and poets
strove to reflect the innovations brought about by the Soviet government
on the pages of Voronezh Kommuna and Nasha Gazeta. Local journalists,
writers and poets, such as M. Lyzlov, M. Kazartsev, P. Zagorovskiy, V.
Korablinov, I. Gilevich, A. Shubinand and others who were members of the
literary cenacle “Chernozem,” were in fact carrying out government
assignments.
7
The new life of the peasantry, described in the works of members of
various literary cenacles, can be confirmed by pieces of folk literature from
Voronezh, Kursk, Orel, Lipetsk and other regions.
We used to be illiterate,
Uninformed and unenlightened.
But yesterday in our izba
8
5
RSALA, fund 645, list 1, doc. 149 (2), p. 127.
6
Izvestia, 17 August 1921, p. 3.
7
Kuzmina 2011, p. 82.
8
Izba: Farmstead.
www.cclbsebes.ro/muzeul-municipal-ioan-raica.html / www.cimec.ro
V. M. Kuzmina, J. G. Simonova, A. V. Tretyakov
58
We were reading Gorky.
The class struggle, which had worsened in rural areas during the
period of collectivisation, was reflected in the Russian chastushki
9
such as
“Do not threaten us, kulaks; we are not afraid of you” and “All the kulaks
were turned out of the village yesterday.” Most new chastushki were
devoted to the building of socialism and description of the unremitting toil
of the Soviet people. Earlier literary characters were replaced by
kolkhozniks,
10
tractor-drivers, combine-operators, agronomists, team-
leaders, Stakhanovites,
11
etc. The policy of industrialisation was reflected in
the peasant folk literature in Kursk, Voronezh and Tambov regions:
12
We
used to pray to God
For sending rain to us
Now the irrigation canal
Is being built by us.
A second role of art workers was to take an active part in propaganda,
highlighting the achievements of the industrial modernisation of the
country. Thus in literature, theatre, painting and cinema a unique genre
reflecting the ideas, goals, challenges and achievements of industrial
modernisation emerged.
Researchers such as S. G. Kara-Murza, G. V. Grachev, I. K. Melnik
and A. A. Andreev have published studies on propaganda as a means of
manipulation and persuasion, both on individuals and on a societal level.
13
Outside Russia, Harold P. Lasswell, Elliot Aronson, Anthony R. Pratkanis,
L. Voytasik, Herbert Marcuse, O. Thompson, W. Lippman, Richard Harris
and others have studied the importance of various social groups as a means
of social influence and governance.
During the period under consideration, oral propaganda was
continually gaining in scope. As declared at a meeting of the leadership of
the Arts Sector of the RSFSR Central region in 1929, “The idea of the
enlightenment of the peasantry and the working class should run through all
public events, beginning with public libraries.” Meetings, lectures, reports,
discussions, dialogues and performances were very important in the
Centralno-Chernozemnyi region. Central figures of the Communist Party,
commissars, leaders and members of the Party apparatus, outstanding
9
Chastushka: simple rhyming poem.
10
Kolkhozniks: collective farmers.
11
Stakhanovites: mass movement in the USSR involving followers of Aleksey Stakhanov,
innovators in socialist production aiming for workers, collective farmers and technical
workers to significantly exceed the established norms of production.
12
Lazutina 1970, p. 45.
13
Kara-Murza 2004, p. 34.
www.cclbsebes.ro/muzeul-municipal-ioan-raica.html / www.cimec.ro