Socialist Realism
Socialist Realism was an official art style mandated by the Soviet government from the early 1930s until the 1980s, aimed at promoting socialist ideals. Established in 1932 under Joseph Stalin's leadership, this artistic doctrine sought to align the arts with the political and ideological goals of the state. Artists were expected to depict ordinary Soviet life in a way that glorified workers and portrayed capitalist figures negatively, often depicting Stalin as a paternalistic leader. The government enforced strict guidelines that dictated how subjects and themes should be represented, which led to a formulaic approach to art that prioritized political conformity over artistic expression. As state employees, artists faced severe repercussions for non-compliance, including censorship and exclusion from public displays. Despite its intended purpose, many regarded Socialist Realism as limiting and coercive, leading some artists to create work outside its constraints, often at great personal risk. With the introduction of Mikhail Gorbachev's policies in the mid-1980s, the oppressive hold of Socialist Realism began to loosen, allowing for a revival of artistic freedom and a return to pre-Soviet artistic traditions.
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Subject Terms
Socialist Realism
DEFINITION: Art style officially dictated by the government of the Soviet Union from the early 1930s through the 1980s
SIGNIFICANCE: Socialist realism was an attempt to have art adhere to the government’s political and ideological agenda
The Soviet government officially defined Socialist Realism in 1932 and promoted it until the 1980s. After consolidating power in the early 1920s, the new leaders of the Soviet Union sought to press all social and societal institutions into the service of the state. The arts were no exception. General Secretary Joseph Stalin (1878-1953), in particular, recognized the power of the arts to influence the values, temperament, and motivations of the masses. At his instigation, the regime proclaimed the doctrine of socialist realism in 1932.
Socialist realism was the name of the artistic style toward which Soviet artists were supposed to strive. It was meant to promote socialist ideals and values through the portrayal of allegedly ordinary Soviet life. The government developed detailed guidelines that specified the way the artist should treat subjects such as work and leisure, and how the artist should portray groups such as soldiers and families. Workers were to be presented as heroes, capitalists as exploitative and malevolent, and Stalin himself as a benevolent father or a brave leader—as political needs warranted. In all cases, it was the state, rather than the artist, that chose the message to be expressed. Art, therefore, became formulaic, judged by its conformity with governmental standards rather than by any intrinsic quality as art.
As were virtually all other workers in the Soviet Union, artists were employees of the state. The government thus had considerable opportunity to enforce the standards of socialist realism. In one sense, then, socialist realism was a form of censorship. Artists who did not produce work that conformed to governmental standards were not permitted to publish, perform, or otherwise display their work. At the same time, socialist realism was more than mere censorship; not content with merely banning objectionable works, the Soviet authorities commissioned politically desirable ones.
Socialist realism extended to all the arts. Films depicted such pedestrian events as road paving and forest clearing with exaggerated glory. Enormous statues of peasants and workers in heroic poses were erected. Even music followed the formula of socialist realism, with instrumental works that failed to satisfy the authorities being rejected as “bourgeois” or “degenerate.”
Socialist realism as an art form has been dismissed as petty, grotesque, and perverse. One might ask whether works conceived and developed through coercion and regimentation can be considered art. Certainly, many Soviets answered in the negative, and various Soviet artists defied the strictures of socialist realism by producing illegal works that not infrequently led to their imprisonment. With the onset of Mikhail Gorbachev’s (1931-2022) policy of openness in the mid-1980s, Soviet artists were largely freed from the constraints of socialist realism, and Soviet (and Russian) art returned to the direction of its distinguished, pre-Soviet heritage.
Bibliography
Beaumont, Matthew. A Concise Companion to Realism. Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
Carroll, Alison. Soviet Socialist Realism and Art in the Asia-Pacific. Taylor & Francis Group, 2024.
Lahusen, Thomas. How Life Writes the Book: Real Socialism and Socialist Realism in Stalin’s Russia. Cornell UP, 1997.
Low, Trisha. Socialist Realism. Coffee House Press, 2019.