To understand how and why socialist realism arose, it is necessary to briefly describe the socio-historical and political situation of the first three decades of the beginning of the 20th century, because this method, like no other, was politicized. The dilapidation of the monarchical regime, its numerous miscalculations and failures (the Russian-Japanese war, corruption at all levels of government, brutality in suppressing demonstrations and riots, "rasputinism", etc.) gave rise to massive discontent in Russia. In intellectual circles, it has become a rule of good form to be in opposition to the government. A significant part of the intelligentsia falls under the charm of the teachings of K. Marx, who promised to arrange the society of the future on new, just conditions. The Bolsheviks declared themselves true Marxists, who stood out among other parties for the scale of their plans and the "scientific" forecasts. And although few people really studied Marx, it became fashionable to be a Marxist, and therefore a supporter of the Bolsheviks.

This epidemic also affected M. Gorky, who began as an admirer of Nietzsche and by the beginning of the 20th century had gained widespread popularity in Russia as a herald of the coming political "storm." In the writer's work, images of proud and strong people appear, rebelling against a gray and gloomy life. Later, Gorky recalled: “When I first wrote a Man with a Capital Letter, I still did not know what kind of a great man he was. His image was not clear to me. In 1903, I realized that the Man with a Capital Letter was embodied in the Bolsheviks headed by Lenin. ".

Gorky, who had almost outlived his fascination with Nietzscheism, expressed his new knowledge in the novel Mother (1907). There are two central lines in the novel. In Soviet literary criticism, especially in school and university courses in the history of literature, the figure of Pavel Vlasov was brought to the fore, growing from an ordinary artisan to the leader of the working masses. In the image of Paul, the central Gorky concept is embodied, according to which the true master of life is a person endowed with reason and rich in spirit, at the same time a practical figure and a romantic, confident in the possibility of practical realization of the eternal dream of mankind - to build on Earth the kingdom of reason and goodness. Gorky himself believed that his main merit as a writer was that he was "the first in Russian literature and, perhaps, the first in life like this, personally, to understand the greatest significance of labor - labor that forms everything that is most valuable, everything beautiful, everything great in this world. "

In "Mother" the labor process and its role in the transformation of the personality is only declared, and yet it is the man of labor that is made in the novel the mouthpiece of the author's thought. Subsequently, Soviet writers will take this oversight of Gorky into account, and the production process in all its subtleties will be described in works about the working class.

Having in the person of Chernyshevsky predecessor, who created the image of a positive hero fighting for universal happiness, Gorky first also painted heroes towering above everyday life (Chelkash, Danko, Petrel). In "Mother" Gorky said a new word. Pavel Vlasov is not like Rakhmetov, who everywhere feels free and at ease, knows everything and can do everything, and is endowed with heroic strength and character. Paul is a crowd man. He is "like everyone else," only his faith in justice and the necessity of the cause he serves is stronger and stronger than that of others. And here he rises to such heights that Rakhmetov was unknown. Rybin says about Pavel: “The man knew that they could hit him with a bayonet, and they would slaughter him with hard labor, but he went. His mother would lie to him on the way - would have stepped over. Would I, Nilovna, go over you?” “Would I go!” Said the mother ... "And Andrey Nakhodka, one of the characters most dear to the author, is in solidarity with Pavel (" For my comrades, for the cause - I can do anything! And I will kill. At least my son ... ").

Even in the 1920s, Soviet literature, reflecting the cruel intensity of passions in the Civil War, narrated how a girl kills her beloved - an ideological enemy ("Forty-first" by B. Lavrenev), how brothers, scattered by a whirlwind of revolution in different countries, destroy each other, how sons put to death their fathers, and they execute children ("Don stories" by M. Sholokhov, "Cavalry" by I. Babel, etc.), but the writers still avoided touching on the problem of ideological antagonism between mother and son.

The image of Paul in the novel is recreated with sharp poster strokes. Here in the house of Pavel, artisans and intellectuals gather and conduct political disputes, here he leads a crowd indignant at the arbitrariness of the management (the story of the "swamp penny"), here Vlasov walks on a demonstration in front of the column with a red banner in his hands, here he says in court accusatory speech. The thoughts and feelings of the hero are revealed mainly in his speeches, the inner world of Paul is hidden from the reader. And this is not Gorky's miscalculation, but his credo. "I," he once emphasized, "start from a person, and a person begins for me with his thought." That is why the protagonists of the novel so willingly and often come out with declarative justifications for their activities.

However, it is not for nothing that the novel is called "Mother" and not "Pavel Vlasov". Paul's rationalism sets off the mother's emotionality. She is motivated not by reason, but by love for her son and his comrades, since she feels in her heart that they want good for everyone. Nilovna does not really understand what Pavel is talking about with his friends, but she believes that they are right. And this faith in her is akin to religious.

Nilovna, and “before meeting new people and ideas, she was a deeply religious woman. But here's the paradox: this religiosity almost does not interfere with the mother, and more often helps to penetrate the light of the new creed carried by her son, the socialist and atheist Pavel.<...> And even later, her new revolutionary enthusiasm takes on the character of a kind of religious exaltation, when, for example, going to a village with illegal literature, she feels like a young praying mantis who goes to a distant monastery to bow to a miraculous icon. Or - when the words of a revolutionary song at a demonstration are mixed in the mind of the mother with Easter singing for the glory of the risen Christ. "

And young atheist revolutionaries themselves often resort to religious phraseology and parallels. The same Nakhodka addresses the demonstrators and the crowd: "We now went on a procession in the name of the new god, the god of light and truth, the god of reason and goodness! Our goal is far from us, the crowns of thorns are close!" Another of the characters in the novel declares that the proletarians of all countries have one common religion - the religion of socialism. Paul hangs in his room a reproduction depicting Christ and the apostles on the way to Emmaus (Nilovna then compares her son and his companions with this picture). Already engaged in distributing leaflets and becoming her own in the circle of revolutionaries, Nilovna "began to pray less, but more and more thought about Christ and about the people who, without mentioning his name, as if not even knowing about him, lived - it seemed to her - according to his precepts and, like him, considering the land the kingdom of the poor, they wished to divide equally among the people all the riches of the earth. " Some researchers generally see in Gorky's novel a modification of the "Christian myth of the Savior (Pavel Vlasov) sacrificing himself in the name of all mankind and his mother (that is, the Mother of God)."

All these traits and motives, if they appeared in some work of a Soviet writer of the thirties and forties, would immediately be regarded by critics as "slander" against the proletariat. However, in Gorky's novel, these aspects of him were hushed up, since "Mother" was declared the source of socialist realism, and it was impossible to explain these episodes from the standpoint of the "main method".

The situation was further complicated by the fact that such motives in the novel were not accidental. In the early nine hundredths V. Bazarov, A. Bogdanov, N. Valentinov, A. Lunacharsky, M. Gorky and a number of other lesser-known Social Democrats, in their search for philosophical truth, departed from orthodox Marxism and became supporters of Machism. The aesthetic side of Russian Machism was substantiated by Lunacharsky, from whose point of view already obsolete Marxism became "the fifth great religion." Both Lunacharsky himself and his associates also attempted to create a new religion that professed the cult of strength, the cult of the superman, free from lies and oppression. In this doctrine, elements of Marxism, Machism and Nietzscheanism are intricately intertwined. Gorky shared and in his work popularized this system of views, known in the history of Russian social thought under the name of "god-building."

First G. Plekhanov, and then even more sharply and Lenin, criticized the views of the breakaway allies. However, Lenin did not mention Gorky's name in his book Materialism and Empirio-Criticism (1909): the head of the Bolsheviks was aware of the power of Gorky's influence on the revolutionary-minded intelligentsia and youth and did not want to separate the "petrel of revolution" from Bolshevism.

In a conversation with Gorky, Lenin spoke of his novel as follows: "The book is necessary, many workers took part in the revolutionary movement unconsciously, spontaneously, and now they will read Mother with great benefit for themselves"; "A very timely book." This judgment is indicative of a pragmatic approach to a work of fiction, which follows from the main provisions of Lenin's article "Party Organization and Party Literature" (1905). In it, Lenin advocated "literary work," which "cannot be an individual matter independent of the general proletarian cause," and demanded that "literary work" become "a wheel and a cog in a single great social democratic mechanism." Lenin himself had in mind party journalism, but from the beginning of the 30s his words in the USSR began to be interpreted broadly and applied to all branches of art. This article, according to the authoritative publication, contains "a detailed demand for communist partisanship in fiction ...<.. > It is precisely the mastery of the communist partisanship, according to Lenin's thought, that leads to liberation from delusions, beliefs, prejudices, since only Marxism is a true and correct teaching. "And just at the time of Gorky's enthusiasm for" god-building ", leading an epistolary dispute with the writer, Lenin" at the same time he tried to involve him in practical work in the party press ... ".

Lenin succeeded quite well. Until 1917, Gorky was an active supporter of Bolshevism, helping the Leninist party in word and deed. However, Gorky was in no hurry to part with his "delusions": in the journal Letopis (1915), founded by him, the leading role belonged to the "arch-suspicious bloc of Machists" (V. Lenin).

Almost two decades passed before the ideologues of the Soviet state discovered the basic principles of socialist realism in Gorky's novel. The situation is very strange. After all, if a writer grasped and managed to embody the postulates of the new advanced method in artistic images, then he should immediately have followers and successors. This is exactly what happened with romanticism and sentimentalism. Gogol's themes, ideas and techniques were also picked up and replicated by representatives of the Russian "natural school". This did not happen with socialist realism. On the contrary, in the first decade and a half of the 20th century, the aestheticization of individualism, a burning interest in the problems of non-existence and death, a rejection not only of partisanship, but also of civicism in general are indicative of Russian literature. An eyewitness and participant in the revolutionary events of 1905 M. Osorgin testifies: "... Young people in Russia, moving away from the revolution, rushed to burn their lives in a drunken drug stupor, in sexual experiments, in suicide circles; this life was reflected in literature" ("Times ", 1955).

That is why, even in the social democratic environment, "Mother" at first did not receive wide recognition. G. Plekhanov, the most authoritative judge in the field of aesthetics and philosophy in revolutionary circles, spoke of Gorky's novel as an unsuccessful work, stressing that "people are rendering him a great disservice by encouraging him to act in the roles of a thinker and preacher; he was not created for such roles." ...

And Gorky himself in 1917, when the Bolsheviks were just asserting themselves in power, although its terrorist nature had already manifested itself quite clearly, reconsidered his attitude to the revolution, having published a series of articles "Untimely Thoughts." The Bolshevik government immediately closed the newspaper in which Untimely Thoughts were published, accusing the writer of slandering the revolution and failing to see the main thing in it.

However, Gorky's position was shared by quite a few artists of the word, who had previously sympathized with the revolutionary movement. A. Remizov creates "The Word about the Death of the Russian Land", I. Bunin, A. Kuprin, K. Balmont, I. Severyanin, I. Shmelev and many others emigrate and oppose Soviet power abroad. The Serapion Brothers demonstratively refuse any participation in the ideological struggle, striving to escape into a world of conflict-free existence, and E. Zamyatin predicts a totalitarian future in the novel We (published in 1924 abroad). At the initial stage of its development, the assets of Soviet literature include proletkult abstract "universal" symbols and images of the masses, in which the role of the creator is assigned to the Machine. A little later, a schematic image of a leader was created, inspiring the same people by his example and not requiring any indulgences for himself ("Chocolate" by A. Tarasov-Rodionov, "Week" by Y. Libedinsky, "The Life and Death of Nikolai Kurbov" by I. Ehrenburg). The predestination of these characters was so obvious that in the criticism this type of hero was immediately designated as a "leather jacket" (a kind of uniform for commissars and other middle managers in the early years of the revolution).

Lenin and the party he led were well aware of the importance of influencing the population of literature and the press in general, which were then the only means of information and propaganda. That is why one of the first acts of the Bolshevik government was the closure of all "bourgeois" and "White Guard" newspapers, that is, the press that allows itself to dissent.

The next stage in the introduction of the new ideology into the masses was the exercise of control over the press. In tsarist Russia, there was censorship, guided by a censorship charter, the content of which was known to publishers and authors, and non-compliance with it was punishable by fines, the closure of a printed organ and imprisonment. In Russia, Soviet censorship was declared abolished, but freedom of the press practically disappeared along with it. Local officials who were in charge of ideology were now guided not by the censorship charter, but by "class instinct", the limits of which were limited either by the secret instructions of the center, or by their own intelligence and diligence.

