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Features of cultural processes in totalitarian states. Specific signs of totalitarianism

Totalitarian culture as a phenomenon
Totalitarian (from Latin totim, totalis - everything, whole) culture - a system of values and meanings with specific social, philosophical, political and ethnic content, built on a stable mythologeme of the unity of culture, excluding all cultural elements and formations that contradict this unity, attributable to hostile, alien.
This is the official culture of totalitarian regimes, historically established in the 20-30s and 40-50s. in a number of countries (USSR, Italy, Germany, China, North Korea, Vietnam); to a lesser extent, this applies to countries where the totalitarian regime wore forms that were more moderate and softer in relation to cultural processes and evolved towards the erosion of totalitarian specificity (Spain, Portugal, Greece during the period of the “black colonels”) or existed for a rather short time and did not have time to have a deep influence on culture (for example, in Kampuchea).
This phenomenon of the official culture of the twentieth century. was described in such works as: D. Orwell "1984", Zb. Brzezinski "The Big Failure", A. Zinoviev "Yawning Heights", M. Djilas "The Face of Totalitarianism". totalitarianism is highest point organic self-development mass society in which the mass mentality is constituted into a system of institutions of state power.
Totalitarianism is characterized by the complete (total) control of the state over all spheres of society. The main characteristics of a totalitarian regime are such properties of the mass mentality as collectivism, the axiom “like everyone else”, associated with aggressive xenophobia (fear of foreigners); admiration for a charismatic leader; the power of a new type of party; black-and-white perception of the world, and most importantly - politicization, covering all aspects of the social existence of the individual and enthusiasm based on such politicization.
Totalitarian art is one of the types of normative aesthetics that accompanies communist, fascist and other rigidly centralized state structures.
Common to art in totalitarian states is:
1. Declaring art (as well as the field of culture as a whole) as an ideological weapon and a means of fighting for power.
2. Monopolization of all forms and means artistic life countries.
3. Creation of the apparatus of control and management of art.
4. Of all the variety of trends that currently exist in art, the choice of one that best meets the goals of the regime (always the most conservative) and the announcement of its official, the only correct and mandatory.
5. Starting and bringing to a victorious end the fight against all styles and trends in art that are different from the official one; declaring them reactionary and hostile to a class, race, people, party, etc.
The main signs of totalitarianism: ideology, organization and terror. Classic samples such official style are: socialist realism 1934-56 and art of the Third Reich 1933-44.
On the whole, the culture of totalitarianism was characterized by emphasized classism and partisanship, and the rejection of many universal ideals of humanism. Complex cultural phenomena were deliberately simplified, they were given categorical and unambiguous assessments.
Totalitarian culture in Germany
Period from 1932 to 1934 in Germany was a decisive turn towards a totalitarian culture:
1. found the final formulation of the dogma of totalitarian art - the "principles of the Fuhrer";
2. the art management and control apparatus was finally built;
3. All artistic styles, forms and trends that differ from official dogma are declared a war of annihilation. Hitler not only put forward the principles of party leadership in art. Not a single European political figure didn't talk about culture as much as Hitler did. From his statements, compiled into theoretical treatises, the Nazi ideologists made up what in Germany was called the principles of the Fuhrer and acquired the character of immutable dogmas that govern the development of the art of the Third Reich.
It would be wrong to accuse totalitarianism of a barbarous disregard for culture, using the phrase attributed to Rosenberg, Goering, Himmler: "When I hear the word culture, I grab my gun." On the contrary, in no other democratic country did the sphere of culture attract such close attention state and was not rated as highly by him as in Germany.
In Germany, the object cultural policy Nazism, first of all, it turned out art. Of primary importance is the direct impact on the masses: painting, sculpture and graphics, which have some advantage over literature as a means of visual agitation. The ideal of totalitarian art was the language of the propaganda poster, gravitating toward color photography.
For Hitler, who considered himself a connoisseur of art and a true artist, modern tendencies in German fine art seemed meaningless and dangerous. In 1933, the Bauhaus was closed by the Nazis, and all modern Art was declared degenerate. Unable to work in such conditions, many of the most famous German artists found themselves in exile.
Nude cult male body was characteristic of official Nazi art. Male warrior, male enslaver, superman - a favorite image of many official Nazi artists, whose gloomy, tense and frightening sculptures - a heap of muscles and meat, exuding strength and aggression - reflected the gigantomania of fascism. In the official art of the Third Reich, images of the naked body were not just a favorite topic - they played a key role. At the main entrance to the Reich Chancellery stood two naked male figures by the chief sculptor of the Reich A. Breker: one with a torch in his outstretched hand, the other with a sword. They were called - the Party and the Wehrmacht. Plastically, the works of A. Breker and other sculptors of this direction embodied the ideological values of National Socialism. In painting, the ideals of Nordic beauty, Aryan physical and mental virtues were also sung.
Art of the totalitarian fascist regime in Italy and Germany in the 1930s and 40s. is called "Third Reich Style". The ideologists of this regime preached the ideas of the thousand-year-old Reich (Empire) and its third revival after the empire of Frederick I Barbarossa in the person of A. Hitler. These ideas were ideally embodied in a pompous style designed to emphasize the unprecedented power of the state, the racial superiority of the Aryans and the continuity from the great past of the German nation. It was a kind of grotesque version of the Empire, but in more eclectic forms.
The style of the Third Reich combined neoclassicism, which was especially pronounced in Italian architecture, the Napoleonic Empire style and individual elements of Art Deco. The main features of the art of Italian and German fascism are retrospectiveness, conservatism, gigantomania, anti-humanism. All the achievements of the new architecture of constructivism and functionalism were rejected, its representatives were expelled and forced to leave for the United States.
Nietzsche's philosophy played a significant role in the formation of Italian and German fascism. His arguments about higher and lower races, about the race of masters and the race of slaves, combined with the racist theories of A. Gabino and J. Lapouge, contributed to the influence of the “Nordic myth” on the ideology of modernity, which fed the nationalist aspirations of a number of schools and art movements of that time.
Hitler's megalomania manifested itself in architectural designs. The new Germanic architecture was supposed to demonstrate the relationship between Doric and Teutonic forms, which, in his opinion, was the perfect artistic combination.
Nazi architects, led by Troost, designed and built state and municipal buildings throughout the country. According to the Troost project, the Palace of German Art was built in Munich. In addition, autobahns, bridges, housing for workers, the Olympic Stadium in Berlin (1936) were built.
According to the designs of the Chief Architect of the Third Reich A. Speer, Berlin was to be demolished and rebuilt with gigantic structures (compare with the "Soviet Empire style"). He proposed a project Arc de Triomphe twice the size of the Parisian. From its 85-meter height, the visitor could see at the end of the six-kilometer perspective the grandiose dome of the People's House. Stately boulevards and avenues lined huge public buildings such as the headquarters of eleven ministries, the 500-meter-long city hall, the new police department, the Military Academy and the General Staff. In addition, it was supposed to build a colossal Palais des Nations for rallies, a 21-story hotel, a new Opera House, a concert hall, three theaters, a cinema with a capacity of 2000 spectators, luxurious cafes and restaurants, a variety show and even an indoor swimming pool built in the form of ancient Roman term with patios and a colonnade.
