Editing Socialist realism (section)

== History ==

=== Development ===
[[File:Kulturpalast Dresden Wandbild, Ausschnitt.jpg|thumb|Detail, ''Der Weg der Roten Fahne'', [[Kulturpalast (Dresden)|Kulturpalast]] [[Dresden]], Germany]]
Socialist realism was developed by many thousands of artists, across a diverse society, over several decades.<ref name="Ellis, Andrew 2012, p. 17">Ellis, Andrew. ''Socialist Realisms: Soviet Painting 1920–1970''. Skira Editore S.p.A., 2012, p. 17</ref> Early examples of realism in [[Russian art]] include the work of the [[Peredvizhniki]]s and [[Ilya Yefimovich Repin]]. While these works do not have the same political connotation, they exhibit the techniques exercised by their successors. After the [[Bolsheviks]] took control of Russia on October 25, 1917, there was a marked shift in artistic styles. There had been a short period of artistic exploration in the time between the fall of the [[Tsar]] and the rise of the Bolsheviks.

Shortly after the Bolsheviks took control, [[Anatoly Lunacharsky]] was appointed as head of [[Narkompros]], the People's Commissariat for Enlightenment.<ref name="Ellis, Andrew 2012, p. 17" /> This put Lunacharsky in the position of deciding the direction of art in the newly created Soviet state. Although Lunacharsky did not dictate a single aesthetic model for Soviet artists to follow, he developed a system of aesthetics based on the human body that would later help to influence socialist realism. He believed that "the sight of a healthy body, intelligent face or friendly smile was essentially life-enhancing."<ref name="Ellis, Andrew 2012, p. 21">Ellis, Andrew. ''Socialist Realisms: Soviet Painting 1920–1970''. Skira Editore S.p.A., 2012, p. 21</ref> He concluded that art had a direct effect on the human organism and under the right circumstances that effect could be positive. By depicting "the perfect person" ([[New Soviet man]]), Lunacharsky believed art could educate citizens on how to be the perfect Soviets.<ref name="Ellis, Andrew 2012, p. 21" />

==== Debate within Soviet art ====
[[File:First Lenin statue in USSR 1924.jpg|thumb|First Lenin statue built by the workers in [[Noginsk]]]]
There were two main groups debating the fate of Soviet art: futurists and traditionalists. [[Russian Futurism|Russian Futurists]], many of whom had been creating abstract or leftist art before the Bolsheviks, believed communism required a complete rupture from the past and, therefore, so did Soviet art.<ref name="Ellis, Andrew 2012, p. 21" /> Traditionalists believed in the importance of realistic representations of everyday life. Under [[Lenin]]'s rule and the [[New Economic Policy]], there was a certain amount of private commercial enterprise, allowing both the futurists and the traditionalists to produce their art for individuals with capital.<ref name="Ellis, Andrew 2012, p. 22">Ellis, Andrew. ''Socialist Realisms: Soviet Painting 1920–1970''. Skira Editore S.p.A., 2012, p. 22</ref> By 1928, the Soviet government had enough strength and authority to end private enterprises, thus ending support for fringe groups such as the futurists. At this point, although the term "socialist realism" was not being used, its defining characteristics became the norm.<ref>Ellis, Andrew. ''Socialist Realisms: Soviet Painting 1920–1970''. Skira Editore S.p.A., 2012, p. 23</ref>

