Cultural Revolution 1928-31

What was there an attack on in the Cultural Revolution?

old intelligentsia and bourgeois cultural values

What was traditional classroom teaching abandoned in favour of?

‘socially useful labour’

Who, in higher education, was denounced?

non-Marxists working in higher education

How many Communists entered higher education during the first Five Year Plan?

150,000

What was seen as the start of the Cultural Revolution? What did this involve?

the Shakty Trial-a trial of 53 managerial and technical staff accused of counter-revolutionary activity, with 5 being executed

What was the ‘New Soviet Person’?

a proletarian with a sense of social responsibility and moral virtue

Who played a huge part in this revolution and how many members did they have by 1927?

Komosols (2 million members)

What became the dominating force in literature?

the RAPP (Russian Association of Proletarian Writers)

What had to be at the heart of literature?

socialist construction and class struggle

Why did some writers stop writing?

they stepped down after witnessing the horrors of collectivisation

From the beginning of the 1930s, what did Soviet paintings begin to be swarmed by?

tractors or machines

What was sculpted at the height of the purges and what was it seen as?

Vera Mukhina’s ‘Industrial Worker and Kolkhoz Woman’-it was seen as joyful and powerful

What were there almost no paintings of?

domestic or family scenes

What did music have to be?

joyous and positive (in a major key)

What new opera was criticised by Stalin and banned?

Shostakovich’s ‘Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk’

What was RAPP replaced by in 1932?

the Union of Soviet Writers

Why did some writers (e.g. Boris Pasternak) give up serious writing?

due to the enforcement of Socialist Realism

What did Stalin demand for books?

that they used direct language and that there were cheap mass editions (to make them accessible for everyone)

What was stated in the new ‘Family Code of May 1936’?

abortion was outlawed, divorce (made harder), child support payments were fixed and there was a criticism of those who took marriage

How much did the birth rate rise between 1935-40?

from under 25 in 1,000 to almost 31 in 1,000

What was Stalin accused of by Trotsky?

betraying the revolution, due to an increase in inequality

What principle was firmly re-established by Stalin?

of material incentives for members of the elite-e.g. dachas (holiday homes)

In 1938, what became compulsory in schools?

learning Russian