Nonconformity during the Khrushchev and Brezhnev era

Krushchev Era

During Krushchev’s De-Stalinisation certain works were unbanned.

Give 2 examples of such works.

• Works by Isaac Babel, a writer who had been shot during the purges, were published

• Publication of a banned book by Solzhenitsyn ‘One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich’ which recounted the appalling experiences of life in the Gulag

Krushchev Era

What new themes were explored in this era of non conformity?

Labelled the ‘literature of conscience’

Writers explored themes such as spiritual concerns, the bleakness of rural life and problems of adultery, divorce and alcohol abuse.

Krushchev Era

What impact did non conformity have on youth culture?

The Youth became influenced by music tastes from the West and wore western fashion. They were labelled stilyagi by the authorities who saw them as rude and ignorant freaks.

Krushchev Era

Who was Alexander Galich?

A guitar poet who performed his own work rather than performing officially sanctioned pieces produced by the government.

Krushchev Era

What was the impact of the novel ‘Doctor Zhivago’? Who wrote it?

Written by Boris Pasternak→ Khrushchev banned the book for its critiques of the Russian Revolution but it was smuggled abroad and an edition first appeared in Italy in 1957.

Pasternak received the 1958 Nobel Prize for Literature which was a massive international embarrassment to Khrushchev who refused to let him travel to Sweden to receive his prize.

Khrushchev Era

What were Krushchev’s thoughts on abstract art?

In 1962 Khrushchev visited an exhibition hall in the Kremlin to view a collection of work by young artists and fumed with rage he proclaimed that ‘a donkey could smear better art with its tail’

Khrushchev Era

What was there a conference on in 1961?

A conference that decided which dance moves were permissible but enforcing the decisions was a complete failure

Brezhnev Era

What was Soviet Culture like by the 1970s?

It had become more conservative and artists and writers were more likely to get into trouble by touching on sexual themes than political ones.

Brezhnev Era

Who was Vladimir Vysotsky? Why could the government not control this?

An influential guitar poet whose funeral in 1980 saw an outpouring of grief that worried the government.

Control was exercised over record production and radio airtime but was undermined by the development of the cassette recorder which was widely available for personal recording and distribution.

When was the trial of Joseph Brodsky?

1964

Why was Brodsky arrested?

He read his poems aloud at secret gatherings. Brodsky was not licensed as a poet under the Writers’ Union and was accused of ‘parasitism’ and condemned for the ‘depravity’ of his poetry.

He was sentenced the 5 years of hard labour in prison

What happened when copies of Brodsky’s court case were smuggled abroad?

Fellow writers campaigned for Brodsky’s release which was granted after two years. He was then expelled from the Soviet Union.