The Soviet government could not act otherwise. Things did not go at all as planned according to Marx. Not to mention the bloody Civil War and intervention, both workers and peasants themselves repeatedly rose up against the Bolshevik regime, in whose name tsarism was destroyed (the Astrakhan riot of 1918, the Kronstadt revolt, the Izhevsk workers' formation that fought on the side of the whites, the "Antonovism", etc.) .d.). And all this caused retaliatory repressive measures, the purpose of which was to curb the people and teach them unquestioning obedience to the will of the leaders.

For the same purpose, at the end of the war, the party begins to tighten ideological control. In 1922, the organizing bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), having discussed the issue of the struggle against the petty-bourgeois ideology in the literary and publishing field, decided to recognize the need to support the Serapionov Brothers publishing house. In this resolution there was one, seemingly insignificant, reservation: support for the Serapions would be provided as long as they did not take part in reactionary publications. This clause guaranteed the absolute inactivity of the party organs, which could always refer to a violation of the agreed condition, since any publication, if desired, could be qualified as reactionary.

As the economic and political situation in the country has been somewhat streamlined, the party begins to pay more and more attention to ideology. Numerous unions and associations still continued to exist in literature; individual notes of disagreement with the new regime still sounded on the pages of books and magazines. Groups of writers were formed, among which were those who did not accept the displacement of Russia by "kondovoy" industrial Russia (peasant writers), and those who did not propagandize the Soviet regime, but did not argue with it anymore and were ready to cooperate ("fellow travelers") ... Writers "proletarian" were still in the minority, and they could not boast of such popularity as, say, S. Yesenin's.

As a result, the proletarian writers, who did not have special literary authority, but who realized the power of the influence of the party organization, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe need for all supporters of the party to unite in a close creative union that could determine the literary policy in the country. A. Serafimovich, in one of his letters from 1921, shared with the addressee his thoughts on this matter: “... All life is organized in a new way; how can writers remain as artisans, handicraft individualists. And the writers felt the need for a new system of life, communication, creativity, the need for a collective beginning. "

The party took over the leadership of this process. In the resolution of the XIII Congress of the RCP (b) "On the press" (1924) and in a special resolution of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) "On the party's policy in the field of fiction" (1925), the government directly expressed its attitude towards ideological trends in literature. The Central Committee resolution declared the need for all-round assistance to "proletarian" writers, attention to "peasant" writers and a tactful and careful attitude towards "fellow travelers." The "bourgeois" ideology was to be waged "decisively". Purely aesthetic issues have not yet been addressed.

But even this state of affairs did not suit the party for long. "The impact of socialist reality, meeting the objective needs of artistic creativity, the party's policy led in the second half of the 20s - early 30s to the elimination of" intermediate ideological forms ", to the formation of the ideological and creative unity of Soviet literature," which should have resulted in this " general unanimity ".

The first attempt in this direction was unsuccessful. The RAPP (Russian Association of Proletarian Writers) vigorously promoted the need for a clear class position in art, moreover, the political and creative platform of the working class led by the Bolshevik party was proposed as an exemplary platform. The leaders of the RAPP transferred the methods and style of party work to the writers' organization. Those who disagreed were subjected to "elaboration", the result of which were "organizational conclusions" (excommunication from the press, defamation in everyday life, etc.).

It would seem that such a writers' organization should have suited a party based on the iron discipline of execution. It turned out differently. The Rappists, "fierce adherents" of the new ideology, imagined themselves to be its high priests and on this basis dared to propose the ideological guidelines of the supreme power itself. A small handful of writers (far from being the most outstanding) were supported by the Rapp leadership as truly proletarian, while the sincerity of the "fellow travelers" (for example, A. Tolstoy) was questioned. Sometimes even such writers as M. Sholokhov were classified by the RAPP as "exponents of the White Guard ideology." The party, which focused on restoring the country's economy destroyed by the war and revolution, at a new historical stage was interested in attracting as many "specialists" as possible in all fields of science, technology and art to its side. Rapp's leadership did not catch the new trends.

And then the party takes a number of measures to organize a new type of writers' union. The involvement of writers in the "common cause" was carried out gradually. "Shock brigades" of writers are organized, which are sent to industrial new buildings, to collective farms, etc., and works that reflect the labor enthusiasm of the proletariat are promoted and encouraged in every possible way. A notable figure is a new type of writer, "an active figure in Soviet democracy" (A. Fadeev, Vs. Vishnevsky, A. Makarenko, and others). Writers are involved in writing collective works like "History of Factories and Plants" or "History of the Civil War", initiated by Gorky. To improve the artistic skills of young proletarian writers, the Literaturnaya Ucheba magazine was created, headed by the same Gorky.

Finally, considering that the soil is sufficiently prepared, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks adopted a resolution "On the restructuring of literary and artistic organizations" (1932). Until now, this has not been observed in world history: the authorities have never directly interfered in the literary process and have not decreed the methods of work of its participants. Previously, governments banned and burned books, imprisoned authors or bought them, but did not regulate the conditions for the existence of literary unions and groupings, much less dictate methodological principles.

The decree of the Central Committee spoke of the need to liquidate the RAPP and unite all writers who support the party's policy and seek to participate in socialist construction into a single Union of Soviet Writers. Immediately, similar resolutions were adopted by most of the Union republics.

Soon, preparations began for the First All-Union Congress of Writers, which was led by the organizing committee headed by Gorky. The writer's activity in carrying out the party line was clearly encouraged. In the same 1932, the "Soviet public" widely celebrated the "40th anniversary of the literary and revolutionary activities" of Gorky, and then the main street of Moscow, the plane and the city where he spent his childhood were named after him.

Gorky is also attracted to the formation of a new aesthetics. In mid-1933 he published an article "On Socialist Realism". It repeats the theses repeatedly varied by the writer in the 1930s: all world literature is based on the struggle of classes, "our young literature is called upon by history to finish off and bury everything hostile to people", that is, "philistinism" widely interpreted by Gorky. The essence of the affirming pathos of the new literature and its methodology is said briefly and in the most general terms. According to Gorky, the main task of young Soviet literature is "... to excite that proud, joyful pathos, which gives our literature a new tone that will help create new forms, create the new direction we need - socialist realism, which - of course - can be created only on the facts of socialist experience. " It is important to emphasize one circumstance here: Gorky speaks of socialist realism as a matter of the future, and the principles of the new method are not very clear to him. In the present, according to Gorky, socialist realism is still being formed. Meanwhile, the term itself already appears here. Where did it come from and what did it mean?

Let us turn to the memoirs of I. Gronsky, one of the party leaders, assigned to literature to guide it. In the spring of 1932, Gronsky says, a commission of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) was created to specifically address the problems of restructuring literary and artistic organizations. The commission consisted of five people who had not shown themselves in any way in literature: Stalin, Kaganovich, Postyshev, Stetsky and Gronsky.

On the eve of the meeting of the commission, Stalin summoned Gronsky and said that the question of dispersing the RAPP had been resolved, but "creative questions remain unresolved, and the main one is the question of the Rappian dialectical-creative method. Tomorrow, at the commission, the RAPP members will undoubtedly raise this issue. We therefore need in advance, before the meeting, determine our attitude towards it: do we accept it or, conversely, reject it. Do you have any suggestions on this? " ...

Stalin's attitude to the problem of the artistic method is very indicative here: if it is unprofitable to use the Rappian method, it is necessary to immediately, in opposition to it, put forward a new one. Stalin himself, busy with state affairs, had no considerations on this score, but he did not doubt that in a single artistic union it was necessary to introduce a single method, which would make it possible to manage the writers' organization, ensuring its clear and well-coordinated functioning and, therefore, the imposition of a single state ideology.

Only one thing was clear: the new method must be realistic, for all kinds of "formal tricks" by the ruling elite, brought up on the work of revolutionary democrats (Lenin resolutely rejected all "isms"), were considered inaccessible to the broad masses, and it was the latter that the art of the proletariat should be guided by ... Since the late 1920s, writers and critics have been feeling the essence of the new art. According to Rapp's theory of the "dialectical-materialist method", one should have been equal to the "psychological realists" (mainly L. Tolstoy), putting at the forefront a revolutionary worldview, helping to "tear off all and every masks." Approximately the same was said by Lunacharsky ("social realism"), and Mayakovsky ("tendentious realism"), and A. Tolstoy ("monumental realism"), among other definitions of realism, such as "romantic", "heroic" and simply "proletarian". Note that the Rappians considered romanticism in contemporary art unacceptable.

Gronsky, who had never thought about the theoretical problems of art before, began with the simplest - he proposed the name of the new method (he did not sympathize with the Rapopists, therefore he did not accept the method), rightly judging that later theorists would fill the term with suitable content. He proposed such a definition: "proletarian socialist, or even better communist realism." Stalin chose the second out of three adjectives, substantiating his choice as follows: “The merit of such a definition is, firstly, brevity (only two words), secondly, comprehensibility and, thirdly, an indication of continuity in the development of literature (literature of critical realism, which arose at the stage of the bourgeois-democratic social movement, passes, develops at the stage of the proletarian socialist movement into the literature of socialist realism) ".

The definition is clearly unfortunate, since the artistic category is preceded by a political term. Subsequently, the theorists of socialist realism tried to justify this conjugation, but they were not very successful in that. In particular, Academician D. Markov wrote: “... tearing off the word“ socialist ”from the general name of the method, they interpret it nakedly sociologically: it is believed that this part of the formula reflects only the artist's worldview, his socio-political convictions. it is clearly understood that we are talking about a certain (but also extremely free, not limited, in fact, in its theoretical rights) type of aesthetic cognition and transformation of the world. " This was said more than half a century after Stalin, but it hardly clarifies anything, since the identity of the political and aesthetic categories has not yet been eliminated.

Gorky at the First All-Union Writers' Congress in 1934 defined only the general tendency of the new method, also emphasizing its social orientation: "Socialist realism affirms being as an act, as creativity, the purpose of which is the continuous development of the most valuable individual abilities of man for the sake of his victory over the forces of nature, for the sake of his health and longevity, for the sake of great happiness to live on earth. " Obviously, this pathetic declaration did not add anything to the interpretation of the essence of the new method.

So, the method has not yet been formulated, but has already been put into use, the writers have not yet recognized themselves as representatives of the new method, and its genealogy is already being created, and its historical roots are being discovered. Gronsky recalled that in 1932, "at the meeting, all the members of the commission who spoke and chaired by N. P. Postyshev stated that socialist realism as a creative method of fiction and art actually arose long ago, long before the October Revolution, mainly in the work of M. Gorky. and we just gave it a name (formulated) ".

Socialist realism found a clearer formulation in the Charter of the Soviet Union, in which the style of party documents can be felt. So, “socialist realism, being the main method of Soviet fiction and literary criticism, requires from the artist a truthful, historically specific depiction of reality in its revolutionary development. At the same time, the truthfulness and historical concreteness of the artistic depiction of reality should be combined with the task of ideological alteration and education. working people in the spirit of socialism. " It is curious that the definition of socialist realism as the main The method of literature and criticism, according to Gronsky, arose as a result of tactical considerations and in the future should have been removed, but it remained forever, since Gronsky simply forgot to do this.

The Charter of the SSP noted that socialist realism does not canonize genres and methods of creativity and provides ample opportunities for creative initiative, but how this initiative can manifest itself in a totalitarian society was not explained in the Charter.

In subsequent years, in the works of theorists, the new method gradually acquired visible features. Socialist realism was characterized by the following features: a new theme (first of all, revolution and its achievements) and a new type of hero (a man of labor), endowed with a sense of historical optimism; disclosure of conflicts in the light of the prospects for the revolutionary (progressive) development of reality. In their most general form, these signs can be reduced to ideology, partisanship and nationality (the latter implied, along with topics and problems close to the interests of the "masses", simplicity and accessibility of the image, "necessary" for the general reader).

Since it was announced that socialist realism had arisen even before the revolution, it was necessary to draw a line of its continuity with pre-October literature. The founder of socialist realism, as we know, was declared Gorky and, first of all, his novel "Mother". However, one piece was, of course, not enough, and there were no others of this kind. Therefore, it was necessary to raise on the shield the creativity of the revolutionary democrats, which, unfortunately, by far from all ideological parameters could not be put alongside Gorky.