In Italy, Mussolini's chief architect was the "neoclassicist" L. Moretti.
Music of the Third Reich
Germany's contribution to the world of music in the past has won wide recognition. The three greatest German composers of the 19th century - F. Mendelssohn, R. Schumann and R. Wagner - had a huge impact on the entire music world. IN late XIX V. J. Brahms created wonderful symphonies. 20th century brought radical changes in music associated with the name of the one who worked in Berlin Austrian composer A. Schoenberg.
The situation changed after the Nazis came to power. Many composers and musicians were forced to leave the country. The works of composers of Jewish origin were banned.
German orchestras were forbidden to perform the music of P. Hindemith, the leading national composer modernity, which won world recognition and experimented with new forms of harmonious rows.
Mostly classical music, works of German composers of the XIX V. The Nazi authorities encouraged the performance of the works of R. Wagner, since Hitler was a fanatical follower of his work. Until 1944, music festivals were held, dedicated to creativity Wagner, which were attended by Hitler and other party functionaries as guests of honor.
Totalitarian culture of Russia
Soviet period Russian history lasted 74 years. Compared to more than thousand years of history countries are few. But it was a controversial period, full of both dramatic moments and extraordinary upsurge. Russian culture. In the Soviet period of history, a great superpower is created that defeated fascism, science and powerful industry develop, masterpieces are created in the field of literature and art. But in the same period, party censorship was actively operating, repressions were used, the Gulag and other forms of influence on dissidents were functioning.
The culture of the Soviet era has never been a single whole, but has always been a dialectical contradiction, since simultaneously with the officially recognized culture, an oppositional culture of dissent within Soviet Union and the culture of the Russian diaspora (or the culture of the Russian Emigration) beyond its borders. Actually Soviet culture also had mutually negating stages of its development, such as the flourishing stage of avant-garde art in the 1920s. and the stage of totalitarian art of the 30-50s.
First post-revolutionary years were a difficult time for Russian culture. But at the same time, these were also years of extraordinary cultural upsurge. The connection between social upheavals and the aesthetic revolution of the 20th century. obvious. The Russian avant-garde, which briefly survived the socialist revolution, was certainly one of its ferments. In turn, the first-born of ideological, totalitarian, art - Soviet socialist realism was a direct product of this revolution; his style, outwardly reminiscent of the art of the first half of the 19th century, is a completely new phenomenon.
Soviet avant-garde of the 20s. was organically included in the industrial-urban process. The ascetic aesthetics of constructivism corresponded to the ethics of early Bolshevism: it was the avant-garde that created the image of a human function, the idea of an impersonal human factor. The transition to the mode of self-preservation of the empire meant setting the power of the state machine. Avant-garde art found no place in this system. Creativity, which set itself the goal of constructing life, had to give way to art that replaces life.
In 1924, the existing tsarist Russia and the permissive procedure for the creation of creative societies and unions, abolished by the revolution. Their activities were supervised by the NKVD. Thus, the first step towards the nationalization of creative public organizations was taken.
In 1934, at the First All-Union Congress of Writers, the party method of “socialist realism” was formulated and approved, which determines the position of the party in matters of literature and art.
Socialist realism - the ideological direction of the official art of the USSR in 1934-91. The term first appeared after the Decree of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of April 23, 1932 "On the restructuring of literary and artistic organizations", which meant the actual liquidation of certain artistic directions, trends, styles, associations, groups. Under artistic creativity the ideology of the class struggle, the struggle against dissent was summed up. All artistic groups were banned, in their place single creative unions were created - Soviet writers, Soviet artists and so on, whose activities were regulated and controlled by the Communist Party.
The main principles of the method: party spirit, ideology, nationality (compare: autocracy, Orthodoxy, nationality).
The main features: primitive thought, stereotyped images, standard compositional solutions, naturalistic form.
Tasks: truthful, historically concrete depiction of life; transmission of reality in revolutionary development; revealing a new ideal, goodie; ideological transformation and education of the working people in the spirit of socialism.
Social realism is a phenomenon artificially created by state power, and therefore is not an artistic style. The paradox of social realism was that the artist ceased to be the author of his work, he spoke not on his own behalf, but on behalf of the majority, a group of like-minded people, and always had to be responsible for those whose interests he expressed. The rules of the game became the masking of one's own thoughts, social mimicry, a deal with the official ideology. At the other extreme, acceptable compromises, permitted liberties, some concessions to censorship in exchange for favors. Such ambiguities were easily guessed by the viewer and even created some piquancy and sharpness in the activities of individual free-thinking realists.
The three main specific features of a totalitarian culture, as well as a totalitarian system as a whole, are the following phenomena: organization, ideology and terror.
Terror in culture is determined both by the widespread use of censorship agencies and by direct repressions of "objectionable" cultural figures. The features of totalitarian art and literature consist in the formation of a strong external apparatus for managing culture and the creation of non-alternative organizations of cultural figures. The external apparatus for managing culture as a result of its genesis by the mid-30s. was an extensive network of mutually controlling bodies, the main of which were the Agitprop of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the NKVD and Glavlit.
The formation of artistic ideology led to the need to depict only positive, faith-inspiring examples of life. Soviet society, the image of a negative, negative experience could only exist as an image of an ideological enemy. At the heart of "socialist realism" was the principle of idealization of reality, as well as two more principles of totalitarian art: the cult of the leader and the unanimous approval of all decisions. Based on the most important criterion artistic activity- the principle of humanism - included: love for the people, the party, Stalin and hatred for the enemies of the motherland. Such humanism has been called "socialist humanism". From this understanding of humanism, the principle of partisanship of art followed logically and its reverse side - the principle of a class approach to all phenomena. public life.
In the works of socialist realism, there is always a goal, they are aimed either at praising Soviet society, the leader, the power of the Soviets, or, guided by Stalin's slogan about intensifying the class struggle in the course of building socialism, at destroying the class enemy. The pronounced propaganda nature of the art of socialist realism was manifested in a noticeable predetermined plot, composition, often alternative (friends/enemies), in the author's obvious concern for the accessibility of his artistic preaching, that is, some pragmatism. The agitational influence of the art of "socialist realism" existed in the conditions of the frequently changing policy of the party, was subordinated not only to the teachings of Marxism-Leninism, but also to the current tasks of the party leadership.
Under the conditions of a totalitarian regime, all representatives of culture, whose aesthetic principles differed from "socialist realism", which became obligatory for all, were subjected to terror. Many literary figures were repressed. The formation of a totalitarian regime for the management of literature led to the creation of alternative forms of creativity, such as metaphorical criticism and the creation of political folklore.