According to the ''[[Great Russian Encyclopedia]]'', the term was first used in press by chairman of the organizing committee of the [[Union of Soviet Writers]], [[Ivan Gronsky]] in ''[[Literaturnaya Gazeta]]'' on May 23, 1932.<ref>Социалистический реализм. In: Большая российская энциклопедия, 2015, pp. 75–753</ref> The term was approved in meetings that included politicians of the highest level, including [[Joseph Stalin]].<ref name="Ellis, Andrew 2012, p. 37">Ellis, Andrew. ''Socialist Realisms: Soviet Painting 1920–1970''. Skira Editore S.p.A., 2012, p. 37</ref> [[Maxim Gorky]], a proponent of literary socialist realism, published a famous article titled "Socialist Realism" in 1933.<ref name="Ellis, Andrew 2012, p. 37" /> During the Congress of 1934, four guidelines were laid out for socialist realism.<ref>Juraga, Dubravka and Booker, Keith M. ''Socialist Cultures East and West''. Praeger, 2002, p. 68</ref> The work must be:
# [[Proletariat|Proletarian]]: art relevant to the workers and understandable to them.
# Typical: scenes of everyday life of the people.
# Realistic: in the representational sense.
# Partisan: supportive of the aims of the State and the Party.

=== Characteristics ===
[[File:Fotothek df roe-neg 0006428 004 Blick in die Halle mit einer Statue von Stalin u.jpg|thumb|Workers inspect architectural model under a statue of Stalin, [[Leipzig]], [[East Germany]], 1953.]]
The purpose of socialist realism was to limit popular culture to a specific, highly regulated faction of emotional expression that promoted Soviet ideals.<ref name="Nelson 1988, p. 5">Nelson, Cary and Lawrence, Grossberg. ''Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture''.  University of Illinois Press, 1988, p. 5</ref> The party was of the utmost importance and was always to be favorably featured. The key concepts that developed assured loyalty to the party were ''[[partiinost']]'' (party-mindedness), ''ideinost'' (idea and ideological content), ''klassovost'' (class content), ''pravdivost'' (truthfulness).<ref name="Ellis, Andrew 2012, p. 38">Ellis, Andrew. ''Socialist Realisms: Soviet Painting 1920–1970''. Skira Editore S.p.A., 2012, p. 38</ref> ''Ideinost'' was an important concept: not only was the work to embody an approved idea, but its content was more important than its form. This allowed the identification of [[Formalism (art)|formalism]], a work in which the formal aspects of a work of art commanded more importance than the subject matter, or content.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tompkins |first=David G. |title=Composing the Party Line |publisher=Purdue University Press |year=2013 |isbn= |pages=17–18 |language=EN}}</ref>

There was a prevailing sense of optimism, as socialist realism's function was to show the ideal Soviet society. Not only was the present glorified, but the future was also supposed to be depicted in an agreeable fashion. Because the present and the future were constantly idealized, socialist realism had a sense of forced optimism. Tragedy and negativity were not permitted, unless they were shown in a different time or place. This sentiment created what would later be dubbed "revolutionary romanticism".<ref name="Ellis, Andrew 2012, p. 38" />

Revolutionary romanticism elevated the common worker, whether factory or agricultural, by presenting his life, work, and recreation as admirable. Its purpose was to show how much the standard of living had improved thanks to the revolution, as educational information, to teach Soviet citizens how they should be acting and to improve morale.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Socialist Realism Movement Overview |url=https://www.theartstory.org/movement/socialist-realism/ |access-date=2024-06-20 |website=The Art Story}}</ref> The ultimate aim was to create what Lenin called "an entirely new type of human being": The ''[[New Soviet Man]]''. Art (especially posters and murals) was a way to instill party values on a massive scale. Stalin described the socialist realist artists as "engineers of souls".<ref name="Overy, Richard 2004, p. 354">Overy, Richard. ''The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia''. W.W. Norton & Company, 2004, p. 354</ref>

Common images used in socialist realism were flowers, sunlight, the body, youth, flight, industry, and new technology.<ref name="Ellis, Andrew 2012, p. 38" /> These poetic images were used to show the utopianism of communism and the Soviet state. Art became more than an aesthetic pleasure; instead it served a very specific function. Soviet ideals placed functionality and work above all else; therefore, for art to be admired, it must serve a purpose. [[Georgi Plekhanov]], a Marxist theoretician, states that art is useful if it serves society: "There can be no doubt that art acquired a social significance only in so far as it depicts, evokes, or conveys ''actions, emotions and events that are of significance to society''."<ref>Schwartz, Lawrence H. ''Marxism and Culture''. Kennikat Press, 1980, p. 110</ref>

The themes depicted would feature the beauty of work, the achievements of the collective and the individual for the good of the whole. The artwork would often feature an easily discernible educational message.