Then they begin to look for signs of a new method in modern times. Better than others fit the definition of socialist realist works "The Defeat" by A. Fadeev, "Iron Stream" by A. Serafimovich, "Chapaev" by D. Furmanov, "Cement" by F. Gladkov.

Especially great success fell on the heroic-revolutionary drama of K. Trenev "Love Yarovaya" (1926), which, according to the author, expressed his complete and unconditional recognition of the truth of Bolshevism. The play contains the entire set of characters who later became a "common place" in Soviet literature: the "iron" party leader; who accepted the revolution "with his heart" and had not yet fully realized the need for the strictest revolutionary discipline "brother" (as the sailors were then called); an intellectual who slowly comprehends the justice of the new order, burdened by the "burden of the past"; "philistine" and "enemy" adapting to the harsh necessity, actively fighting against the new world. At the center of events is the heroine, in pain comprehending the inevitability of the "truth of Bolshevism."

Lyubov Yarovaya faces a difficult choice: in order to prove his devotion to the cause of the revolution, it is necessary to betray her husband, beloved, but who has become an implacable ideological enemy. The heroine makes a decision only after making sure that a person who was once so close and dear to her understands the good of the people and the country in a completely different way. And only after revealing the "betrayal" of her husband, abandoning everything personal, Yarovaya realizes herself as a true participant in the common cause and convinces herself that she is only "from now on a faithful comrade."

A little later, the theme of the spiritual "restructuring" of man will become one of the main topics in Soviet literature. The professor ("Kremlin chimes" by N. Pogodin), a criminal who experienced the joy of creative work ("Aristocrats" by N. Pogodin, "Pedagogical Poem" by A. Makarenko), men who realized the advantages of collective economy ( "Bars" by F. Panferov and many other works on the same topic). The writers preferred not to talk about the drama of such a "reforging", except perhaps in connection with the death of a hero, who is going into a new life, at the hands of a "class enemy."

But the intrigues of enemies, their cunning and malice towards all manifestations of the new bright life are reflected in almost every second novel, story, poem, etc. "Enemy" is a necessary background to highlight the merits of a positive hero.

The new type of hero, created in the thirties, showed itself in action, and in the most extreme situations ("Chapaev" by D. Furmanov, "Hatred" by I. Shukhov, "How the steel was tempered" by N. Ostrovsky, "Time, forward!" Kataeva and others). "The positive hero is the holy of holies of socialist realism, its cornerstone and main achievement. The positive hero is not just a good person, he is a person illuminated by the light of the most ideal ideal, a model worthy of any imitation.<...> And the merits of a positive hero are difficult to enumerate: ideology, courage, intelligence, willpower, patriotism, respect for women, readiness for self-sacrifice ... The most important of them, perhaps, are clarity and directness with which he sees the goal and strives towards it. ... For him there are no inner doubts and hesitations, unsolvable questions and unsolved secrets, and in the most confusing matter he easily finds a way out - along the shortest path to the goal, in a straight line. "The positive hero never regrets what he has done and if he is dissatisfied with himself it is only because he could have done more.

The quintessence of such a hero is Pavel Korchagin from the novel "How the Steel Was Tempered" by N. Ostrovsky. In this character, the personal principle is reduced to the minimum that ensures his earthly existence, everything else is brought by the hero to the altar of the revolution. But this is not an atoning sacrifice, but an ecstatic gift of heart and soul. Here is what is said about Korchagin in a university textbook: "To act, to be needed by the revolution is the aspiration carried through by Pavel throughout his life - stubborn, passionate, the only one. It is from this aspiration that Paul's exploits are born. A man driven by a high goal, as it were, forgets about himself, neglects what is most dear to him - life - in the name of what is really dearer to him than life ... Pavel is always there, where it is most difficult: the novel focuses on key, critical situations, and in them the irresistible power of his free aspirations ...<...> He literally rushes towards difficulties (the fight against banditry, pacification of the boundary riot, etc.). In his soul there is not even a shadow of discord between "want" and "must". Awareness of revolutionary necessity is his personal, even intimate. "

World literature did not know such a hero. From Shakespeare and Byron to L. Tolstoy and Chekhov, writers have portrayed people seeking the truth, doubting and mistaken. There was no place for such characters in Soviet literature. The only exception, perhaps, is Grigory Melekhov in The Quiet Don, who was counted among socialist realism retroactively, and at first was regarded as a work, of course, "White Guard".

The literature of the 1930s – 1940s, armed with the methodology of socialist realism, demonstrated the inextricable link between the positive hero and the collective, which constantly exerted a beneficial influence on the personality, helped the hero to form will and character. The problem of leveling the personality by the environment, which was so significant for Russian literature before, practically disappears, and if it is planned, it is only to prove the triumph of collectivism over individualism ("The Defeat" by A. Fadeev, "Day Two" by I. Ehrenburg).

The main sphere of application of the forces of a positive hero is creative work, in the process of which not only material values \u200b\u200bare created and the state of workers and peasants grows stronger, but also Real People, creators and patriots are forged ("Cement" by F. Gladkov, "Pedagogical Poem" by A. Makarenko, "Time, forward!" V. Kataev, films "The Light Way" and "Big Life", etc.).

The cult of the Hero, the Real Man, is inseparable in Soviet art from the cult of the Leader. The images of Lenin and Stalin, and with them the leaders of a lower rank (Dzerzhinsky, Kirov, Parkhomenko, Chapaev, etc.) were reproduced in millions of copies in prose, in poetry, in drama, in music, in cinema, in the visual arts ... Almost all prominent Soviet writers, even S. Yesenin and B. Pasternak, were involved in the creation of Leniniana to one degree or another; “folk” storytellers and singers told about Lenin and Stalin, and sang songs. "... Canonization and mythologization of leaders, their heroization are included in genetic code Soviet literature. Without the image of a leader (leaders), our literature did not exist for seven decades, and this circumstance is, of course, not accidental. "

Naturally, with the ideological acuteness of literature, the lyrical principle almost disappears from it. Poetry, following Mayakovsky, becomes the herald of political ideas (E. Bagritsky, A. Bezymensky, V. Lebedev-Kumach, etc.).

Of course, not all writers have managed to imbue with the principles of socialist realism and turn into singers of the working class. It was in the 1930s that there was a massive "departure" to the historical theme, which to a certain extent saved from accusations of "apoliticality". However, for the most part, historical novels and films of the 1930s – 1950s were works closely related to modernity, clearly demonstrating examples of the "rewriting" of history in the spirit of socialist realism.

Critical notes still heard in the literature of the 20s, by the end of the 30s, were completely drowned out by the sound of victorious fanfare. Everything else was rejected. In this sense, the example of the idol of the 1920s M. Zoshchenko is indicative, who is trying to change his former satirical manner and also turns to history (the story Kerensky, 1937; Taras Shevchenko, 1939).

Zoshchenko can be understood. Many writers then strive to master the state "recipes" so as not to literally lose their "place in the sun." In V. Grossman's novel "Life and Fate" (1960, published in 1988), which takes place during the Great Patriotic War, the essence of Soviet art in the eyes of contemporaries looks like this: "They argued what socialist realism was. This is a mirror, which is asked by the party and the government “Who in the world is lovelier, more beautiful and whiter than all?” answers: “You, you, the party, the government, the state, all blush and lovelier!” Those who answered differently are forced out of literature (A. Platonov, M. Bulgakov, A. Akhmatova, etc.), and many are simply destroyed.

The Patriotic War brought the people the most severe suffering, but at the same time somewhat weakened the ideological pressure, for in the fire of battles, Soviet people gained some independence. The victory over fascism, which he received at a very heavy price, also strengthened his spirit. In the 40s, books appeared, which reflected a real life full of drama ("Pulkovo Meridian" by V. Inber, "Leningrad Poem" by O. Berggolts, "Vasily Terkin" by A. Tvardovsky, "Dragon" by E. Schwartz, " In the trenches of Stalingrad "V. Nekrasov). Of course, their authors could not completely abandon ideological stereotypes, because in addition to political pressure, which had already become customary, there was also auto-censorship. And yet their works, in comparison with the pre-war ones, are more truthful.

Stalin, who had long since turned into an autocratic dictator, could not indifferently observe how the shoots of freedom were sprouting through the cracks in the monolith of like-mindedness, on the construction of which so much effort and money had been spent. The leader considered it necessary to remind that he would not tolerate any deviations from the "common line" - and in the second half of the 40s a new wave of repression began on the ideological front.

The notorious decree on the magazines "Zvezda" and "Leningrad" (1948) was published, in which the work of Akhmatova and Zoshchenko was cruelly condemned. This was followed by the persecution of "rootless cosmopolitans" - theater critics, accused of all conceivable and inconceivable sins.

In parallel with this, there is a generous distribution of prizes, orders and titles to those artists who diligently followed all the rules of the game. But sometimes sincere service was not a guarantee of safety.

This was clearly manifested in the example of the first person in Soviet literature, General Secretary of the USSR Writers' Union A. Fadeev, who published the novel "Young Guard" in 1945. Fadeev portrayed the patriotic impulse of very young guys and girls who, not voluntarily remaining in the occupation, rose to fight the invaders. The romantic coloring of the book further emphasized the heroism of the youth.

It would seem that the party could only welcome the appearance of such a work. After all, Fadeev drew a gallery of images of representatives of the young generation, brought up in the spirit of communism and in fact proved their loyalty to the precepts of their fathers. But Stalin began a new campaign of "screwing the nuts" and remembered Fadeev, who had made a mistake in some way. In Pravda, the organ of the Central Committee, an editorial appeared on the Young Guard, in which it was noted that Fadeev did not sufficiently cover the role of the party leadership of the youth underground, thereby “distorting” the real state of affairs.

Fadeev reacted as he should. By 1951, he created a new edition of the novel, in which, contrary to the vital reliability, the leading role of the party was emphasized. The writer was well aware of what he was doing. In one of his private letters, he sadly joked: "I am converting the young guard into the old one."

As a result, Soviet writers carefully check every stroke of their work with the canons of socialist realism (more precisely, with the latest directives of the Central Committee). In literature ("Happiness" by P. Pavlenko, "Cavalier of the Golden Star" by S. Babaevsky, etc.) and in other types of art (films "Kuban Cossacks", "The Legend of the Siberian Land", etc.), a happy life is glorified free and generous land; and at the same time, the owner of this happiness manifests himself not as a full-fledged versatile person, but as "a function of some transpersonal process, a person who has found himself in the" cell of the existing world order, at work, in production ... ".

Unsurprisingly, the production novel, whose genealogy dates back to the 1920s, became one of the most widespread genres in the 1950s. A modern researcher builds a long series of works, the very titles of which characterize their content and focus: "Steel and Slag" by V. Popov (about metallurgists), "Living Water" by V. Kozhevnikov (about meliorators), "Height" by E. Vorobyov (about builders domain), "Students" by Y. Trifonov, "Engineers" by M. Slonimsky, "Sailors" by A. Perventsev, "Drivers" by A. Rybakov, "Miners" by V. Igishev, etc., etc.

Against the background of the construction of a bridge, the smelting of metal or the "battle for the harvest", human feelings look like something secondary. The protagonists of the "production" novel exist only within the confines of a factory shop, coal mine or collective farm field; outside these limits they have nothing to do, nothing to talk about. Sometimes even accustomed contemporaries could not stand it. So, G. Nikolaeva, who tried to "humanize" the canons of the "production" novel in her "Battle on the Road" (1957), four years earlier, in a review of modern fiction, mentioned V. Zakrutkin's "Floating Village", noting that the author " he concentrated all his attention on the fish problem ... He showed the peculiarities of people only insofar as it was necessary to "illustrate" the fish problem ... the fish in the novel overshadowed the people. "

Depicting life in its "revolutionary development", which, according to party guidelines, was improving every day, writers generally cease to touch on any shadow sides of reality. Everything conceived by the heroes is immediately successfully translated into action, and any difficulties are no less successfully overcome. These signs of Soviet literature of the fifties were most vividly expressed in the novels of S. Babaevsky "Cavalier of the Golden Star" and "Light Above the Earth", which were immediately awarded the Stalin Prize.

Theorists of socialist realism immediately substantiated the need for just such an optimistic art. "We need festive literature," wrote one of them, "not literature about" holidays, "but festive literature that lifts a person above trifles and accidents."

The writers were sensitive to the "demands of the moment." Everyday life, the depiction of which was given so much attention in the literature of the 19th century, was practically not covered in Soviet literature, for the Soviet person had to be above "the little things of life". If the paucity of everyday existence was touched upon, it was only in order to demonstrate how a Real Man overcomes "temporary difficulties" and achieves universal well-being by selfless labor.