For a long time in Soviet social science, the point of view dominated, according to which the 30-40s. of the last century were declared years of mass labor heroism in economic development and in the socio-political life of society. Indeed, the development of public education has taken on a scale unprecedented in history. There are two decisive points here:
. resolution of the 16th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks "On the introduction of universal compulsory primary education for all children in the USSR" (1930);
. put forward by J. V. Stalin in the thirties, the idea of renewing the "economic cadres" at all levels, which entailed the creation of industrial academies and engineering universities throughout the country, as well as the introduction of conditions that stimulate working people to receive education at evening and correspondence departments of universities without interruption from production.
Science developed. In 1918, the scientific and technical department of the Supreme Council of National Economy was created, in which such prominent scientists as chemists A.N. Bach, N.D. Zelinsky, geologist I.M. Gubkin, a specialist in aerodynamics N.E. Zhukovsky. In Petrograd, the X-ray and Radiological Institute was opened under the leadership of Academician A.F. Ioffe. Future outstanding scientists became its employees: P.L. Kapitsa, N.N. Semenov, Ya.I. Frenkel. In 1921, on the basis of the Physics and Technology Department of the Institute, an independent Institute of Physics and Technology was established, which later played a huge role in the development of Russian physics. In the first half of the 20s. aviation science achieved great success, in the development of which the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) played an outstanding role, headed by N.E. Zhukovsky, and then S.A. Chaplygin. In 1922, the first domestic monoplane aircraft designed by A.N. Tupolev. Based on the laboratory of Academician I.P. Pavlov, the Physiological Institute was created, in which the most interesting work was carried out on the study of higher nervous activity in animals and humans. Academician I.P. Pavlov occupied a special place in the Russian scientific world as the only winner in the country Nobel Prize. In 1935, the Institute of Physical Problems appeared, headed by P.L. Kapitsa; in 1937, the Institute of Geophysics, headed by O.Yu. Schmidt. In the 30s. Soviet scientists carried out deep research in the field of solid state physics (A.F. Ioffe), semiconductors (I.E. Tamm, I.K. Kikorin), physics low temperatures(A.I. Alikhanov, A.I. Alikhanyan, P.L. Kapitsa), nuclear physicists (I.V. Kurchatov, L.D. Landau). In 1936, the first cyclotron in Europe was launched in Leningrad. Research continued in the field of aerodynamics and rocket science. In 1933, the first Soviet liquid fuel rocket was launched. IN post-war years special attention was paid to the development of nuclear physics. In 1954, the world's first nuclear power plant with a capacity of 5,000 kilowatts was put into operation in the USSR. In 1948, the first long-range guided missile R-1 was launched, created in the design bureau under the leadership of S.P. Queen.
The first construction of the five-year plan, collectivization Agriculture, the Stakhanov movement, the historical achievements of Soviet science and technology were perceived, experienced and reflected in the public consciousness in the unity of its rational and emotional structures. That's why artistic culture could not but play an exceptionally important role in the spiritual development of socialist society. Never in the past and nowhere in the world have works of art had such a wide, such a massive, truly popular audience as in the USSR. This is eloquently evidenced by the attendance figures of theaters, concert halls, art museums and exhibitions, the development of a cinema network, book publishing and the use of library funds.
Official art of the 30-40s. was uplifting, affirmative, even euphoric. The major type of art, which the ancient Greek philosopher Plato recommended for his ideal state, was embodied in the real Soviet totalitarian society. Here one should keep in mind the tragic inconsistency that developed in the country in the pre-war period. In the public mind of the 30s. faith in socialist ideals, the enormous prestige of the party began to be combined with "leadership". The principles of the class struggle were also reflected in the artistic life of the country.
Artists masterfully depicted a non-existent reality, creating in art a seductive image of the Soviet country with its wise leaders and happy population. The proud and free man of labor occupies a central place in the paintings. Its features: functional significance and romantic elation. In Russia, as in Germany, he is superimposed on the historically not obsolete image of the hero of the era of romanticism and partly takes on his features. The theory of non-conflict and the requirement of "plausibility" also affected the visual arts. Formally, the work of the Wanderers was proclaimed the ideal that artists had to follow. In practice, painting of the late 40s - early. 50s followed the traditions of academism. Emphasized optimism is characteristic of genre painting those years, formally not involved in the chanting of power.
At the same time, artists also worked who, in terms of the creative manner and content of their works, were fundamentally far from officialdom, for example, S. Gerasimov, P. Korin, A. Osmerkin, M. Saryan, R. Falk. However, the struggle against “formalism” launched by the Academy of Arts (established in 1947) and its president A. Gerasimov had a severe impact on the work and fate of these masters: museums and exhibitions refused their paintings, they were repeatedly subjected to critical attacks, more like denunciations.
If in Germany during this period the object of the cultural policy of Nazism was primarily the fine arts, then in Russia the main blow was directed at literature, since by the 1930s. the fine arts were already adapted to the needs of the regime. Now the literature had to be put in order.
Many writers were actually cut off from literature, forced to write "on the table" from the beginning of the 30s. They stopped publishing A. Platonov, almost did not publish A. Akhmatova, M. Zoshchenko. M. Bulgakov found himself in a tragic situation, whose works were almost completely banned by censorship.
Arrests are made (P. Florensky, A. Losev, D. Kharms were arrested). Repressions against the intelligentsia, religious figures, technical specialists, the peasantry, and military leaders are intensifying. Writers N. Klyuev, O. Mandelstam, I. Kataev, I. Babel, B. Pilnyak died, economists A. Chayanov, N. Kondratiev, historian N. Lukin, biologist N. Vavilov were shot, S. Korolev, A. Tupolev were repressed , L. Landau.
The Decree “On the magazines Zvezda and Leningrad”, adopted in 1946, intimidated writers and caused colossal harm literary process. Literature has become an important means of political propaganda, increasingly working on the topic of the day.
Cinema has always enjoyed Stalin's exclusive attention. In the 40-50s. feature films, before being released, were sent to the Kremlin for screening. Access to foreign cinema was very limited for ideological reasons. Much attention was paid to the military-historical theme, especially the theme of the Great Patriotic War. Stalin personally dictated to the Minister of Cinematography an extensive plan for creating a cycle of films under the general title "Ten Blows". The name was almost immediately clarified and for years was fixed not only in literature, but also in science: "Stalin's Ten Blows".
The music of the outstanding composers D. Shostakovich, S. Prokofiev, G. Myaskovsky, A. Khachaturian, V. Shebalin, G. Popov was called a formalistic and anti-democratic perversion, alien to artistic tastes Soviet people. Sophisticated innovative symphonic music came under suspicion. Preference began to be given to "accessible to the people" works, mainly music for films, solemn festive oratorios, and operas on topical issues.
The authorities also tried to influence dance music. Fashionable tango, foxtrot, jazz caused obvious disapproval.
Factors that stabilized totalitarianism in the USSR:
1. militarism, the accumulation of huge material and spiritual forces in the military field, qualitative military-technical equality with the most developed countries of the West or a quantitative advantage, the presence of a powerful nuclear missile arsenal;
2. centralized, essentially military, structure for managing the economy, propaganda, transport, communications, international trade, diplomacy, etc.;
3. closed society, blocking most of the internal channels of information necessary in a democratic society, in particular, the lack of a free press, restrictions on foreign travel for ordinary citizens, the difficulty of emigration and the complete impossibility of returning back;
4. complete absence democratic control of the activities of the authorities;
5. centralized propaganda.

