Terra sebv s acta mvsei sabesiensi s

The Formation of Soviet Culture and Ideology by the Creative Intelligentsia 

 

59

representatives of science and culture, and distinguished writers and 

journalists who had obeyed the Soviet government were all actively 

performing before the population. “I like the naive pride and patriotism of 

the Soviet people,” Lion Feuchtwanger wrote in his book:  

“The young people have created something spectacular at the cost of heavy 

sacrifice; they stand in front of their creation and cannot believe that they 

managed to do it and they are glad of their achievement.”

14

 

Pressmen propagandising Russia’s industrial growth were under the 

control of Glavlit (The Main Directorate for Literary and Publishing 

Affairs) and the Union of Soviet Writers, as confirmed by historic data and 

correspondence with regional branches of the Union of Soviet Writers in 

Voronezh, Kursk, Tambov and Orel. For example, there was a case in 

which an issue of the Voronezh digest Na Novyh Putyah containing articles 

by O. Kretova and B. Peskov devoted to the problematic state of the 

construction of the Moscow-Donbass highway was delayed.

15

 The situation 

received the following comment: 

“These days this problem is being discussed in the regional committee of 

the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks). All relevant 

materials have already been given to I. M. Vareikis (the secretary of the 

regional committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 

[Bolsheviks]) and a decision will be made in the near future. This problem is 

very urgent and the leaders of the Union of Soviet Writers are preoccupied 

with it.”

16

 

It is necessary to mention that delaying the issue of Na Novyh Putyah 

was not the only solution to this problem: several communist writers were 

sent to Voronezh to examine the situation with the highway in detail. 

The strategy of forced modernisation in the Soviet system was closely 

allied to the development of social creativity because it helped to control 

and hold back social tension in the country. Thus, the third function of the 

creative intelligentsia was their active role in directing the energies of the 

working class not only towards the building of the country but also in the 

development of amateur performances.

17

 

To achieve this, the intelligentsia engaged closely with the population. 

Along with state cultural institutions, many different cultural clubs and 

societies were founded. The government began creating favourable 

                                                 

14

 Bugrov 1986, p. 12. 

15

 SAVR, fund 842, list 3, doc. 18, p. 9-10. 

16

 RSALA, fund 645, list 1, doc. 149 (2), p. 103. 

17

 Yakovlev 1999, p. 53. The ruling Politburo of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) 

“on party politics in the field of literature” from 18 June 1925. 

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V. M. Kuzmina, J. G. Simonova, A. V. Tretyakov 

 

60

conditions for the population’s cultural education and recreation by 

establishing cultural centres, palaces of culture, Red Army Houses, etc.

18

 

Cultural clubs appeared in Voronezh, Kursk, Tambov, Borisoglebsk, 

Elets and Oboyan. Alongside these, proletarian clubs were founded in 

urban areas. Various kinds of musical and theatrical amateur groups, brass 

bands, folk bands, singing and dancing circles, living newspapers

19

 (for 

example, the Golubaya Bluzka) and other agitprop theatre collectives were 

formed. Despite many difficulties caused by a lack of money, musical 

instruments, printed materials, qualified stage directors and composers, 

multiple small amateur theatre groups arose in various cities in the 1920s, 

joined by an ever-increasing number of plant, factory, industrial, 

construction and transport workers.

20

 

On 7 July 1930, exactly these forms of work were mentioned in the 

report of the First Year Plan of the development of Amateur Arts. It was 

resolved “to recognise the policy of developing amateur arts in rural and 

urban areas as being necessary and important to the building of socialism 

and the cultural revolution.” 

Members of the Central Committee, in a number of resolutions 

passed during the period of industrial modernisation, drew attention to the 

need to develop amateur activities amongst the working class. In the 

meetings of the Department of Propaganda and Agitation of the Regional 

Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1934-1936) the 

problem of training personnel for urban and rural cultural establishments 

remained high on the agenda.

21

 

The Soviet government did its best to make the population feel 

involved in the social processes taking place in the country. Unity between 

government and the public was considered a means to solve some of the 

most urgent problems. Thus the fourth role of representatives of the 

creative intelligentsia was to propagandise the ideas of socialism among 

people of different backgrounds - giving performances and holding rallies 

for workers, staging concerts for inmates of the psychiatric hospital in the 

village of Sapogovo, etc. 

For example, on 12 August 1921, a theatre troupe called Calais (from 

Tambov) staged a play called Ne Vse Kotu Maslenitsa (Every Dog has His 

Day) by А. Ostrovskiy. Before the play several speakers delivered speeches. 

The play tackled the problem of a severe famine affecting the main grain-

growing regions of the Soviet Union, including Povolzhye, as a result of 

                                                 

18

 Obshchestvenno-politicheskiy, 14, 2002, p. 8-9. 

19

 Living newspaper: theatrical groups presenting factual information on current events. 

20

 RSALA, fund 645, list 1, doc. 103 (1), p. 52. 

21

 Kuzmina 2013, p. 204. 

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