With this understanding of the tasks of art, it is quite natural that the "theory of conflict-freeness" was born, which, for all its short existence, best expressed the essence of Soviet literature of the 1950s. This theory boiled down to the following: class contradictions have been eliminated in the USSR, and, therefore, there are no reasons for the emergence of dramatic conflicts. Only a struggle between the "good" and the "best" is possible. And since in the country of the Soviets the social should be in the foreground, the authors had nothing to do but describe the "production process." At the beginning of the 60s, the "theory of conflict-free" was gradually consigned to oblivion, for it was already clear to the most undemanding reader that "festive" literature was completely cut off from reality. However, the rejection of the "theory of conflict-free" did not mean rejection of the principles of socialist realism. As an authoritative official source explained, “the interpretation of life contradictions, shortcomings, difficulties of growth as“ trifles ”and“ accidents ”, opposing them to“ festive ”literature - all this does not at all express an optimistic perception of life by the literature of socialist realism, but weakens the educational role of art, tears his from the life of the people. "

The renunciation of one too odious dogma led to the fact that all the others (partisanship, ideology, etc.) began to be guarded even more vigilantly. It was worth several writers during the short-term "thaw" that came after the XX Congress of the CPSU, where the "personality cult" was criticized, to come out with a bold condemnation of bureaucracy and conformism in the lower echelons of the party at that time (V. Dudintsev's novel "Not by bread alone", A. Yashin's story "Levers", both 1956), how a massive attack began on the authors in the press, and they themselves were excommunicated for a long time from literature.

The principles of socialist realism remained unshakable, because otherwise the principles of state structure would have to be changed, as happened in the early nineties. In the meantime, literature "should bring to consciousness what is in the language of regulations "brought to notice"... Moreover, she should have make out and lead to some system disparate ideological actions, introducing them into consciousness, translating them into the language of situations, dialogues, speeches. The time of artists has passed: literature has become what it should have become in the system of a totalitarian state - a "wheel" and "cog", a powerful tool for "brainwashing". The writer and the functionary merged in an act of "socialist creation".

And yet, since the 1960s, a gradual disintegration of the clear ideological mechanism that took shape under the name of socialist realism began. As soon as the political course inside the country softened a little, a new generation of writers, which did not go through the harsh Stalinist school, responded with "lyrical" and "country" prose and fiction that did not fit into the Procrustean bed of socialist realism. A previously impossible phenomenon also arises - Soviet authors who publish their "impassable" works abroad. In criticism, the concept of social realism imperceptibly fades into the shadows, and then almost completely goes out of use. It turned out that any phenomenon of modern literature can be described without using the category of socialist realism.

Only orthodox theorists remain in their former positions, but they, too, when telling about the possibilities and achievements of socialist realism, have to manipulate the same lists of examples, the chronological framework of which is limited to the mid-50s. Attempts to push these limits and classify V. Belov, V. Rasputin, V. Astafiev, Yu. Trifonov, F. Abramov, V. Shukshin, F. Iskander and some other writers as socialist realists looked unconvincing. The detachment of orthodox adherents of socialist realism, although thinned, nevertheless did not disintegrate. Representatives of the so-called "secretarial literature" (writers holding prominent positions in the joint venture) G. Markov, A. Chakovsky, V. Kozhevnikov, S. Dangulov, E. Isaev, I. Stadnyuk and others continued to depict reality "in its revolutionary development ", they still painted exemplary heroes, however, already endowing them with small weaknesses, designed to humanize ideal characters.

And as before, Bunin and Nabokov, Pasternak and Akhmatova, Mandelstam and Tsvetaeva, Babel and Bulgakov, Brodsky and Solzhenitsyn were not honored to be ranked among the heights of Russian literature. And even at the beginning of perestroika, one could still come across a proud statement that socialist realism is "essentially a qualitative leap in the artistic history of mankind ...".

In connection with this and similar statements, a reasonable question arises: since socialist realism is the most progressive and effective method of all that existed before and now, then why did those who created before its appearance (Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov) create masterpieces on which they studied adherents of socialist realism? Why did the "irresponsible" foreign writers, whose ideological flaws were so eagerly discussed by the theorists of socialist realism, did not rush to take advantage of the opportunities that the most advanced method had opened for them? The achievements of the USSR in the field of space exploration prompted America to intensively develop science and technology, and for some reason the achievements in the field of art by artists of the Western world left indifferent. "... Faulkner will give a hundred points ahead to any of those whom we in the same America and in the West generally refer to as socialist realists. Can we then talk about the most advanced method?"

Socialist realism emerged by order of the totalitarian system and served it faithfully. As soon as the party loosened its grip, socialist realism, like shagreen leather, began to shrink, and with the collapse of the system, it completely disappeared into oblivion. Currently, socialist realism can and should be the subject of an impartial literary and cultural study - it has long been unable to claim the role of the main method in art. Otherwise, socialist realism would have survived both the collapse of the USSR and the collapse of the joint venture.

• As A. Sinyavsky accurately noted back in 1956: "... most of the action takes place here near the factory, where the characters leave in the morning and from where they return in the evening, tired but cheerful. But what are they doing there, what kind of work and what kind of products the plant produces, remains unknown " (Sinyavsky A. Literary encyclopedic dictionary. P. 291.
• Literary newspaper. 1989.17 May. P. 3.

The writing

Gorky's novel was published in 1907, when, after the defeat of the first Russian revolution, a reaction broke out in the country, and a cruel Black Hundred terror raged. "The Mensheviks retreated in panic, not believing in the possibility of a new upsurge in the revolution, they shamefully rejected the revolutionary demands of the program and the revolutionary slogans of the party ..."

In the heroes of his novel, Gorky managed to show the ineradicable revolutionary energy and will of the working class to victory. (This material will help to write competently on the topic of Socialist Realism in the novel Mother. The summary does not make it possible to understand the whole meaning of the work, therefore this material will be useful for a deep understanding of the work of writers and poets, as well as their novels, stories, stories, plays, poems .) “We, workers, will win,” says Pavel Vlasov with deep conviction. Neither the dispersal of demonstrations, nor exile, nor arrests can stop the mighty growth of the liberation movement, break the will of the working class to victory, the great writer argued in his novel. He showed that the ideas of socialism are leading people more and more powerfully. He portrayed these people who grew and became stronger in the struggle for the triumph of the ideas of socialism in our country. The people shown by Gorky embodied the best features of a revolutionary - a fighter, and their life was an example for readers of how to fight for the liberation of the people.

The novel's optimism was especially significant during the years of reaction. Gorky's book sounded like evidence of the invincibility of the labor movement, like a call for a new struggle.

In his 1905 article "Party Organization and Party Literature" V. I. Lenin, characterizing the literature of the future socialist society, wrote: "This will be free literature, because not self-interest and not a career, but the idea of \u200b\u200bsocialism and sympathy for the working people will recruit new and new strength in its ranks. "

The idea of \u200b\u200bsocialism, the Bolshevik party spirit - the source of Gorky's strength as an artist who managed to create the image of a Bolshevik, a fighter for socialism. This image found its further development in the heroes of the best works of Soviet literature. The clarity of the revolutionary goal, the strength of the spirit that allows you to overcome any obstacles, not to be afraid of them, the readiness for a feat in the name of the liberation of the people - these are the features of this image introduced by Gorky into world literature and which had a tremendous impact on the progressive, progressive literature of the whole world, on all its further development.

We recognize the best features of Gorky's heroes in Levinson from Fadeev's "Defeat", in Pavel Korchagin by N. Ostrovsky. In the new historical conditions, they manifest the heroic features of the Bolshevik revolutionaries, first shown by Gorky.

It took the genius insight of a great artist to be able to see these basic features of the Bolsheviks at the dawn of the labor movement, to embody them in the living images of the heroes of the work, in their actions, thoughts and feelings.

The closest connection with the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat helped Gorky create a new artistic method - the method of socialist realism. And it allowed him to see things that other realist writers of his time could not see.

Socialist realism is based on the Bolshevik party spirit, on the artist's understanding of reality from the point of view of the struggle for socialist ideals. In fiction, Gorky carried out Lenin's call to show the masses "in all its greatness and in all its charm, our democratic and socialist ideal ... the closest, most direct path to complete, unconditional, decisive victory."

And in the same article "Party Organization and Party Literature" V. I. Lenin characterized the features of the new, free literature, literature based on the Bolshevik party spirit. First of all, Lenin noted the idea of \u200b\u200bsocialism as the main feature of this literature. He further pointed out that the new literature would proceed from sympathy for the working people, from the experience of the workers' struggle. Lenin saw its essential feature in the scientific understanding of life, in the ability to see life in development, to see in it the emerging progressive, new. And, finally, he spoke about the nationality of socialist literature / addressed to tens of millions of working people and expressing their interests.

It is these basic features that distinguish the method of socialist realism, theoretically substantiated by Lenin and for the first time in practice, creatively implemented by Gorky in the plays "Bourgeois", "Enemies" and in the novel "Mother". New creative principles found in this novel the most vivid and complete embodiment, it was a response to the main demand of the era - to create a new, free, expressing the advanced, revolutionary aspirations of the working class.

It is based on the idea of \u200b\u200bsocialism, the socialist ideal "in all its greatness and in all its charm."

Gorky finds his heroes among the workers; they are the bearers of the socialist ideal. Gorky shows the workers in revolutionary development, in the struggle of the old, dying away, and the new, the progressive that is being born, to which in life, as Comrade Stalin teaches, the future belongs. The socialist ideal, a person - a fighter for socialism - as the bearer of this ideal, the ability to show tomorrow, the advanced, without breaking away from the present, in which this progressive is born, unity with the people fighting for freedom - this was expressed in the novel "Mother" features of socialist realism.

Other compositions on this work

Spiritual renewal of man in the revolutionary struggle (based on the novel by M. Gorky "Mother") Spiritual rebirth of Nilovna in Gorky's novel "Mother" (Image of Nilovna). From Rakhmetov to Pavel Vlasov The novel "Mother" is a realistic work of M. Gorky The meaning of the title of M. Gorky's novel "Mother". The image of Nilovna The meaning of the title of one of the works of Russian literature of the XX century. (M. Gorky. "Mother".) The hard way of the mother (Based on the novel by M. Gorky "Mother") The artistic originality of M. Gorky's novel "Mother" The person and the idea in M. Gorky's novel "Mother" "You can talk about mothers endlessly ..." The image of Pavel Vlasov in the novel by A.M. Gorky "Mother" Composition based on the novel by M. Gorky "Mother" The idea of \u200b\u200bM. Gorky's novel "Mother" The image of the heroes of the novel Pavel's mother, Andrei The person and the idea in Gorky's novel "Mother" The plot of the novel "Mother" READING THE NOVEL OF M. GORKY \\ "MOTHER \\" ... The ideological and compositional role of the image of Nilovna in M. Gorky's story "Mother" Techniques for creating a portrait of a hero in one of the works of Russian literature of the XX century. The image of Pelageya Nilovna in Maxim Gorky's novel "Mother"

Socialist realism (prof. Gulyaev N.A., associate professor Bogdanov A.N.)

Socialist realism arose at the beginning of the 20th century, in the era of imperialism, when the contradictions inherent in bourgeois society reached their limit, when the proletariat, led by the communist parties, launched a victorious struggle for the conquest of power, for the socialist system of life. This method was further developed after the October Revolution and the formation of the world socialist system, having won the hearts and souls of the most advanced writers of not only socialist, but also capitalist countries. Currently, the world's best artists are fighting under the banner of the new realistic art. Socialist realism is the leading artistic method of our time, a qualitatively new stage in the artistic development of all mankind.

Method and revolutionary struggle of the era

The innovative creativity of socialist realists is primarily determined by their deep comprehension of the new in reality itself. The heroic actions of the working class, the national liberation movement of the colonial and dependent peoples, the building of socialism and communism in the USSR were created in the 20th century. such conditions for creativity, which have not been known to human history.

The revolutionary struggle gave the progressive writer material of exceptional aesthetic value: tense, unprecedented in their scale social conflicts, true heroes - people of revolutionary action, possessing powerful characters and a bright personality. She armed him with a clear social and aesthetic ideal. All this allowed the communist-minded artists to create the art of great passions, great social and psychological drama, deeply human in essence.

