4 ms·
Also because Poland was under Russian de facto occupation 1945-1989 and the Russians mass murdered any possible threats to their power (intellectuals, poets, pr
by mbarti 2y ago
Also because Poland was under Russian de facto occupation 1945-1989 and the Russians mass murdered any possible threats to their power (intellectuals, poets, professors, former army officers - 100s of thousands sent to labour/ death camps in Siberia, never to return).
- 48864w6ui 2y agoAnyone know why the Russian Formalists got the sparkling repressive power of the state? I had thought they were expressly apolitical, but maybe Stalin was paranoid?
- throwaway74354 2y agowiki article on the subject isn't bad. 1) Formalism was called Bourgeois Formalism by the state critics. Elitist art, opposite of what would become Socialist Realism. 2) If you click the names at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_formalism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_formalism , some of the biographies will lead you to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rootless_cosmopolitan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rootless_cosmopolitan . Being a Jew in the USSR was an additional risk. 3) Slightly later in history, but typical use of formalism-as-a-prejorative : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhdanov_Doctrine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhdanov_Doctrine tldr: young authoritarian states need enemies. Both internal and external. Repression of any form of dissent is a way to unite (or scare into submission) the masses. See also: "degenerative art" in Germany. Also being apolitical is a political statement. There's a good timeline of the 20s in Russian: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%8C%D0%B1%D0%B0_%D1%81_%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BC https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%8C%D0%B1...