Ideological repression in the Soviet Union

Ideological repression in the Soviet Union targeted various worldviews and the corresponding categories of people.

Ideological repression in arts

Until the late 1920s, various forms of artistic expression were tolerated. However, an increase in the scope of Soviet political repression, marked by the first show trial, the Shakhty Trial, brought into the focus of Bolsheviks the question whether "bourgeois intelligentsia", including workers of culture and arts, can be loyal and trustworthy. As an early step was an instruction to the Russian Association of Proletarian Writers "to scourge and chastise [literature]" in the name of the Party", i.e., effectively encouraging censorship of literature on ideological grounds. Among the first targets were Yevgeny Zamiatin and Boris Pilnyak.[1]

Soon the concept of socialist realism was established, as the officially approved form of art, an instrument of propaganda, and the main touchstone of ideological censorship.

Repression of religion

This section is an excerpt from Religion in the Soviet Union.[edit]

Religion in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was dominated by the fact that it became the first state to have as one objective of its official ideology the elimination of existing religion, and the prevention of future implanting of religious belief, with the goal of establishing state atheism (gosateizm).[2][3][4][5] However, the main religions of pre-revolutionary Russia persisted throughout the entire Soviet period and religion was never officially outlawed. Christians belonged to various denominations: Orthodox (which had the largest number of followers), Catholic, Baptist and various other Protestant denominations. The majority of the Muslims in the Soviet Union were Sunni, with the notable exception of Azerbaijan, which was majority Shia. Judaism also had many followers. Other religions, practised by a small number of believers, included Buddhism and Shamanism.[6]

Ideological repression in science

Main article: Censorship of science in the Soviet Union

Certain scientific fields in the Soviet Union were suppressed after being labeled as ideologically suspect.[7][8] In some cases the consequences of ideological influences were dramatic. The suppression of research began during the Stalin era and continued, in softened forms, after his regime.[9] Leon Trotsky had defended Einstein's theory of relativity in Soviet intellectual circles but this became an anathema during the Stalin era and was only rehabilitated following the latter's death.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ Rudova, Larissa (1997). Understanding Boris Pasternak. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. p. 64. ISBN 1-57003-143-6.
  2. ^ Forced Secularization in Soviet Russia: Why an Atheistic Monopoly Failed
  3. ^ "Revelations from the Russian Archives: ANTI-RELIGIOUS CAMPAIGNS". Library of Congress. US Government. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  4. ^ Kowalewski, David (October 1980). "Protest for Religious Rights in the USSR: Characteristics and Consequences". Russian Review. 39 (4): 426–441. doi:10.2307/128810. JSTOR 128810.
  5. ^ Ramet, Sabrina Petra., ed. (1993). Religious Policy in the Soviet Union. Cambridge University Press. pp. 4. ISBN 9780521416436.
  6. ^ Chakars, Melissa (2014). The Socialist Way of Life in Siberia: Transformation in Buryatia. Central European University Press. p. 235. ISBN 9789633860144.
  7. ^ Loren R. Graham (2004) Science in Russia and the Soviet Union. A Short History. Series: Cambridge Studies in the History of Science. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-28789-0
  8. ^ Mark Walker (2002) Science and Ideology. A Comparative History. Series: Routledge Studies in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-27122-6
  9. ^ Graham, Loren R. (1972). Science and philosophy in the Soviet Union. New York: Knopf. ISBN 978-0-394-44387-4. OCLC 317632.
  10. ^ Deutscher, Isaac (5 January 2015). The Prophet: The Life of Leon Trotsky. Verso Books. p. 730. ISBN 978-1-78168-721-5.
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