The proletarian revolutions, clearly revealing all the best that is contained in the working people and its communist vanguard (selfless devotion to freedom, humanity, purity of moral motives, willpower and exceptional courage), thereby to the maximum extent revealed the aesthetic riches of life, creating objective preconditions for the emergence of realistic literature of a new type.

It is quite natural that socialist realism first appeared in Russia. The Russian proletariat had the greatest revolutionary activity; it was headed by a truly revolutionary Marxist-Leninist party, which, earlier than others, led the masses to storm capitalism and inspired them to fight for the construction of a socialist and communist society. The heroic struggle of the Russian working class for power, for socialist social relations even before 1917 received its artistic reflection in the works of M. Gorky ("Mother", "Enemies", "Summer"), A. Serafimovich ("Bombs", "City in the steppe "), D. Bedny and other representatives of the new realistic art.

The formation of socialist realism in Russia was determined not only by the revolutionary liberation movement, but also by the advanced artistic traditions of Russian literature and the high level of development of Russian aesthetic thought. Of particular importance was the work of the Russian classics of the 19th century. and aesthetic ideas of Russian revolutionary democrats.

In the works of socialist realists, for the first time in the history of literature, the tasks of the working class and its striving for communism were clearly expressed. The social ideal was understood by them not only as a dream, but also as a completely achievable goal in the struggle for the socialist transformation of society.

Socialist realism is an art actively campaigning for the accomplishment of the socialist revolution, for the communist system of life, for the freedom and happiness of man on earth. Its liberating, humanistic mission (first of all, it gives it innovative features. The struggle for the ideal in the works of socialist realists is carried out in the form of a true reproduction of reality, living processes of history. Socialist realism, by its very nature, is alien to illustrativeness. You are helping the victory of new forces in Russia, in her struggle for freedom, "wrote American writers and artists to the founder of socialist realism M. Gorky in the first year of the revolution. * The works of Soviet writers acquainted readers of Russia and foreign countries with truthful pictures of cruel class battles for the freedom of the people, thereby helping people of different nationalities to embark on the path of revolutionary struggle, inspired them, instilled confidence in victory. The comment of the Marseilles worker about the epic of Serafimovich is one of the many evidences of this: I really liked the "Iron Stream", and I noticed that all the best fighters like it; the most active, for which p Evolutionary action has become a necessity ... Many proletarians feel the same impatience, it squeezes our hearts too ... Therefore, to read "Iron Stream" means a little to participate in the Revolution, to join the human stream, which nothing can stop "**.

* (Cit. according to the book: "Soviet Literature Abroad". M., "Science", 1962, p. 48.)

** (Soviet Literature Abroad, p. 54.)

By historically reliably and artistically impressively recreating episodes of the front-line and peaceful life of our people, Soviet writers contributed to the exposure of the slanderous fabrications of the bourgeois press about our reality. “If you want to know what labor is in a socialist society, read V. Azhaev’s novel Far from Moscow,” D. Lindsay, an Englishman, addressed his compatriots. “This book should be given to those confused people who, in whole or in part, ended up on slanderers' bait about forced labor in the Soviet Union and “totalitarian control.” When you finish it, you will recognize all of its protagonists as your old friends, and you will feel as deeply concerned as they are with the success of the pipeline. I do not know of a single book that would make the topic of labor so all-consuming, dramatic and humanly exciting "*.

* (Cit. according to the book: S. Filippovich. The book goes around the world, p. 71.)

The books of the writers of socialist realism actively invaded and invade the very thick of life, helping to solve complex issues of life practice. In this respect, Sholokhov's novel Virgin Soil Upturned played an extremely important role.

Leonov's novel "Russian Forest", like many other books by Soviet writers, caused heated discussions both among forestry specialists and among wide circles of the Soviet public. “I, and as a forest specialist, would like to note that after deeply analyzing the state of forestry and the urgent needs of forests, the author of Russian Forest was able to accurately find sore spots in it and expose bleeding wounds in the forest organism,” wrote N. Anuchin *. This book contributed to the struggle to preserve the Green Friend. From the standpoint of communist partisanship, the artists of socialist realism also revealed serious shortcomings in agriculture, helped the people and the government to outline ways to overcome them.

* (Readers, about L. Leonov's novel "Russian Forest". Literaturnaya Gazeta, 1954, March 23.)

The ability to correctly understand the tendencies of social development enables Soviet writers to navigate correctly in the complex whirlpool of political events.

The Marxist-Leninist worldview provides the artist with the opportunity to understand reality in its movement towards communism, to appreciate the poetry of the heroism of the revolutionary struggle, the beauty of the new socialist relations. It gives the writer those wings that help him see life in the correct historical perspective.

The genesis of socialist realism

The new socialist art has historically developed on the basis of the use of the centuries-old artistic experience of peoples. It has absorbed both realistic and romantic traditions of writers from different countries and nations. Their search for artistic means of deeply reflecting the truth of life in art was continued by the socialist realists.

One of the most important sources of new art was the work of proletarian poets associated with Chartism (Linton, Jones, Massy), with the revolution of 1848 in Germany (Heine, Herweg, Weert, Freilitrat) and especially with the Paris Commune (Potier, Michel, etc. .). In Russian revolutionary poetry of the proletariat, the songs of L. Radin, G. Krzhizhanovsky and other participants in the Marxist movement of the 90s are close to the works of socialist realism. Close connection with socialist ideology, pronounced tendentiousness, revolutionary propaganda orientation of the work of foreign and Russian proletarian poets - all this anticipates the literature of socialist realism. It is no coincidence that Pottier's Internationale in Russian translation by A. Kots, and Bravely, Comrades, Keeping Up, and Varshavyanka by G. Krzhizhanovsky became favorite songs of the workers and still retain their mighty propaganda force.

However, a significant mistake is the identification of all proletarian art, both in the past and in the present, with socialist realism. In reality, however, the concept of "proletarian art" is much more capacious and broader: it also includes the work of artists who take socialist positions, but are far from realistic principles of reflecting life. Thus, almost all of the immediate predecessors of socialist realism, including both Radin and Kotz, took the position of progressive romanticism. Gorky, Tikhonov, Malyshkin, and Vishnevsky, representatives of the most diverse stages of Soviet literature, traveled from this method in early work to socialist realism.

The mastery of the artistic achievements of critical realism was of great importance in the formation of the new art. Proletarian writers learned from L. Tolstoy, Chekhov and other classics not only the magnificent skill of realistic typing, they continued and developed their humanistic and democratic traditions. N.G. Chernyshevsky and his associates were especially close to them. In Chernyshevsky's novel What Is to Be Done? and other works by revolutionary democrats of the 60s showed how participation in the struggle for the future spiritually transforms people. However, even the best of these books were characterized by elements of abstractness, allegoricality and fantasticness in depicting the ways of struggle for socialist ideals. Chernyshevsky was forced to resort either to hints, omissions (when presenting Rakhmetov's biography), or to utopian fantasy (the dreams of Vera Pavlovna). A more concrete depiction of the social activities of the "new people": the organization of sewing workshops, educational events, etc., were distinguished by their utopianism and were far from reality. It is no coincidence that all attempts to organize similar communes by V. Sleptsov and other followers of Chernyshevsky were doomed to failure. All this testified to a certain limitation of critical realism in depicting the shoots of the new, that which was just emerging and asserting itself.

Attaching great importance to the new proletarian socialist art, K. Marx and F. Engels justifiably criticized its representatives for their insufficient historical concreteness and depth of depicting life. They foresaw the emergence of a new artistic method, combining socialist ideology with the richness of realistic form. The drama of the future, according to Engels, should be "a complete fusion of great ideological depth, conscious historical content ... with Shakespeare's liveliness and richness of action."

* (K. Marx and F. Engels on art, vol. 1, p. 23.)

The new realistic art, according to the founders of scientific communism, will grow on the basis of a developed liberation struggle, it will reflect the historically specific development trends - the crisis of capitalist society and the inevitability of the victory of the socialist revolution. Their predictions are confirmed by the emergence and development of a new artistic method in Russia, where at the end of the 19th century. moved the center of the revolutionary proletarian movement and where realistic traditions were strongest.

The development of socialist realism in the literature of foreign countries

Nevertheless, attempts to present socialist realism only as the property of Russian literature are completely unfounded, and to explain its further spread throughout the world by the direct influence of Soviet art. The creativity of artists who mastered the new method abroad was engendered by life itself, the practice of the revolutionary liberation struggle. Despite many common features, the liberation movement develops in each country in its own way, has a number of specific features that are reflected in the literature. "The methods developed in a socialist country," said D. Lindsay in his speech at the Second Congress of Soviet Writers, "cannot be adopted mechanically, indiscriminately. They must be sifted and applied in their own way, otherwise they can lead to opposite results."

The emergence of socialist realism abroad took place not only under the influence of their own revolutionary experience, but also under the influence of their artistic traditions. The emergence of a new method in Iceland is also associated with the creative processing of the oral poetic heritage of the people, and above all of the sagas. This is convincingly evidenced by the works of H. Laxness, whose work in its objective meaning is close to socialist realism. In his novels and stories "Independent People", "Icelandic Bell", "Salka Valka", "Nuclear Power Plant" and others, a man of great courage, reminiscent of the heroes of ancient sagas, occupies a central place. He heads the people's struggle for the national independence of their homeland, opposes the aggressive policy of the United States, takes part in the proletarian movement, remaining faithful to the socialist ideal.

In the literatures of African countries that have recently won national freedom, the approval of the new method takes place in even more difficult conditions. The influence of folklore here collides with the influence of traditions coming from the literatures of the former metropolises.

Socialist realists rely in their work on the progressive traditions of various trends and methods. In the development of I. Becher's work, not only the proletarian poets and classics of the 18th century, but also the German romantics played an important role. “When we talk about our beautiful German language, we first of all think about Goethe, Schiller, Hölderlin, Hein ..., - he said. - All of them ... generously endowed our people with masterpieces of verbal art ...” *.

* (I. Becher. My love, poetry. M., 1965, p. 80.)

The rise and establishment of socialist realism in Russia and abroad did not take place in isolation. The enormous importance of A.M. Gorky and V.V. Mayakovsky in the development of a new method in the West and East is well known. Their works helped the leading foreign writers to establish themselves in new creative positions.

The socialist realists of all countries serve one great goal - the establishment of communism. Under these conditions, creative interaction between writers of different nations turns out to be the closest and most fruitful.

International literary contacts in the most varied forms expanded especially after the Second World War, during the formation of the world socialist system. The post-war era was marked by close interaction of national cultures, an intensive exchange of spiritual values \u200b\u200bof all peoples who embarked on the path of building a new life. Nevertheless, literary influences have never been a determining factor in the development of art. Literature progresses primarily under the influence of those changes that are taking place in life itself, in the practice of revolutionary transformations. Similar social conditions give rise to related literary processes.

Almost simultaneously with Russia, socialist realism originated in Denmark, where in 1906-1911. MA Nekse created the novel Pelle the Conqueror, which received a positive assessment from VI Lenin *. The appearance of this work was caused primarily by the revolutionary struggle of the Danish people, in particular by the powerful strike of 1898. The progressive traditions of Scandinavian literature also had a fruitful influence on its creation. On the national soil, the shoots of new art have broken through in the work of A. Barbusse "Fire", where the awakening of the revolutionary consciousness of the masses is skillfully shown.

* (See: F. Narkyrier. MA Nekse and the emergence of socialist realism in Denmark. In the collection: "The genesis of socialist realism in the literatures of the Western countries". M., 1965.)

Feeding on the juices of the liberation movement, socialist realism in our era has become the leading artistic method of our time. He gathered under his banner the most progressive writers of the world - D. Aldridge, D. Lindsey (England); A. Style, P. Dex, P. Eluard (France); N. Hikmet (Turkey); P. Nerudu (Chile); J. Amado (Brazil) and many others.

The development of socialist realism in Russian literature

The writers of socialist realism achieved especially great success in the USSR and other socialist countries. After the October Revolution, the most favorable conditions for the flourishing of culture were created in the country of the Soviets. A. M. Gorky, V. V. Mayakovsky and many other Soviet prose writers, poets and playwrights made a valuable contribution to world literature and exerted a tremendous influence on the development of a new artistic method abroad.

On the basis of the successful and intensive development of the new art, its theoretical comprehension became possible.

