Culture of the Soviet Union

The culture of the Soviet Union passed through several stages during the 69-year existence of the Soviet Union. It was contributed to by people of various nationalities from every of 15 union republics, although a slight majority of them were Russians. The Soviet state supported cultural institutions, but also carried out strict censorship.

History

The Lenin years

The main feature of communist attitudes towards the arts and artists in the years 1918-1929 was relative freedom and significant experimentation with several different styles in an effort to find a distinctive Soviet style of art.

At first artists and writers were given a fair amount of freedom but many fled Russia because of their opposition to the Bolshevik government. Lenin was a traditional man in art. He hated the new 'isms' (Futurism, Expressionism) and wanted art to be kept to traditional ways, yet he did nothing to discourage the spread of Futurism in Russia. Lenin showed his support to the art scene and wanted art to be accessible to the masses. He nationalised many private art collections and created the Museum of New Western Art in Moscow. Lenin wanted at the beginning to have full control of the art system and he appointed Izo-Narkompros to take control. The proletkult movement soon sprung up after the February Revolution. Its members wanted to make art more sympathetic to the masses and to encourage more participation in the arts. Many new art studios were set up in many cities. Its movement was progressive and its members pro-revolutionary.