Page 98 - Communism in Ambush

COMMUNISM IN AMBUSH
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In this new understanding of art, the concept of "aesthetics" was ab-
sent, even regarded as a dangerous bourgeois attachment. The esthetic
ideal was far removed from all pictures, statues, posters, interior decora-
tion and architectural design. The Encyclopedia Britannica says that an
"anti-estheticism" ruled Communist art, which became characterized by
a plethora of rough, dull and crude features.
In Stalin's time, this understanding of art became the even more
conservative official policy known as "Socialist Realism," described as
the view that art is dedicated to the 'realistic' representation of the prin-
ciples of the Soviet revolution (that is Communist ideology) in the daily
life of the proletariat. According to Socialist Realism, novels should de-
pict Communist militants as decisive, courageous and self-sacrificing,
describe their supposedly exemplary struggles, and show how happy
villagers and workers are, thanks to the revolution.
Artists of Socialist Realism had no compunction about depicting
the direct opposite of the truth—that the revolution did not bring the

A 1927 painting by Russian artist Aleksandr Deyneka entitled "The
Defense of Petrograd."