The concept of ""Totalitarian culture"" is closely related to the concept of ""Totalitarianism"" and ""totalitarian ideology"", since culture always serves the ideology, whatever it may be. Totalitarianism is a universal phenomenon affecting all spheres of life. We can say that totalitarianism is political system, in which the role of the state is so huge that it affects all processes in the country, whether political, social, economic or cultural. In the hands of the state are all the threads of the management of society.

Totalitarian culture is mass culture.

Totalitarian ideologists have always sought to subjugate the masses. And it was precisely the masses, since people were conceived not as individuals, but as elements of a mechanism, elements of a system called a totalitarian state. At the same time, ideology proceeds from some primary system of ideals. The October Revolution introduced in our country a substantially new (instead of the autocratic) system of higher ideals: a world socialist revolution leading to communism, the kingdom of social justice, and an ideal working class. This system of ideals served as the basis for the ideology created in the 1930s, which proclaimed the ideas of the “infallible leader” and the “image of the enemy”. The people were brought up in the spirit of admiration for the name of the leader, in the spirit of boundless faith in the justice of his every word. Under the influence of the “image of the enemy” phenomenon, suspicion spread and denunciation was encouraged, which led to the disunity of people, the growth of mistrust between them and the emergence of a fear syndrome. Unnatural from the point of view of reason, but really existing in the minds of the people, a combination of hatred for real and imaginary enemies and fear for oneself, the deification of the leader and false propaganda, tolerance for a low standard of living and everyday disorder - all this justified the need to confront the “enemies of the people”. eternal struggle with the “enemies of the people” in society, a constant ideological tension was maintained, directed against the slightest shade of dissent, independence of judgment. The ultimate “super task” of all this monstrous activity was the creation of a system of terror of fear and formal unanimity. This is reflected in the culture. The culture was utilitarian, one might even say primitive. Society, the people were conceived as a mass, where everyone is equal (there is no personality, there are the masses). Accordingly, art should be understandable to everyone. Therefore, all works were created realistically, simply, accessible to the average layman.

The totalitarian ideology is the “Cult of Struggle”, which always fights against the ideology of dissenters, fights for a brighter future, etc. And this, of course, is reflected in the culture. Suffice it to recall the slogans of the USSR: ""Against separation from modernity!"", "Against romantic confusion"", "For communism!", "Down with drunkenness!", etc. These calls and instructions met the Soviet man wherever he was: at work, on the street, at a meeting or in public places.