The artist could not, however, portray life just as they saw it because anything that reflected poorly on Communism had to be omitted. People who could not be shown as either wholly good or wholly evil could not be used as characters.<ref>Frankel, Tobia. ''The Russian Artist''. Macmillan Company, 1972, p. 125</ref> Art was filled with health and happiness: paintings showed busy industrial and agricultural scenes; sculptures depicted workers, sentries, and schoolchildren.<ref>Stegelbaum, Lewis and Sokolov, Andrei. ''Stalinism As A Way Of Life''. Yale University Press, 2004, p. 220</ref>

Creativity was not an important part of socialist realism. The styles used in creating art during this period were those that would produce the most realistic results. Painters would depict happy, muscular peasants and workers in factories and collective farms. During the Stalin period, they produced numerous heroic portraits of Stalin to serve [[Stalin's cult of personality|his cult of personality]]{{snd}}all in the most realistic fashion possible.<ref>Juraga, Dubravka and Booker, Keith M. ''Socialist Cultures East and West''. Praeger, 2002, p. 45</ref> The most important thing for a socialist realist artist was not artistic integrity but adherence to party doctrine,<ref name="Nelson 1988, p. 5" /> thus creating a singular utopian aesthetic.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Artist-Dictator: Stalin as Auteur in the Battle of Utopian Aesthetics {{!}} Jake Zawlacki {{!}} IJORS International Journal of Russian Studies |url=https://www.ijors.net/issue10_1_2021/articles/zawlacki.html |access-date=2023-10-30 |website=www.ijors.net}}</ref>

=== Important groups ===
[[File:Mitrophan Grekov 02.jpg|thumb|[[Mitrofan Grekov]]. Tachanka. 1924]]
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines socialist realism as "a Marxist aesthetic theory calling for the didactic use of literature, art, and music to develop social consciousness in an evolving socialist state".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/socialist+realism|title=Definition of Socialist Realism |website=www.merriam-webster.com|language=en|access-date=2019-02-18}}</ref> Socialist realism compelled artists of all forms to create positive or uplifting reflections of socialist utopian life by utilizing any visual media, such as posters, movies, newspapers, theater and radio, beginning during the Communist Revolution of 1917 and escalating during the reign of Stalin until the early 1980s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theartstory.org/movement-socialist-realism.htm|title=Socialist Realism Movement Overview|website=The Art Story|access-date=2019-02-18}}</ref>

[[Vladimir Lenin]], head of the Russian government 1917–1924, laid the foundation for this new wave of art, suggesting that art is for the people and the people should love and understand it, while uniting the masses. Artists [[Naum Gabo]] and [[Antoine Pevsner]] attempted to define the lines of art under Lenin by writing "The Realist Manifesto" in 1920, suggesting that artists should be given free rein to create as their muse desired. Lenin, however, had a different purpose for art: wanting it functional, and Stalin built on that belief that art should be agitation.<ref name="theartstory.org">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theartstory.org/movement-socialist-realism.htm|title=Socialist Realism – Concepts & Styles|website=The Art Story|access-date=2019-02-18}}</ref>

The term ''Socialist Realism'' was proclaimed in 1934 at the Soviet Writer's congress, although it was left not precisely defined.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/s/socialist-realism|title=Socialist realism – Art Term|last=Tate|website=Tate|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-02-18}}</ref> This turned individual artists and their works into state-controlled propaganda.

