Development of Soviet culture in the 30s. A manual on the history of the fatherland

1. The beginning of the “cultural revolution”

Immediately after the October revolution, the People's Commissariat of Education was created to manage the spiritual life of society, headed by Anatoly Vasilievich Lunacharsky. This department exercised control over education, political enlightenment, theaters, libraries, art, etc. Through this centralization, the Bolsheviks tried to “educate” a new man in the spirit of Marxism. On the other hand, the poorest segments of the population gained access to cultural values. The Russian intelligentsia split into three branches: some actively did not accept Bolshevism, others were its supporters, and others took a neutral position. WITH 1918 The Bolsheviks began to actively attract the old intelligentsia to work for the new government.

2. Culture in the 20s

WITH 1922 Bolshevism began to fight against all non-Bolshevik movements. Newspapers of other parties were closed, access to education for people from non-proletarian classes was limited, and persecution of religion began. WITH 1922 all printed publications began to be censored. IN August 1922 about 160 leading professors were expelled from the USSR.

IN 1919 was accepted decree on the elimination of illiteracy. For this purpose, they were created educational programs, where they taught reading and writing. In schools, great importance was attached to the study of Marxism. Teaching history was prohibited until the end of the 1920s.

The literary and artistic life of the early 20s was different big amount creative trends. By the end of the 20s, all writers, artists and musicians were united in trade unions. Through these unions they received salaries and were supposed to glorify Soviet power. Expulsion from the union meant starvation. Undesirable figures were persecuted through newspapers, prohibited from publishing their works, and organizing exhibitions.

Despite ideological pressure, in the 20s the film “ Battleship Potemkin"(dir. S. Eisenstein), creativity began M. Bulgakova.

3. Culture in the 30s

In the 30s, a radical eradication of the old intelligentsia began, who weakly criticized Bolshevism for its economic and ideological activities. They were fired from their jobs and sent to camps. Pre-revolutionary books were confiscated from libraries and churches were destroyed. Became the official historian M. Pokrovsky.

Since 1930, universal compulsory elementary education . By 1939, 89% of the country's population could read and write.

The works of Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, L. Tolstoy, A. Gorky were published in large editions. The first sound films appeared: “ Chapaev"(dir. Vasiliev Brothers). Directors worked in the theater K. Stanislavsky And V. Nemirovich-Danchenko. Leading composers were Shestakovich And Prokofiev, sculptors - V. Mukhina.

International Slavic Institute

Kaliningrad branch

Faculty of Economics and Entrepreneurship Organization

Essay

By discipline: Cultural studies

Subject: USSR culture

Completed: 1st year student

group: 09-UE

speciality: Finance and credit

Ushakov Mikhail Vasilievich

Scientific adviser: K.F.N.

Burdeyny Vladislav Vladimirovich

Kaliningrad

Introduction ................................................................................................................... 3

1. Culture in the USSR in the 20s………………………………………………………....................……..4

2. Cultural development of the USSR in the 30s............................................ ......................... 5

3. Culture of the USSR during the Great Years Patriotic War and post-war

period………………………………………………………………………………...7

4. Culture during the “thaw”.................................................. ................................. 9

5. Culture of the period of stagnation………………………………………………….………..11

6. Cultural life in the USSR in 1985-1991…………………………………………..14

Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………….18

Bibliography

1. Culture in the USSR in the 20s

The October Revolution had a huge impact on the development of art. The literary process of the first years of Soviet power is distinguished by great complexity and versatility. The leading sphere of development of literature in the 20s. undoubtedly is poetry. S.A. became a remarkable, truly global phenomenon in culture. Yesenin and A.A. Akhmatova.

Highest value for the development of literature there were associations RAPP ( Russian Association proletarian writers), "The Pass", "Serapion's Brothers" and LEF (Left Front of the Arts).

A lot of interesting things were created in the 20s. prose writers. Modernist tendencies in literature manifested themselves in the work of E. I. Zamyatin, the author of the dystopian science fiction novel “We” (1924).

Satirical literature of the 20s. presented by stories by M. Zoshchenko; novels by co-authors I. Ilf (I. A. Fainzilberg) and E. Petrov (E. P. Kataev) “The Twelve Chairs” (1928) and “The Golden Calf” (1931), etc.

In the 20s Russian fine art is experiencing a flourishing period. Revolutionary upheavals, civil war, the fight against hunger and devastation, which, it would seem, should have reduced activity artistic creativity, in fact, gave him a new impetus.

Constructivism became the dominant style in the architecture of the 20s. In the West, the principles of constructivism were developed by the famous architect Le Corbusier. Constructivists tried to use new technical capabilities to create simple, logical, functionally justified forms and expedient structures.