If there is a struggle, then there are enemies. The enemies in the USSR were bourgeois, kulaks, voluntarists, dissidents (dissenters). Enemies were condemned and punished in every possible way. They condemned at meetings, in periodicals, drew posters and hung leaflets. Particularly malicious enemies of the people (the term of that time) were expelled from the party, fired, sent to camps, prisons, forced labor (for logging, for example) and even shot. Naturally, all this almost always happened indicatively.

Enemies could also be scientists or the whole of science. Here is a quote from the 1956 Dictionary of Foreign Words: “Genetics is a pseudoscience based on the assertion of the existence of genes, some material carriers of heredity, supposedly ensuring the continuity in the offspring of certain signs of the body, and supposedly located in the chromosomes.”

And these articles are in a book that millions of people read. This is a huge impact on the masses, especially on young brains. After all, this dictionary was read by both schoolchildren and students.

Introduction

Any cultural phenomenon has a dual nature, becoming a fact of history. Any culture is not only what it thinks and says about itself, how it identifies itself, but it is not only what is said about it from the outside, it is both.

Turning to the question of the socialist realist culture's understanding of reality, we will understand, in the light of what has been said, that the world it creates was neither the "truth of life" (as this culture itself claimed), nor a lie (as it is seen from a different cultural perspective). It has its own principles, its own measure of two principles inherent in this culture. And the question of this measure was not accidental in the center of attention of the most totalitarian culture. And no matter how the theory of social realism tried to get out of this circle already in the post-Stalin period (for example, in the theory of social realism as a "historically open aesthetic system"), this way out was blocked by culture itself: to leave this circle meant destroying the very system of totalitarian culture. This circle is not some external logical obstacle. It is the boundary of culture itself.

Totalitarian culture and its essence

The concept of ""Totalitarian culture"" is closely related to the concept of ""Totalitarianism"" and ""totalitarian ideology"", since culture always serves the ideology, whatever it may be. Totalitarianism is a universal phenomenon affecting all spheres of life. We can say that totalitarianism is a political system in which the role of the state is so huge that it affects all processes in the country, whether political, social, economic or cultural. In the hands of the state are all the threads of the management of society.

Totalitarian culture is mass culture.

Totalitarian ideologists have always sought to subjugate the masses. And it was precisely the masses, since people were conceived not as individuals, but as elements of a mechanism, elements of a system called a totalitarian state. At the same time, ideology proceeds from some primary system of ideals. The October Revolution introduced in our country a substantially new (instead of the autocratic) system of higher ideals: a world socialist revolution leading to communism, the kingdom of social justice, and an ideal working class. This system of ideals served as the basis for the ideology created in the 1930s, which proclaimed the ideas of the “infallible leader” and the “image of the enemy”. The people were brought up in the spirit of admiration for the name of the leader, in the spirit of boundless faith in the justice of his every word. Under the influence of the “image of the enemy” phenomenon, suspicion spread and denunciation was encouraged, which led to the disunity of people, the growth of mistrust between them and the emergence of a fear syndrome. Unnatural from the point of view of reason, but really existing in the minds of the people, a combination of hatred for real and imaginary enemies and fear for oneself, the deification of the leader and false propaganda, tolerance for a low standard of living and everyday disorder - all this justified the need to confront the “enemies of the people”. The eternal struggle with the "enemies of the people" in society maintained a constant ideological tension, directed against the slightest shade of dissent, independence of judgment. The ultimate “super task” of all this monstrous activity was the creation of a system of terror of fear and formal unanimity. This is reflected in the culture. The culture was utilitarian, one might even say primitive. Society, the people were conceived as a mass, where everyone is equal (there is no personality, there are the masses). Accordingly, art should be understandable to everyone. Therefore, all works were created realistically, simply, accessible to the average layman.

Or, for example, another quote from the same source: “Pacifism is a bourgeois political movement that tries to inspire the working people with the false idea that it is possible to ensure permanent peace while maintaining capitalist relations ... Rejecting the revolutionary actions of the masses, pacifists deceive the working people and cover up the preparation of an imperialist war with empty chatter about peace bourgeoisie."

Moscow State University of Service

Volga Technological Institute of Service

Essay

on the topic of:

“Totalitarian culture”

By discipline: “History of the Fatherland”

Completed by: student of group MK-101

Gavrilova S.A.

Checked by: Ph.D., Assoc.

Munin A.N.

Togliatti 2001

Introduction page 3

Main body page 4-10

Conclusion page 11

List of references page 12

Introduction

The concept of ""Totalitarian culture"" is closely related to the concept of ""Totalitarianism"" and ""totalitarian ideology"", since culture always serves the ideology, whatever it may be. Therefore, in order to understand what the culture of totalitarianism is, we should say a little about what is called totalitarianism, a totalitarian society.

Let's start with the concept of ""totalitarianism"". The word "total" means "whole, total". Totalitarianism is a universal phenomenon affecting all spheres of life. We can say that totalitarianism is a political system in which the role of the state (government) is so huge that it affects all processes in the country, whether political, social, economic or cultural. In the hands of the state are all the threads of the management of society.

A characteristic feature of the regime in the USSR is that power is not based on laws and the constitution. Almost all human rights were guaranteed in the Stalinist constitution, which were practically not implemented in practice. It is no coincidence that the first speeches of dissidents in the USSR were held under the slogans for the observance of the constitution.

Violent methods of electing certain persons to state authorities are also symptomatic. Suffice it to recall such a curious fact: the announcement on television of the results of the vote was approved by the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU two days before the elections.

Main part

A totalitarian state has a totalitarian culture. The USSR is a totalitarian state, as we have already understood from the above, therefore, in the USSR there should be totalitarian culture. What it is - a totalitarian culture, how it differs from the culture of a legal state, we will now find out. To do this, we will consider the main aspects of totalitarian culture.