The Marxists turned to the definition of the basic principles of socialist realism even at its inception V. I. Lenin in his brilliant article "Party Organization and Party Literature" substantiated the main principle of the new method - communist partisanship - and characterized the defining features of new literature: connection with the revolutionary struggle of the working class , with a socialist ideology, serving the working people. "This will be," wrote VI Lenin, "free literature, fertilizing the last word of the revolutionary thought of mankind with the experience and living work of the socialist proletariat ..." *.

* (V. I. Lenin on literature and art, p. 90.)

A. V. Lunacharsky, V. V. Borovsky, M. Olminsky and other Marxist critics in their articles and speeches also predicted the possibility of the formation of a new art of the proletariat and determined its originality: socialist ideology, the ability to portray life in a broad historical perspective. In 1907, in his article "The Tasks of Social Democratic Artistic Creativity," Lunacharsky expressed his opinion about the emergence of proletarian realism in social democratic fiction. And in 1914, Olminsky noted such important features of the method of proletarian literature as the ability, on the basis of a deep study of reality, to identify trends in its development: “Only having before your eyes ... a beacon of the ultimate goal, you do not turn movement into a fruitless hustle and bustle. who is afraid to look into the future, your goal will be called a utopia - do not be afraid of words. If only your "utopia" was the fruit of a conscientious and impartial study of development trends - you can be sure that in the end it is your sober opponents who will turn out to be groundless utopians "*.

* (M. Olminsky. On literary issues. M., 1932, p. 64.)

M. Gorky, even in the pre-revolutionary years, tried to give a theoretical interpretation of the features of the new artistic method. Awareness of the originality of the new realistic art took shape in his struggle against decadence, with those moods of pessimism and disbelief in the future that gripped certain strata of the Russian intelligentsia during the years of reaction. In the most decisive manner condemning writers who forget about their civic duty, Gorky urged them to get closer to the people, who, after centuries of slumber, woke up to revolutionary action: into fermentation with a speed that the history of the past has hardly observed "*. He finds everything truly majestic and beautiful in the popular, proletarian environment. "... For me, a revolution," writes Gorky to S. A. Vengerov in 1908, "is just as strictly legal and blissful phenomenon of life as the convulsions of a baby in the womb, and a Russian revolutionary ... is a phenomenon equal to spiritual beauty, I do not know by the power of love for the world "**.

* (M. Gorky. Coll. cit., vol. 29, p. 23.)

** (M. Gorky. Coll. cit., vol. 29, p. 74.)

Gorky recognized the new realistic literature primarily in its socially transforming function, as a powerful engine of social progress. He sees its purpose in fanning the sparks of the new into bright lights, to prepare the working people for a revolutionary assault on the old world.

In the speeches of Lenin, Gorky, Vorovsky, Lunacharsky, the formation of a new socialist art is interpreted as a manifestation of an objective historical necessity. The proletarian liberation movement, according to the Marxist-Leninist teaching, inevitably generates at its highest stage a new type of artistic creativity. Socialist realism arose precisely as an expression of the historically mature class, aesthetic needs of the proletariat, and was not the result of "instructions from above," as revisionists from aesthetics like to say, who attribute the birth of the method only to the 30s of the 20th century. Such theorists excommunicate Gorky from the new art, declaring him to be only the successor of the traditions of the classics of critical realism.

In reality, socialist realism developed under the influence of certain historical circumstances, and was not the result of a volitional decision by an individual. It was formed long before its terminological designation was found in 1934, which only legitimized the existence of the method in the work of Soviet writers.

The concept of "socialist realism" was not immediately developed. Back in the 1920s, in lively discussions on the pages of newspapers and magazines, a search was made for a definition that would reflect the ideological and aesthetic originality of the new art. Some (Gladkov, Libedinsky) suggested calling the method proletarian realism, others (Mayakovsky) tendentious, and still others (A.N. Tolstoy) - monumental. Along with others, the term "socialist realism" was also used, which subsequently became widespread.

The definition of socialist realism was first formulated at the I Congress of Writers of the USSR in 1934 and has not lost its fundamental significance until now: "Socialist realism, being the main method of Soviet fiction and literary criticism, requires an artist to provide a truthful, historically concrete depiction of reality in its revolutionary development. At the same time, the truthfulness and historical concreteness of the artistic depiction of reality should be combined with the tasks of ideological remaking and educating the working people in the spirit of socialism. " Subsequently, it was noted that this method presupposes an understanding by the writer of the main tasks facing the Soviet people; at this stage it is the building of communism, the education of an active fighter for the new, a man of the future society.

Socialist realism is active by nature. Describing its features, M. A. Sholokhov said in his speech when he was awarded the Nobel Prize: "His originality is that he expresses a worldview that does not accept either contemplation or escape from reality, calling for the struggle for the progress of mankind, making it possible to comprehend goals close to millions of people, to illuminate their path of struggle. "

Socialist realism, imbued with Marxist-Leninist ideology, is a party art. It openly defends the interests of the working class, of all working people. Communist partisanship is the source of his aesthetic strength. It provides a deep penetration into social processes, into the thoughts and feelings of people, the most truthful and most objective disclosure of the essence of life.

The subjective aspirations of communist-minded writers correspond to the objective logic of social development. The Marxist-Leninist worldview allows the socialist realist to enlighten life to its innermost depths, like an X-ray, to reveal its hidden connections, to tear the mask of false humanism from the "knights of profit", to show the genuine moral nobility and greatness of the heroes of the proletarian and national liberation movement.

The writers of socialist realism illuminate the path of the struggle for the future in a fundamentally new way. They associate its offensive not only with educational activities, not only with the moral renewal of society. They perceive the new era as a natural result of social progress, prepared in the course of the revolutionary battles of the working class and its allies against the reaction. If the artists of the 18th and 19th centuries, fighting for a life worthy of man, relied primarily on the power of words, a moral example (Diderot, Fielding, Balzac, Turgenev, L. Tolstoy, etc.), then Gorky, Mayakovsky, Serafimovich and other classics Soviet literature is seen as the decisive force of the historical process in the struggle of the popular masses. In this regard, the battle for the future unfolds in their works not only in the sphere of ideas, but also as a reflection of real strikes, battles on barricades, just wars, etc.

A new look at society opened up for socialist realists the richest prospects for a realistic depiction of people of revolutionary action. These perspectives are revealed in their work in the practice of living revolutionary struggle, in appropriate circumstances. All this made it possible to draw the image of the positive hero historically concretely, artistically expressively, to show him as a full-blooded human personality.

The Marxist-Leninist worldview makes the writer visionary. It makes it possible for a talented artist to truthfully capture not only established, but also emerging phenomena of life, to foresee their mass distribution in the future. By their ability to sagaciously reveal the prospects of developing events, the representatives of socialist realism surpass the critical realists, who, due to their historical limitations, did not always correctly determine the tendency of social development and therefore often deviated from the realistic principles of depiction when implementing the new. Suffice it to recall that I. A. Goncharov, having created multifaceted life-authentic images of Alexander Aduev, Oblomov, Raysky in his novels "An Ordinary History", "Oblomov", "Break", deeply reflected the life of the nobility, at the same time had to limit a very schematic, one-sided, deprived of historical concreteness, the depiction of Stolz and Tushin - representatives of a new, newly emerging type of bourgeois businessmen, and when depicting the revolutionary Mark Volokhov fell into obvious caricature, distorting many features of the participants in the liberation movement. All this was primarily due to the weakness of Goncharov's worldview, which limited the method of critical realism in reflecting new, just emerging phenomena of reality. This limitation in depicting revolutionary events and their participants was also manifested in the works of I. S. Turgenev ("Fathers and Sons", "New"), L. N. Tolstoy ("Resurrection"), A. P. Chekhov ("The Bride" ) and other artists of the word - up to A.I. Kuprin, I.A.

The writers who mastered the method of socialist realism, for the first time in the history of world literature, were able to show historically concretely the ways of the people's struggle for their liberation. Gorky, Serafimovich, Bedny, Andersen-Nexe, Barbusse did not declare, as in early socialist poetry, the idea of \u200b\u200brevolutionary struggle; they artistically convincingly embodied in their works the dynamics of society itself, revealed the characters of the heroes in such a way that it became clear to the reader how a person's personality enriches participation in the struggle for socialism, how its best qualities are revealed in revolutionary events, how it grows spiritually. Typical in this respect are the fates of Nilovna and Pavel in Gorky's story "Mother", Marya in Serafimovich's story "Bombs", Pavel Korchagin in the novel "How the Steel Was Tempered" by N. Ostrovsky, and others.

In the literature of socialist realism, for the first time in the history of world art, the socio-aesthetic ideal received its fullest, and most importantly, precisely corresponding to life itself, in the image of a positive hero. It is no coincidence that many artists of the past, not finding a hero corresponding to their ideals in modern reality, or turned to the historical past, clearly modernizing its representatives (Don Carlos and the Marquis Pose in Schiller's Don Carlos, Derzhavin and Voinarovsky in the works of the same name by Ryleev, Taras Bulba Gogol), or they created idealized images of their contemporaries devoid of everyday authenticity (Kostanzhoglo and Murazov in the second volume of Gogol's Dead Souls).

Based on the method that reproduces life in its perspective development, for the first time in the history of world literature, artists made the bearer and exponent of their aesthetic ideal of the true hero of our time - a revolutionary worker who embarked on the path of struggle for socialism, while maintaining the historical concreteness and vital reliability of the image. It is these features that explain the remarkable power of the impressive educational impact on the readers of Davydov, Meresiev, Voropaev and many other heroes of Soviet literature.

Without limiting themselves to portraying the fate of the rank and file of the people and their outstanding leaders, socialist realists have profoundly and versatilely shown the masses of the people as the driving force of history. Never before have mass scenes occupied such an important and central place in works of various genres, and most importantly, have not had such a direct and definite impact on the solution of central conflicts, as in the art of socialist realism. Serafimovich's "Iron Stream" and "Good!" Are indicative in this regard. Mayakovsky, "The Optimistic Tragedy" by Vishnevsky.

Having mastered a truly scientific approach to the phenomena of social life, having taken the position of the revolutionary people and its vanguard - the Communist People, the writers were able to correctly recognize and evaluate the most basic life conflicts in the past and present, and reflect them directly in the subjects of their works. So, for example, if the Russian writers - critical realists of the early 20th century - focused on the image of the clashes of "little people" - peasants, artisans, democratically minded intellectuals - with individual oppressors - kulaks, landowners, bourgeois entrepreneurs, then Gorky and Serafimovich, who appeared at the same time with the works "Enemies", "Summer", "City in the Steppe", revealed the main contradiction of the era - between the revolutionary proletariat and the peasantry, on the one hand, and the autocratic-bourgeois system and its defenders, on the other.

Socialist realism provides endless opportunities for a sharp, irreconcilable, accusatory portrayal of both the obvious and hidden enemies of the people, and those deeply mistaken and mistaken people who act on their behalf. This is confirmed primarily by the satirical images of the works of Gorky, Mayakovsky, Bedny, Ilf and Petrov, Marshak, Korneichuk and many other Soviet writers.

Even such a genre that has centuries-old traditions, like a fable, D. Bedny revived and significantly updated from the standpoint of socialist realism. This was reflected, in particular, in the strengthening of the political orientation, class intransigence in the poet's works, written in tsarist times ("House", "Clarinet and Horn", "Lapot and Boots", etc.). Noting the direct connection of his work with the fable work of one of the founders of critical realism in Russian literature, I.A. Krylov, D. ").

However, even in those works that do not pay enough attention to the depiction of negative characters, the prospects for an intense and irreconcilable struggle with them and with the conditions that give rise to them are clearly and clearly shown. Even when the goodies are defeated in the struggle against enemies, the artists of socialist realism, by the whole course of events, convince readers of the regularity and inevitability of the victory of the cause for which they fought. Suffice it to recall the finals of Fadeev's "Defeat" or "Virgin Soil Upturned" by Sholokhov, imbued with the spirit of historical optimism.

Socialist art is deeply optimistic and life-affirming. It knows how to vigilantly discern the new, progressive in our life, talentedly and vividly show the beauty of the world in which we live, the greatness of the goals and ideals of the person of the new society. However, it should not ignore the flaws inherent in our reality. Criticism of them in works of art is useful and necessary, it helps Soviet people to overcome these shortcomings.

