Frozen Culture: the age of Stalinism

1
Frozen Culture the age of Stalinism

• Repressions and re-structuring 1944-1953

2
War time

• People of culture evacuated to the rear
• Estonians in Chelyabinsk and Yaroslavl
• Latvians in Ivanovo
• On place, the status quo formally restored
• Ca 200 000 Lithuanian Jews murdered
• Ca 66 000 Latvian Jews
• Ca 1400 Estonian Jews

3
THREE WAYS AFTER 1944

• Some people had left the country
• Some people returned from the Soviet rear
• Some people had spent the war at home
• The first were forgotten
• The last were suspicious
• In addition, the communities of the
  deported/arrested people occurred in Siberia

4
Membership of the Communist Party

• 1941
• Estonia 3732
• Latvia ?
• Lithuania 4625
• 1953 (ca 1/3 were native members)
• Lithuania 36,000, 38 Lithuanians
• Latvia 42,000, 50 Latvians
• Estonia 22,000, 42 Estonians

5
Repressions I (writers only)

• Suicides
• Barbarus (?), Estonian writer and leader
• Death beacuse of alcoholism
• Alberts Caks, Latvian writer
• August Alle, Estonian writer

6
Repressions II

• Arrested
• Heiti Talvik, Estonian poet
• Hugo Raudsepp, Estonian playwright
• Deported
• Elza Sterste, Latvian poetess
• Died for overtension
• Salomeja Neris, Lithuanian poetess
• Balys Sruoga, Lithuanian writer

7
Banned

• Friedebert Tuglas, Estonian writer
• Johannes Semper, Estonian writer
• Ilmi Kolla, Estonian poetess

8
New heroes soldiers and partisans

• Soviet/Russian Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya
• Lithuania Maryte Melnikaite
• Estonia Leen Kullmann
• Latvia. The Red Riflemen
• Streets, enterprises, parks, theatres, schools
  etc etc renamed by the names of the heroes.
• Also by J.-P. Marat and the Communares

9
Ochistka or, cleaning

• Leaders of the CP accused in infidelity
• Thrown off the Party and repressed
• Also outstanding people of culture
• Harsh repressions on national cultures
• Since the decision of the SS of the CP of the
  USSR in February, 1948
• Culmination in the Baltics 1950

10
Cleaning in culture

• Enforced since 1948
• Culmination in the Baltic republics in 1950
• Libraries revised, publications destroyed
• Vulgar-sociological methods of interpretation
  Compulsory Soviet realism
• Strong Russification
• Glorification of the Soviet Army
• Culture of the brethren republics introduced

11
National form, Soviet content

• Folk art used to show the native people
• Classical art used to describe Russians
• Stress on class differences
• The role of the Russians in the advance of the
  national cultures was overstressed
• Part. in education and in history of culture
• History was freely re-written and falsified
• Unification of education system

12
Country the kolkhozes

• 70 of the population lived in the country
• First attempts to make kolkhozes in 1940
• The process of collectivisation enforced by
  violence
• Enormous taxes for individual farmers
• Mass deportations in 1949
• Kolkhozes founded very fast after that
• No salaries, individual household limited to
  minimum
• The partisan movement extinguished

13
The cities

• Ruins restored
• People working on reconstruction
• Quick industrialisation, people rushing in
• The waves of immigrants from Russia
• Hungry years, limited foodstuff
• Black market blooming
• The American aid after the war
• Also in cinemas!

14
Architecture

• Gorgeous public buildings planned
• The form and the content did not match
• Apartment houses in bad situation
• Communal apartments
• Hostels for those coming from the country
• Better space reserved for the immigrants
• As a display, the leaders of culture used fine
  dwelling

15
Art

• Poster style
• Bright colours
• Masses on pictures
• Exact headings to avoid false interpretation

16
Music

• New national anthems
• Works for the music theatre, emphasizing the role
  of Russians in the national history
• A number of songs in C-major
• Tendencies to present national music as folk
  music mainly
• Enormous success of Georg Ots, Estonian baritone

17
Education and sciences

• Unified system for the entire USSR
• Traditional structures altered to match it
• Academies of Science founded in 1946
• Academy as organisation of control
• Also acting to deliver favours
• Russian as first foreign language
• History rewritten
• Panslavist ideas
• Youth organisations pioneers and Komsomol

18
Sport

• The DOSAAF voluntary organisation to
  support army, air forces and navy
• Military normatives established for the sport
  organisations
• The Olympic Games in Helsinki, 1952
• Johennes Kotkas, gold in wrestling
• Basketball team, silver (the USA won gold)
• Bruno Junk, bronze in walking