Proletarian Culture and Leftist Trends in Russia at the Beginning of the 20th Century

The low level of development of this topic in Russian historiography can be explained by the fact that, most often, this problematics is considered through the prism of general issues of culture of the Soviet period, party and state cultural policy, aspects of intelligentsia studies.

This study aims at identifying the artistic concept of the leftist direction in the visual arts of the early 20th century, considering its variability, showing its origins, relations with the Soviet government and within the artistic environment, analyzing the reasons for its prohibition and exodus for many decades.

The article pays special attention to the genesis of the very concept of “leftist art”, which was applied both in relation to new radical trends and in relation to the work of artists who considered themselves among the proletarian culture. The article attempts to separate the concepts of “avant-garde”, “modernism”, “futurism”. The authors focus on the art of the avant-garde, whose representatives, at the time of the Bolsheviks’ coming to power, took all the key positions and began to actively promote their creativity. The article pays attention to the reform of art education, as a result of which the Academy of Arts and the Higher Art School were abolished, and the Petrograd Art Training Workshops were created instead, where previous teaching methods were cancelled, talented masters were dismissed, and disciplines based on the principles of the avant-garde were introduced into education in the majority. The authors outline the changes in the traditions of museology, when, by the decision of the avant-gardists, museums began to be headed not by art historians, but by artists themselves, who became responsible for opening exhibitions and acquiring new works of art — at public expense and mainly of an avant-garde orientation.

Based on archival materials and periodicals of the 1920s, the article analyzes the tasks of Soviet cultural policy, the art views of Soviet political leaders and art historians who were on the new government’s side. The authors consider the political views of representatives of proletarian culture (Proletkult) and the reasons for their disagreements with party leaders. The article substantiates the conclusion about the discrepancy in the understanding of the role of fine art among the government, avant-garde artists, and Proletkult representatives.

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