Socialist realism combines a critical orientation against everything alien to our system with the affirmation of its basic principles. This life-affirming character of literature is not declarative, has nothing to do with the varnishing of life. Optimistic pathos is due to a deep knowledge of the laws of historical development and the confidence, confirmed by the centuries-old evolution of mankind, in the fact that the truly progressive and democratic, in the final analysis, always wins the forces of reaction and despotism, no matter how strong they are. This life-affirming character of socialist realism was vividly manifested even in such genres as tragedy and requiem, defining their innovative character (Vishnevsky's Optimistic Tragedy, Korneichuk's Squadron Death, Rozhdestvensky's Requiem, etc.).

The main task of Soviet literature is the direct portrayal of the new life, the concrete reproduction of everything that anticipates communist relations in work, in everyday life, in the minds of people. Hence the desire of artists to capture the achievements in building a classless society, to support everything that is advanced that is born in life.

In modern criticism, opinions are expressed that the writer of socialist realism is indifferent to the material with which he deals. What matters is only a look at what is depicted, its assessment from the standpoint of communist partisanship. A similar concept has even received an aphoristic formulation: "There is no petty topic, there is petty thought." Of course, the greatness of our era can be captured in small things, but it is impossible to reveal it if the artist walks only on country roads and paths, avoiding the main paths of social development. The new is especially vividly manifested in large-scale conflicts that arise in the intense social struggle for the building of communism.

In the outstanding works of Soviet literature - in "Young Guard", "Virgin Land Upturned", "Russian Forest" and others - the character of a real person is tested in the events of history. The hero undergoes a test of strength in them in the fire of wars, in battles on the labor front, in battles in science.

Romance in Socialist Realism

The life-affirming pathos of the literature of socialist realism is nourished by the sublime, beautiful phenomena of reality itself, by the deep conviction of writers in the final triumph of communism, no matter what difficulties may be encountered on the way to its achievement. Depicting the present, Soviet writers confidently look into the future of the Soviet people. Their dream of the future is based on a sober study of the present and the trends of its development. It is the reflection of the heroic, sublime in the struggle of the people for the communist future that defines the essence of socialist romance. It has nothing to do with fruitless fantasy and projection. Its source is life itself in its continuous movement forward.

Romance as a striving for the sublime has traveled the entire long path of the historical development of mankind, acquiring a new flavor in each era. Its content is associated with the best human impulses for freedom, love, friendship, for the struggle for the happiness of people. Under the conditions of an antagonistic class society, romanticism constantly came into irreconcilable conflict with the dominant feudal or bourgeois system. The private property regime stifled everything human, refuted beautiful and lofty dreams. Hence the disillusionment that is characteristic of the heroes of Shakespeare, Balzac, Pushkin and Flaubert. The classics of world literature impressively showed the clash of beautiful, romantic-minded heroes with the hostile laws of the life of feudal and bourgeois society.

In Soviet society, romance takes on a different character. Utopian in the past, people's dreams of truly human relationships and happiness are coming true. The struggle of the working class and the peasantry, their heroic labor in our country has created an unprecedented reality in history, which is the basis for the creation of works of art, realistic and romantic at the same time. Romance gives realistic literature the necessary elevation, emotional expressiveness, saving the writer from objectivism and naturalistic description.

"Romanticism is the hormone that raises the artistic craft to the level of true art," wrote L. M. Leonov. "And to the extent that any realism, since it does not want to degenerate into petty naturalism, must be romantic."

* (L. Leonov. Shakespearean area. "Soviet Art", 1933, No. 5 (112), January 26.)

The romanticism of the worldview of Soviet writers grows out of living Soviet reality and "appears as a necessary and most important element of any great, genuine", "winged realism" *. It reflects the essential aspects of the life of Soviet people, therefore, it enters the new realistic art naturally and organically. The fusion of "existing" and "ought" in this literature acquires the character of a new regularity, since it is based on the reproduction of real processes of reality itself. It is from this that the synthetic nature of socialist realism flows.

* (A. Fadeev. For Thirty Years, p. 354.)

The romance of life in art is embodied in different ways. The most adequate method for its reflection was and remains romanticism. It is no accident that M. Gorky, N. Tikhonov, V. Vishnevsky and many other prose writers, poets, playwrights, in their desire to show the heroism of struggle, turned to this method in their early work and remained faithful to its best traditions even after mastering realism.

At the same time, life romance can be embodied by methods of realistic art.

It was the different attitude of Soviet artists to the assimilation and creative development of the artistic experience of progressive romanticism and critical realism among Soviet artists that gave theorists a basis to raise the question of two main stylistic trends in a single direction of contemporary literature of the peoples of the USSR. One of them, developing and continuing the traditions of progressive romanticism, widely using its stylistic means and forms (in particular, conventional methods of composition, symbols and allegories, synthetic genres, etc.), include the work of Vishnevsky, Svetlov. Fedin and many others belong to another, following the traditions of critical realism in stylistic devices of objective reflection of reality. It should be emphasized that in the type of their worldview, which forms the basis of the artistic method, the representatives of both styles do not differ from each other. Both A. Dovzhenko, who follows romantic traditions, and K. Fedin, who gravitates towards realistic ones, are characterized by a common approach to assessing life phenomena from the standpoint of the Marxist-Leninist worldview.

The well-known stylistic unity of writers of realistic or romantic stylistic trends is explained by the similarity of their artistic thinking, which is due to the peculiarities of their perception of the world. Being Marxists in their understanding of society, its internal processes and development prospects, they reflect Soviet reality from various angles. So, the artists of the romantic style trend have a special interest and special sensitivity to everything sublime, heroic, and extraordinary. They strive to find "the extraordinary in the ordinary" (K. Paustovsky), to embody the most striking, impressive traits of the character of a Soviet person in images.

Reflecting quite real phenomena of reality, they often free them from everything petty, everyday, from everything that interferes with the disclosure of their romantic essence. In such a plan, for example, many episodes of Fadeev's Young Guard were written, depicting the battles of Soviet patriots with the fascist invaders. The author endowed Andrei Valko and Matvey Shulga with the features of fabulous heroes - fearlessness, mighty strength, and a high sense of camaraderie. When describing their exploits, one involuntarily recalls the heroes of Gogol's Taras Bulba. And the Fadeev heroes themselves realize their closeness to the knights of the "Zaporizhzhya Sich": "And you are a stalwart Cossack, Matviy, God grant you strength!" - Valko said hoarsely and suddenly, throwing his whole body into his arms, he laughed as if they were both free. And Shulga told him with a hoarse good-natured laugh: "And you are a good Sichevik, Andriy, oh good!" In complete silence and darkness, their terrible heroic laughter shook the walls of the prison barracks. "

Gogol's romantic intonations are also heard where Fadeev, through the lips of Shulga, speaks of the Soviet people: "Is there anything in the world more beautiful than our man? How much work, adversity he took on his shoulders for our state, for the people's cause! In the civil war, eight He ate bread - did not grumble, stood in line for reconstruction, wore tattered clothes, and did not exchange his Soviet primogeniture for haberdashery. And in this Patriotic War, with happiness, with pride in his heart, he bore his head to death. "

The striving to elevate the depicted phenomena over everyday life, to poeticize them are the characteristic features of the romantic style of "Young Guard" and create a bright, upbeat, optimistic mood in the reader.

The orientation towards the reproduction of the sublime, the heroic inevitably led other Soviet artists to the romantic form of the image. In this respect, Musa Jalil's "Moabit Notebook" is significant, those pages that capture the feelings, impulses to struggle and freedom of a Soviet person who found himself in a fascist "stone sack". The inner world of the hero was such that he could be most fully revealed in a generalized symbolic plane, with the exception of a number of social and everyday details. The material itself required precisely the romantic means of embodiment.

Every writer is capable of turning to both romantic and realistic methods of reproducing it when reflecting different aspects of life. The activation of one of the types of artistic thinking depends both on the subject of the image and on the goals and objectives that it sets for itself. Often, one and the same artist in some of his works uses romantic techniques of artistic depiction, in others - realistic. M. Gorky almost simultaneously with the romantic "Tales of Italy" wrote in a strictly realistic style "The Life of Matvey Kozhemyakin" and autobiographical stories. The works of A. Tvardovsky, A. Arbuzov and other Soviet writers are distinguished by the same features.

In the process of typification, socialist realists often resort to conventional forms in reflecting reality (symbols, grotesque, allegory, hyperbole, etc.). The conventional image in their work sharply differs from the conventional images of modernists in its content: revealing real life relationships, it contributes to their deep comprehension. So, in "Prozosatalivshih" Mayakovsky ridicules people who have come to the point that they are immediately present at two meetings ("one half is here, the other is there"). The poet resorts to a grotesque image, which helps to more visibly and visually capture a real life phenomenon with the aim of unconditionally condemning it.

In the work of formalists (futurists, dadaists, surrealists, etc.), the conventional image loses its content, sometimes turning into completely frank nonsense, becoming a sign that does not reflect anything.

Formalistic conventions should not be confused with romantic ones. After all, romantics of all currents and trends revealed the spiritual life of people, their striving for beauty. Therefore, the conventional image in their work, for all its abstractness, was filled with a certain meaning.

The use of conventional forms of artistic generalization cannot yet serve as a sufficient basis for classifying the writer's work as romanticism or another unrealistic trend. It's all about the nature of the convention. It can be realistic, romantic, and formalistic. The entire work can be "woven" from conventional images and not lose its realistic character. Such are the many satirical works of V. Mayakovsky, D. Bedny, S. Mikhalkov and many other Soviet artists, which reveal quite real life phenomena characteristic of a certain historical period.

Undoubtedly, in realistic works there are also romantic conventional images associated with the reflection of those spheres of reality that require romantic forms for their expression. However, romantic convention plays a subordinate role in realism.

The variety of styles among artists of socialist realism, gravitating towards romantic or realistic techniques and means of recreating life in art, refutes the slanderous fabrications of bourgeois critics about the unification, leveling, and monochrome literature of the USSR and other socialist countries. It is enough to compare the poems of Simonov, Tikhonov, Mikhalkov and Isakovsky, written on the theme of the struggle for peace, in order to be clearly convinced of this.

Real great art arises only as a reflection of the truth of life in the light of an advanced social and aesthetic ideal. All the successes of socialist realists in our country and abroad are explained by their connection with the people, by the fact that they accepted not only with their minds but also with their hearts the most advanced ideas of our time, which opened up new horizons for them in creative activity.

Details Category: Variety of styles and trends in art and their features Published on 08/09/2015 19:34 Hits: 5395

“Socialist realism affirms being as an act, as creativity, the purpose of which is the continuous development of the most valuable individual abilities of man for the sake of his victory over the forces of nature, for the sake of his health and longevity, for the sake of great happiness to live on the land, which he, in accordance with the continuous growth of his needs, wants treat everything as a beautiful dwelling of humanity united into one family ”(M. Gorky).

This characteristic of the method was given by M. Gorky at the I All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers in 1934. And the term “socialist realism” was suggested by the journalist and literary critic I. Gronsky in 1932. But the idea of \u200b\u200bthe new method belongs to A.V. Lunacharsky, a revolutionary and Soviet statesman.
A completely justified question: why was there a need for a new method (and a new term) if realism already existed in art? And how did socialist realism differ from simple realism?

The need for socialist realism

A new method was needed in a country that was building a new socialist society.

P. Konchalovsky "From the Mow" (1948)
First, it was necessary to control the creative process of creative individuals, i.e. now the task of art was to promote the policy of the state - there were still enough of those art workers who sometimes took an aggressive position in relation to what was happening in the country.

P. Kotov "Worker"
Secondly, these were the years of industrialization, and Soviet power needed art that would raise the people to "labor exploits".

M. Gorky (Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov)
M. Gorky, who returned from emigration, headed the Union of Soviet Writers, created in 1934, which included mainly Soviet writers and poets.
The method of socialist realism demanded from the artist a truthful, historically concrete depiction of reality in its revolutionary development. Moreover, the truthfulness and historical concreteness of the artistic depiction of reality should be combined with the task of ideological alteration and education in the spirit of socialism. This setting for cultural figures in the USSR was in effect until the 1980s.

The principles of socialist realism

The new method did not deny the heritage of world realistic art, but predetermined the deep connection of works of art with modern reality, the active participation of art in socialist construction. Each artist had to understand the meaning of the events taking place in the country, be able to evaluate the phenomena of social life in their development.

A. Plastov "Haymaking" (1945)
The method did not rule out Soviet romance, the need to combine the heroic and the romantic.
The state gave orders to creative people, sent them on creative business trips, organized exhibitions, stimulating the development of new art.
The basic principles of socialist realism were nationality, ideology and concreteness.