Totalitarian culture is mass culture

On the collective farm, all the peasants gathered for a village gathering, where urgent problems were discussed and the decisions of the party regarding this or that problem were announced. If a process against some kulak took place in the village, then the whole people gathered: everything was indicative, it was a whole action. Huge masses of people gathered together for demonstrations, rallies, carried huge images of Lenin, Stalin, listened to the fiery speeches of speakers who told them what they (the people) must do and what they will do to achieve a brighter future.

The culture was massively utilitarian, one might even say primitive. Society, the people were conceived as a mass, where everyone is equal (there is no personality, there are the masses). Accordingly, art should be understandable to everyone. Therefore, all works were created realistically, simply, accessible to the average layman. Pictures - most often landscapes, scenes from the life of workers or portraits of leaders; the music is simple, without complex compositions, rhythmic, vigorous; in literature - heroic plots.

2) In a totalitarian culture there is always a "cult of struggle".

Totalitarian ideology always fights against ideology, dissidents, fights for a brighter future, and so on. And this, of course, is reflected in the culture. Suffice it to recall the slogans of the USSR: ""Against separation from modernity!"", "Against romantic confusion"", "For communism!", "Down with drunkenness!", etc. These calls and instructions met the Soviet man wherever he was: at work, on the street, at a meeting, in public places.

It should be noted that the cult of struggle gave rise to militarism in all spheres of life. In culture, this was expressed in the "ideology of the fighter". Such fighters in the USSR were activists, people who "preached the religion" of the party. The ideological army in the USSR was huge. Here is an example: the Secretary of the Central Committee of Kazakhstan proudly announced at the next Ideological Conference that in the harvest of 1979, together with the collective farmers, "a large detachment of ideological workers - over 140 thousand agitators and political informants, lecturers and political rapporteurs, cultural enlightenment workers, figures of literature and art" was participating. The head of the ideological front, M. Suslov, addressing all his soldiers, spoke of a “multi-million army of ideological cadres” that should “envelop the entire mass with its influence and at the same time reach every person.”

Enemies could also be scientists or the whole of science. Here is a quote from the 1956 Dictionary of Foreign Words: “Genetics is a pseudoscience based on the assertion of the existence genes, some material carriers of heredity, allegedly ensuring the continuity in the offspring of certain signs of the organism, and allegedly being in chromosomes”.

Or, for example, another quote from the same source: “Pacifism is a bourgeois political movement that tries to instill in the working people the false idea that it is possible to ensure permanent peace while maintaining capitalist relations ... Rejecting the revolutionary actions of the masses, pacifists deceive the working people and cover up the preparation of an imperialist war with empty chatter about peace bourgeoisie."

The cult of personality in the USSR.

Leaders in the USSR for the entire time of its existence were considered almost gods. The first half of the 70s was the time of the birth of the cult of the General Secretary. Ideology requires a Leader - a Priest, in whom it finds its external, bodily embodiment. Brezhnev's career, repeating in the main features of the career of his predecessors - Stalin and Khrushchev, allows us to conclude that it is impossible for a Soviet-type state to do without a leader. The symbol of the Leader can be traced throughout the culture of the USSR. Many examples are not required, it is enough to recall the fact that in the preface of any book, even scientific, there was always a mention of the leader. There were a huge number of books, paintings, sculptures and films about the leaders. For example, “Monument to V. Ulyanov - a high school student” in Ulyanovsk.

4) “Totalitarian hero”

The hero acts as the builder of a new life, overcoming obstacles of any kind and defeating all enemies. And it is no coincidence that totalitarian cultures have found a suitable definition for themselves - "heroic realism",

We will dwell on only one aspect of the problem - the iron and steel symbols characteristic of a totalitarian society. She was associated with Bolshevism from its very inception. Trotsky wrote that Iosif Dzhugashvili took the pseudonym Stalin, which comes from the word "steel", in 1912. “At that time, this meant not so much a personal characterization as a characterization of a direction. As early as 1907, the future Bolsheviks were called “hard”, and the Mensheviks were called “soft”. Plekhanov, the leader of the Mensheviks, ironically called the Bolsheviks “hard stone.” Lenin picked up this definition as praise ". In 1907, Lunacharsky spoke of the "iron integrity" of the souls of the new fighters. Later, he enthusiastically wrote that in the process of organizing the proletariat, the individual is melted from iron into steel. In the famous book by Nikolai Ostrovsky "How the Steel Was Tempered" (1932-1934), the metaphor was extended to the education of Bolshevik cadres. In the 1930s, this metaphor penetrated into all areas of public life. They talked about the "iron will of the leader and the party", about the "steel unity" of the Bolsheviks, who cannot be scared by the mountains of polar ice, about the pilots, these " iron people. And these are just a few examples of this kind.

totalitarian education

At school they taught the way the party liked and only those subjects that were pleasing to the party. In addition, a lot of "ideological work" was carried out. A striking example of such work is the following case:

The New York Times correspondent visited a children's party at a Moscow school. Here is how he describes the festivity: “First, girls in red skirts with red ribbons in their hair ran in. Each girl held a red flag in her hands. Then came boys in khaki helmets with big red stars on them, recitatively singing songs about the revolution, about "a holiday covered in glory." Other children, dressed in blue and green, held bouquets of autumn leaves made of plastic in their hands, they sing: "Glory to our great motherland, may it be powerful and beautiful in the future." Then the whole group sang, the teacher accompanied on the piano:

Our homeland stands guard over the world,

Victorious Red Army

Our motherland is mighty

She keeps the world."

The change of names and new names for newborns were in vogue: instructive and recommendatory lists with names were posted in the registry offices. Offered - for girls: Atlantis, Brunhilde, Industry, Oktyabrina, Fevralina, Idea, Commune, Maina. For boys - Chervonets, Spartak, Textile, Banner, Vladilen.