After the death of Stalin in 1953, he was succeeded by [[Nikita Khrushchev]] who allowed for less draconian state controls and openly condemned Stalin's artistic demands in 1956 with his "[[On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences|Secret Speech]]", and thus began a reversal in policy known as "[[Khrushchev Thaw|Khrushchev's Thaw]]". He believed that artists should not be constrained and should be allowed to live by their creative talents. In 1964, Khrushchev was removed and replaced by [[Leonid Brezhnev]], who reintroduced Stalin's ideas and reversed the artistic decisions made by Khrushchev.

However, by the early 1980s, the Socialist Realist movement had begun to fade. Artists to date{{When|date=April 2021}} remark that the Russian Social Realist movement as the most oppressive and shunned period of Soviet Art.<ref name="theartstory.org" />

==== Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia (AKhRR) ====
The Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia ([[AKhRR]]) was established in 1922 and was one of the most influential artist groups in the USSR. The AKhRR worked to truthfully document contemporary life in Russia by utilizing "heroic realism".<ref name="Ellis, Andrew 2012, p. 22" /> The term "heroic realism" was the beginning of the socialist realism archetype. AKhRR was sponsored by influential government officials such as [[Leon Trotsky]] and carried favor with the [[Red Army]].<ref name="Ellis, Andrew 2012, p. 22" />

In 1928, the AKhRR was renamed to Association of Artists of the Revolution (AKhR) in order to include the rest of the Soviet states. 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.<ref name="Ellis, Andrew 2012, p. 35">Ellis, Andrew. ''Socialist Realisms: Soviet Painting 1920–1970''. Skira Editore S.p.A., 2012, p. 35</ref> The group was disbanded April 23, 1932 by the decree "On the Reorganization of Literary and Artistic Organizations"<ref name="Ellis, Andrew 2012, p. 35" /> serving as the nucleus for the Stalinist [[USSR Union of Artists]].

==== Studio of military artists named after M. B. Grekov ====
{{Expand section|date=April 2021}}
Studio of military artists was created in 1934.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://burneft.ru/archive/issues/2015-04/67|title=От основания до современности К 80-летию Студии военных художников имени М.Б. Грекова – Бурение и Нефть – журнал про газ и нефть|website=burneft.ru}}</ref>

==== The Union of Soviet Writers (USW) ====
The creation of [[Union of Soviet Writers]] was partially initiated by [[Maxim Gorky]] to unite the Soviet writers of different methods, such as the "proletarian" writers (such as [[Fyodor Panfyorov]]), praised by the Communist Party, and the ''poputchicks'' (such as [[Boris Pasternak]] and [[Andrei Bely]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://voplit.ru/article/nado-prekoslovit-m-gorkij-i-sozdanie-soyuza-pisatelej/|title = 'Надо прекословить!' М. Горький и создание Союза писателей}}</ref> In August 1934, the union held its first congress where Gorky said:
{{blockquote|The Writers' Union is not being created merely for the purpose of bodily uniting all artists of the pen, but so that professional unification may enable them to comprehend their corporate strength, to define with all possible clarity their varied tendencies, creative activity, guiding principles, and harmoniously to merge all aims in that unity which is guiding all the creative working energies of the country.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://soviethistory.msu.edu/1934-2/writers-congress/writers-congress-texts/gorky-on-soviet-literature/|title=Gorky on Soviet Literature|date=August 15, 2015|website=Seventeen Moments in Soviet History}}</ref>}}

One of the most famous authors during this time was [[Alexander Fadeyev (writer)|Alexander Fadeyev]]. Fadeyev was a close personal friend of Stalin and called Stalin "one of the greatest humanists the world has ever seen."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=James |title=Subsidizing Culture: Taxpayer Enrichment of the Creative Class |date=2017 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |location=New York |isbn=9781351487726 |page=98 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pSwrDwAAQBAJ |access-date=14 August 2021}}</ref> His most famous works include ''The Rout'' and ''[[The Young Guard (novel)|The Young Guard]]''.