Socialist realism in literature

M. Gorky believed that the main task of socialist realism is to educate a socialist, revolutionary view of the world, corresponding to a sense of the world.

Konstantin Simonov
The most significant writers representing the method of socialist realism: Maxim Gorky, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Alexander Tvardovsky, Veniamin Kaverin, Anna Zegers, Vilis Latsis, Nikolai Ostrovsky, Alexander Serafimovich, Fedor Gladkov, Konstantin Simonov, Caesar Solodar, Mikhail Sholokhov, Nikolai Nosov, Alexander Fyodor , Konstantin Fedin, Dmitry Furmanov, Yuriko Miyamoto, Marietta Shaginyan, Yulia Drunina, Vsevolod Kochetov, etc.

N. Nosov (Soviet children's writer, best known as the author of works about Dunno)
As we can see, the list also contains the names of writers from other countries.

Anna Zegers (1900-1983) - German writer, member of the Communist Party of Germany.

Yuriko Miyamoto (1899-1951) - Japanese writer, representative of proletarian literature, member of the Japanese Communist Party. These writers supported the socialist ideology.

Alexander Alexandrovich Fadeev (1901-1956)

Russian Soviet writer and public figure. Laureate of the Stalin Prize of the first degree (1946).
From childhood, he showed the ability to write, distinguished by the ability to fantasize. He was fond of adventure literature.
While still studying at the Vladivostok Commercial School, he carried out orders from the underground committee of the Bolsheviks. He wrote his first story in 1922. While working on the novel "The Defeat", he decided to become a professional writer. "Defeat" brought fame and recognition to the young writer.

Still from the film "Young Guard" (1947)
His most famous novel is "Young Guard" (about the Krasnodon underground organization "Young Guard", which operated in the territory occupied by Nazi Germany, many of whose members were destroyed by the Nazis. In mid-February 1943, after the liberation of Donetsk Krasnodon by Soviet troops, not far from the city of mine No. 5, several dozen corpses of teenagers tortured by the Nazis who were in the underground organization "Young Guard" during the occupation were recovered.
The book was published in 1946. The writer was sharply criticized for the fact that the novel did not clearly express the "leading and guiding" role of the Communist Party; he received critical comments in the newspaper Pravda from Stalin himself. In 1951, he created the second edition of the novel, and in it he paid more attention to the leadership of the underground organization on the part of the CPSU (b).
Standing at the head of the Union of Writers of the USSR, A. Fadeev implemented the decisions of the party and government in relation to the writers of M.M. Zoshchenko, A.A. Akhmatova, A.P. Platonov. In 1946, the well-known decree of Zhdanov was issued, virtually destroying Zoshchenko and Akhmatova as writers. Fadeev was among those who carried out this sentence. But human feelings in him were not completely killed, he tried to help the financially needy M. Zoshchenko, and also fussed about the fate of other writers who were in opposition to the authorities (B. Pasternak, N. Zabolotsky, L. Gumilyov, A. Platonov). Hardly experiencing such a split, he fell into depression.
On May 13, 1956, Alexander Fadeev shot himself with a revolver at his dacha in Peredelkino. “... My life, as a writer, loses all meaning, and with great joy, as a deliverance from this vile existence, where meanness, lies and slander fall upon you, I am leaving life. The last hope was at least to say this to the people who rule the state, but for 3 years now, despite my requests, they cannot even accept me. Please bury me next to my mother "(A. A. Fadeev's dying letter to the Central Committee of the CPSU. May 13, 1956).

Socialist realism in the visual arts

Several groups emerged in the visual arts of the 1920s. The most significant was the group "Association of Artists of the Revolution".

"Association of Artists of the Revolution" (AHR)

S. Malyutin "Portrait of Furmanov" (1922). State Tretyakov Gallery
This large association of Soviet artists, graphic artists and sculptors was the most numerous, it was supported by the state. The association existed for 10 years (1922-1932) and was the forerunner of the Union of Artists of the USSR. Pavel Radimov, the last head of the Association of the Itinerants, became the head of the association. From that moment on, the Wanderers as an organization virtually ceased to exist. The AHR members rejected the avant-garde, although the 1920s were the heyday of the Russian avant-garde, which also wanted to work for the benefit of the revolution. But the paintings of these artists were not understood by society and were not accepted. For example, the work of K. Malevich "The Reaper".

K. Malevich "The Reaper" (1930)
This is what the artists of the Academy of Arts declared: “Our civic duty to humanity is an artistic and documentary recording of the greatest moment in history in its revolutionary impulse. We will depict today: the life of the Red Army, the life of workers, peasants, revolutionaries and heroes of labor ... We will give a real picture of events, and not abstract fabrications discrediting our revolution in the face of the international proletariat. "
The main task of the members of the Association was to create genre paintings based on plots from modern life, in which they developed the painting traditions of the Itinerants and “brought art closer to life”.

I. Brodsky “V. I. Lenin in Smolny in 1917 "(1930)
The main activity of the Association in the 1920s was exhibitions, which were organized about 70 in the capital and other cities. These exhibitions were very popular. Depicting the present day (the life of the Red Army, workers, peasants, revolutionaries and labor leaders), the artists of the AHR considered themselves the heirs of the Itinerants. They visited factories, factories, Red Army barracks to observe the life of their characters. It was they who became the main backbone of the artists of socialist realism.

V. Favorsky
Representatives of socialist realism in painting and drawing were E. Antipova, I. Brodsky, P. Buchkin, P. Vasiliev, B. Vladimirsky, A. Gerasimov, S. Gerasimov, A. Deineka, P. Konchalovsky, D. Maevsky, S. Osipov, A. Samokhvalov, V. Favorsky and others.

Socialist realism in sculpture

The names of V. Mukhina, N. Tomsky, E. Vuchetich, S. Konenkov and others are known in the sculpture of socialist realism.

Vera Ignatievna Mukhina (1889 -1953)

M. Nesterov "Portrait of V. Mukhina" (1940)

Soviet monumental sculptor, academician of the USSR Academy of Arts, People's Artist of the USSR. Laureate of five Stalin Prizes.
Her monument "Worker and Collective Farm Woman" was erected in Paris at the 1937 World Exhibition. Since 1947, this sculpture has been the emblem of the Mosfilm film studio. The monument is made of stainless chrome-nickel steel. Height of about 25 m (height of the pavilion-pedestal 33 m). Total weight 185 tons.

V. Mukhina "Worker and Collective Farm Woman"
V. Mukhina is the author of many monuments, sculptural works and decorative and applied items.

V. Mukhin "Monument" to P.I. Tchaikovsky "near the building of the Moscow Conservatory

V. Mukhina "Monument to Maxim Gorky" (Nizhny Novgorod)
An outstanding Soviet sculptor-monumentalist was N.V. Tomsk.

N. Tomsky "Monument to P. S. Nakhimov" (Sevastopol)
Thus, socialist realism made its worthy contribution to art.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Socialist realism - the artistic method of literature and art, built on the socialist concept of the world and man. According to this concept, the artist was supposed to serve the construction of a socialist society with his works. Consequently, socialist realism was supposed to reflect life in the light of the ideals of socialism. The concept of "realism" is literary, and the concept of "socialist" is ideological. By themselves, they contradict each other, but in this theory of art they merge. As a result, the norms and criteria dictated by the Communist Party were formed, and the artist, be he a writer, sculptor or painter, had to create in accordance with them.

The literature of socialist realism was an instrument of party ideology. The writer was interpreted as an "engineer of human souls." With his talent, he was supposed to influence the reader as a propagandist. He brought up the reader in the spirit of the Party and at the same time supported her in the struggle for the victory of communism. The subjective actions and aspirations of the personalities of the heroes of the works of socialist realism had to be brought into line with the objective course of history.

In the center of the work, a positive hero must have been:

• He is an ideal communist and an example for a socialist society.
• He is a progressive person who is alien to the doubts of the soul.

Lenin expressed the following idea that art should be on the side of the proletariat: “Art belongs to the people. The deepest springs of art can be found among a wide class of workers ... Art must be based on their feelings, thoughts and demands and must grow with them. " In addition, he clarified: “Literature must become party literature ... Down with non-party writers. Down with the writers of supermen! Literature must become a part of the general proletarian cause, cogs and wheels of one single great Social Democratic mechanism, set in motion by the entire conscious vanguard of the entire working class. "

The founder of socialist realism in literature, Maxim Gorky (1868-1936), wrote the following about socialist realism: “It is vital and creative for our writers to take a point of view from which - and only from its height - all the dirty crimes of capitalism are clearly visible, the meanness of his bloody intentions and all the greatness of the heroic work of the proletariat-dictator is visible. " He also argued: "... a writer must have a good knowledge of the history of the past and knowledge of social phenomena of our time, in which he is called upon to play simultaneously two roles: the role of a midwife and a gravedigger."

A.M. Gorky believed that the main task of socialist realism is to educate a socialist, revolutionary view of the world, corresponding to a sense of the world.

To follow the method of socialist realism, composing poetry and novels, creating paintings, etc. it is necessary to subordinate the goals of exposing the crimes of capitalism and praising socialism in order to inspire readers and viewers to the revolution, igniting their minds with just anger. The method of socialist realism was formulated by Soviet cultural figures under the leadership of Stalin in 1932. It covered all spheres of artistic activity (literature, drama, cinema, painting, sculpture, music and architecture). The method of socialist realism asserted the following principles:

1) describe reality accurately, in accordance with a specific historical revolutionary development; 2) coordinate their artistic expression with the themes of ideological reforms and the education of workers in a socialist spirit.

The principles of socialist realism

1. Nationality. The heroes of the works must come from the people, and the people are, first of all, workers and peasants.
2. Party membership. Show heroic deeds, building a new life, revolutionary struggle for a brighter future.
3. Concreteness. In depicting reality, show the process of historical development, which in turn must correspond to the doctrine of historical materialism (matter is primary, consciousness is secondary).

The Soviet era is usually called the period of national history of the XX century, covering 1917-1991. At this time, the Soviet artistic culture took shape and experienced the peak of its development. An important milestone on the path of the formation of the main artistic direction of art of the Soviet era, which later came to be called "socialist realism", were works that assert the understanding of history as a relentless class struggle in the name of the ultimate goal - the elimination of private property and the establishment of the power of the people (M. Gorky's story "Mother ", His play" Enemies "). In the development of art in the 1920s, two tendencies are clearly visible, which can be traced to the example of literature. On the one hand, a number of prominent writers did not accept the proletarian revolution and emigrated from Russia. On the other hand, some creators poeticized reality, believed in the heights of the goals that the communists set for Russia. Hero of the literature of the 20s. - a Bolshevik with a superhuman iron will. In this vein, the works of V. V. Mayakovsky ("Left March"), A. A. Blok ("Twelve") were created. The fine art of the 1920s also represented a rather variegated picture. Several groups emerged in it. The most significant group was the "Association of Artists of the Revolution" They depicted the present day: the life of the Red Army, the life of the workers, peasants, revolutionaries and labor. " They considered themselves heirs of the Itinerants. They went to factories, factories, to the Red Army barracks to directly observe the life of their characters, to "sketch" it. In another creative community - OST (Society of Easel Painters), young people who graduated from the first Soviet art university were united. The OST motto is the development in easel painting of themes that reflect the signs of the 20th century: an industrial city, industrial production, sports, etc. Unlike the masters of the Academy of Arts, the "Ostovites" saw their aesthetic ideal not in the works of their predecessors, the "Itinerant" artists, but in the newest European trends.

Some works of socialist realism

• Maxim Gorky, the novel "Mother"
• a group of authors, the painting "Speech by V. I. Lenin at the 3rd Congress of the Komsomol"
• Arkady Plastov, painting "The Fascist flew by" (Tretyakov Gallery)
• A. Gladkov, novel "Cement"
• film "Pig and Shepherd"
• the film "Tractor Drivers"
• Boris Ioganson, painting "Interrogation of the Communists" (TG)
• Sergei Gerasimov, painting "Partisan" (Tretyakov Gallery)
• Fyodor Reshetnikov, painting "Two Again" (Tretyakov Gallery)
• Yuri Neprintsev, painting "After the battle" (Vasily Terkin)
• Vera Mukhina, sculpture "Worker and Collective Farm Woman" (at VDNKh)
• Mikhail Sholokhov, "Quiet Don" novel
• Alexander Laktionov, "Letter from the Front" (Tretyakov Gallery)