6) Totalitarian Art

The basis of Soviet art was social realism or socialist realism. The thirties were the period of the spread of socialist realism and its victory in the USSR. The essence of the methods of social realism lies in the truthful, historically concrete depiction of reality. The characteristic features of socialist realism are: ideology, party spirit and nationality. The main theme of socialist realism was the chanting of labor, heroism, labor exploits, and the achievements of the national economy.

totalitarianism in literature.

With the formation of the theory of socialist realism in the first half of the 1930s, a formula arose about “depicting reality in its revolutionary development.” In fact, all conflicts between the individual and the state, power, conflicts arising from forced collectivization, administrative exile, repressions, conflicts in families, in a team, in war, the image of hunger, need and poverty have left the sphere of the image. It was not necessary to write about death (with the exception of a heroic one), doubts, weaknesses, etc. There were reminders in the magazines about the need to “castigate the shortcomings”, “everything that hinders our movement forward”. B. Rurikov wrote at that time in one of his articles: ""... and if our society, the state expose and severely punish the enemies of the people, the enemies of our system, then the same punishment, the same judgment on the representatives of the old world should be done by Soviet literature "". Soviet writers created works about the heroic labor of the Soviet people, based on high consciousness, sacrificial self-denial.

Totalitarianism in architecture.

Not a single art is capable of expressing power and grandeur so much, so suppressing everything individual, special, as monumental architecture. One need only look at Soviet cities: brick or panel blocks everywhere, identical houses. Everywhere in the Soviet Union, passing, the traveler saw these monoliths with windows that gave the impression of prison barracks. The construction of residential buildings was of a utilitarian nature: only for people to survive, nothing more. The same people lived in the same houses.

If we talk about sculpture, then images of leaders (busts, monuments to Lenin, Stalin) or compositions on the theme of Soviet workers prevailed. A typical example of socialist realism sculpture is the work of Mukhina "Worker and Collective Farm Woman" at VDNKh in Moscow.

totalitarianism in music.

The music was dominated by heavy monotonous melodies. Mostly marches. In addition, the Soviet people sang songs about the leader, about socialism, about socialist exploits. For example:

Lenin is always alive

Lenin is always with you:

In grief, hope and joy;

Lenin in your destiny

Every happy day

Lenin in you and in me...

Or, for example, the song of the pioneers:

Fly like fires blue nights

We are pioneers, children of workers.

The era of happy years is approaching,

The cry of the pioneers - always be ready!

Totalitarianism in painting

The poster has become a new genre in the totalitarian fine arts. The posters were very different: appeals, instructions, programs, announcements, but they all had an ideological propaganda character. In addition, there were many leaflets, banners, etc. For example, the famous poster: “Have you signed up as a volunteer?” or "Labor semester - excellent!".

The leading socialist realist painters were:

Yuri Pimenov “Give heavy industry!”

Alexander Deineka "Defense of Petrograd", "Textile Workers"

Boris Ioganson "Interrogation of Communists"

Culture Management

Culture management was carried out according to the following scheme:

Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU for culture(Ideologists)

Ministry of Culture

Departments of the Ministry of Culture,

for example, the Union of Writers of the USSR or the Union of Artists of the USSR

At the very top, in the party, it was decided what needed to be written, drawn, composed, and what was not needed. Then these decisions reached the responsible persons and organizations.

This is how Soviet ideologists imagined the goals of creative unions: “The task of the Union of Artists of the USSR is to assist artists in creating highly artistic works that educate the masses in the spirit of communist ideas. The Union is working to raise the ideological and political level and professional skills of its members, to popularize their creativity” 1 .

1 Encyclopedic Dictionary of a Young Artist / Comp. N.I. Platonov, V.D. Sinyukov. - M .: Pedagogy, 1973. - 416 p., ill.

Conclusion

The culture of a totalitarian state is dominated by one ideology and worldview. As a rule, these are utopian theories that realize the eternal dream of people about a more perfect and happy social order, which are based on the idea of achieving fundamental harmony between people. The totalitarian regime uses a mythologized version of one such ideology as the only possible worldview, which turns into a kind of state religion. This monopoly on ideology pervades all spheres of life, culture in particular. In the USSR, Marxism became such an ideology, then Leninism, Stalinism, and so on.

In a totalitarian regime, without exception, all resources (both material, human and intellectual) are directed towards achieving one universal goal: the communist kingdom of universal happiness.

Bibliography:

Geller M. Machine and cogs. The history of the formation of the Soviet man. - M.: MIK, 1994 - 336 p.

Difficult questions of history: Searches and reflections. A New Look on events and facts. Ed. V.V. Zhuravlev. – M.: Politizdat 1991.

3. Starikov E. Before the choice. Knowledge, 1991, No. 5.

Gadnelev K.S. Totalitarianism as a Phenomenon of the 20th Century. Questions of Philosophy, 1992, No. 2.

The 20th century was the century of global historical upheavals, significant and unparalleled in the past, both in terms of their scale, the nature of their course, and their results.

The 20th century brought numerous totalitarianism to mankind, of which the most cruel were the dictatorial regime of B. Mussolini in Italy (1922-1943), Hitler's fascism in Germany in the 30s and early 40s. and the Stalinist dictatorship of the 30s and early 50s in the USSR.

Intellectual work to comprehend the totalitarian past in a variety of forms (from large research projects to attempts at awareness, undertaken in works of art) has been underway for a long time and not without success. A rich and useful experience has been accumulated.

However, this does not mean at all that at the moment there are no gaps in this issue. In this regard, the question naturally arises about the need for an aesthetic understanding of the phenomenon of totalitarianism of the 20th century and the features of the formation of an independent culture of the 20th century, since under totalitarianism in our state, even literature was classified into “corresponding”, and not “corresponding”, but “every classification is suppression method.

The purpose of this work is to consider the main provisions of culture in the period of totalitarianism.

To achieve this goal, we need to solve the following tasks:

1. Consider the concept and essence of totalitarianism;

2. Consider the main provisions of the socio-political culture in the period of totalitarianism.

1. The concept and essence of totalitarianism

In Soviet historiography, the problem of studying totalitarianism was practically not raised. The very terms "totalitarianism" and "totalitarian" before "perestroika" were criticized and practically not used. They began to be used only after “perestroika”, primarily to characterize fascist and pro-fascist regimes.

However, even this use of these terms was very episodic, preference was given to other formulations of "aggressive", "terrorist", "authoritarian", "dictatorial".

So in the "Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary" (1983), "totalitarianism" is presented as one of the forms of authoritarian bourgeois states, characterized by complete state control over the entire life of society.

We can agree with this interpretation, because until now, as rightly noted with reference to F. Furet, the prominent Russian researcher of totalitarianism V.I. Mikhailenko "the concept of totalitarianism is difficult to define."

At the same time, the scientist believes that attempts to explain high level consensus in totalitarian states by the regime's violence hardly seem convincing.

And a completely unconvincing, in our opinion, characterization of this phenomenon is contained in the Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary (1986), which states that “the concept of totalitarianism was used by bourgeois-liberal ideologists to critically assess the fascist dictatorship”, and also “is used by anti-communist propaganda with the aim of creating a false critique of socialist democracy.

Reassessment of methodological and ideological principles historical science after the collapse of the USSR and the weakening of the Marxist methodology of socio-political development, it made it possible to critically and objectively approach the legacy of the Soviet era and use the tools of other theories.

Totalitarianism is becoming a popular and studied problem. The period of criticism and condemnation of foreign concepts of totalitarianism was replaced by a period of intense interest in them. In a short time, more than a hundred books, articles and dissertations were written by Russian scientists. Modern Russian historiography has achieved significant results in the study of totalitarianism. The most mastered were the Anglo-American, German and Italian concepts and approaches in the study of totalitarianism. To date, special works have been written in Russia on the formation and evolution of the concept of totalitarianism in general, and in American historiography in particular. There are no special works on the chosen topic in Russian philosophy.

The concept of totalitarianism, developed by Western theorists M. Eastman, H. Arendt, R. Aron and others in the 30-50s. was picked up by scientists who had a decisive influence on the formation of real US policy (primarily such as National Security Adviser to the US President Z. Brzezinski and Harvard professor, one of the authors of the German constitution K. Friedrich) and actively used as a fundamental ideological strategy in " Cold War against the USSR: the identification of defeated European fascism with Soviet communism, while completely ignoring the fundamental differences between these regimes, pursued quite obvious political goals.

From the end of the 80s. the concept of totalitarianism is becoming extremely popular in Russian historical and socio-philosophical sciences. The concept of "totalitarianism" is beginning to be used as a key, all-explaining concept when describing Soviet period of Russian history, and in some studies of Russian culture as a whole: the ideological simulacrum became the point of identification in which the Soviet and post-Soviet society understood its integrity. At the same time, the liberal origin of the term "totalitarianism" was perceived as a kind of transcendent guarantor of meaning and scientific objectivity - only the other owns the genuine non-ideologized truth about ourselves.

A critical analysis of the definition of the essence of such an important category as totalitarianism in the works of foreign and Russian philosophers, sociologists and political scientists shows that its understanding is ambiguous.

Some authors attribute it to a certain type of state, dictatorship, political power, others - to the socio-political system, others - to a social system covering all spheres of public life, or to a certain ideology. Very often, totalitarianism is defined as a political regime that exercises comprehensive control over the population and relies on the systematic use of violence or its threat. This definition reflects the most important features of totalitarianism.

However, it is clearly not enough, because the concept of a political regime is too narrow in scope to cover the entire variety of manifestations of totalitarianism.

It seems that totalitarianism is a certain socio-political system, which is characterized by the violent political, economic and ideological domination of the bureaucratic party-state apparatus headed by the leader over society and the individual, the subordination of the entire social system to the dominant ideology and culture.

The essence of a totalitarian regime is that under it there is no place for the individual. In this definition, in our opinion, the essential characteristic of a totalitarian regime is given. It covers its entire socio-political system and its main link - the authoritarian-bureaucratic state, which is characterized by despotic features and exercises complete (total) control over all spheres of society.

Thus, totalitarianism, like any other political system, must be considered as a social system and political regime.

In the broad sense of the word, as a social system covering all spheres of public life, totalitarianism is a certain socio-political and socio-economic system, ideology, model of the "new man".

In the narrow sense of the word, as a political regime, it is one of the components of the political system, the way it functions, a set of elements of the ideological, institutional and social order contributing to the formation of political power. A comparative analysis of these two concepts indicates that they are of the same order, but not identical. At the same time, the political regime acts as the core of the social system, reflecting the diversity of manifestations of totalitarianism.

So, totalitarianism is one of the controversial concepts in science. In the spotlight political science is still the question of its comparability historical types. There are different opinions on this issue in our and foreign socio-political literature.

2. Socio-political culture in the period of totalitarianism

From the beginning of the 1930s, the establishment of Stalin's personality cult began in the country. The first "swallow" in this regard was the article by K.E. Voroshilov "Stalin and the Red Army", published in 1929 for the fiftieth anniversary of the Secretary General, in which, contrary to historical truth, his merits were exaggerated. Gradually, Stalin became the only and infallible theoretician of Marxism. IN public consciousness the image of a wise leader, the "father of peoples" was introduced.

In the 1930s and 1940s, Stalin’s personality cult finally took shape in the USSR and all real or imaginary opposition groups to the “general line of the party” were liquidated (in the late 1920s and early 1950s, trials were held: “Shakhty case” (saboteurs in industry), 1928; "Counterrevolutionary Labor Peasant Party" (A.V. Chayanov, N.D. Kondratiev); the trial of the Mensheviks, 1931, the case of "sabotage at power plants of the USSR", 1933; anti-Soviet Trotskyist organization in Krasnaya Army, 1937; Leningrad case, 1950; Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, 1952. The milestone events in the fight against the opposition in the 1930s were the defeat of Trotskyism, the "new opposition", the "Trotskyist-Zinoviev deviation" and the "right deviation".

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