One of the most important and interesting phenomena in the cultural history of the 20s. was the beginning of the development of Soviet cinema. Lenin understood its enormous potential to influence the broad masses of the people: “The most important of the arts for us is cinema,” he wrote. Documentary filmmaking is developing, becoming one of the most effective tools of ideological struggle and agitation.

2. Cultural development of the USSR in the 30s

The years of Soviet power significantly changed the face of Russia. The changes that have occurred cannot be assessed unambiguously. On the one hand, one cannot help but admit that during the years of the revolution and after it, great damage was done to culture: many prominent writers, artists, and scientists were forced to leave the country or died. Architectural monuments were destroyed: only in the 30s. In Moscow, the Sukharev Tower, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and many others were destroyed.

At the same time, significant progress has been made in many areas of cultural development. These primarily include the sphere of education. The systematic efforts of the Soviet state led to the fact that the proportion of the literate population in Russia grew steadily. By 1939, the number of literate people in the RSFSR was already 89 percent.

The situation in the literature has changed significantly. In the early 30s. The existence of free creative circles and groups came to an end. By the resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of April 23, 1932 “On the restructuring of literary and artistic organizations,” RAPP was liquidated. And in 1934, at the First All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers, the “Union of Writers” was organized, which all people engaged in literary work were forced to join. The Writers' Union has become an instrument of total government control over the creative process. In addition to the “Union of Writers”, other “creative” unions were organized: “Union of Artists”, “Union of Architects”, “Union of Composers”. A period of uniformity was beginning in Soviet art.

Having carried out organizational unification, the Stalinist regime set about stylistic and ideological unification. In 1936, a “discussion about formalism” began. During the “discussion”, through harsh criticism, the persecution of those representatives of the creative intelligentsia began, whose aesthetic principles differed from “socialist realism”, which was becoming generally binding. Essentially, the “fight against formalism” had the goal of destroying all those whose talent was not put to the service of power. Many artists were repressed.

The defining style in literature, painting and other forms of art was the so-called “socialist realism”. This style had little in common with true realism. Despite the external “liveness”, he did not reflect reality in its present form, but sought to pass off as reality what should only have been from the point of view of official ideology. The function of educating society within the strictly defined framework of communist morality was imposed on art. Labor enthusiasm, universal devotion to the ideas of Lenin-Stalin, Bolshevik adherence to principles - this is how the heroes of the works of official art of that time lived. The reality was much more complex and generally far from the proclaimed ideal.

The limited ideological framework of socialist realism became a significant obstacle to the development of Soviet literature. Nevertheless, in the 30s. Several major works appeared that entered the history of Russian culture. Perhaps the most important figure in the official literature of those years was Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov (1905–1984). Remaining, at least outwardly, within the boundaries of socialist realism, Sholokhov managed to create a three-dimensional picture of the events that took place, to show the tragedy of fratricidal hostility among the Cossacks that unfolded on the Don in the post-revolutionary years. Sholokhov was favored by Soviet criticism. His literary work was awarded the State and Lenin Prizes, he was twice awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor, he was elected academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Despite ideological dictatorship and total control, free literature continued to develop. Under the threat of repression, under the fire of loyal criticism, without hope of publication, writers who did not want to cripple their work for the sake of Stalinist propaganda continued to work. Many of them never saw their works published; this happened after their death.

In the 30s The Soviet Union is gradually beginning to isolate itself from the rest of the world, contacts with foreign countries are being minimized, and the penetration of any information “from there” is being placed under the strictest control. Behind the “Iron Curtain” there are many Russian writers who, despite the lack of a readership, the unsettled life, and spiritual breakdown, continue to work.

The 1930s turned out to be difficult for Russian science. On the one hand, large-scale research programs are being launched in the USSR, and new research institutes are being created. At the same time, Stalin's totalitarianism created serious obstacles to the normal development of scientific knowledge. The autonomy of the Academy of Sciences was eliminated.

The repressions caused heavy damage to the country's intellectual potential. The old pre-revolutionary intelligentsia, most of whose representatives conscientiously served the Soviet state, suffered especially hard. As a result of falsified revelations of a number of “sabotage counter-revolutionary organizations” (“Shakhtinsky Affair”, the “Industrial Party” trial) the masses were inflamed with distrust and suspicion towards representatives of the intelligentsia, which as a result made it easier to deal with undesirables and extinguished any manifestation of free thought. In the social sciences, " Short course history of the CPSU (b)", published in 1938 under the editorship of I.V. Stalin. As a justification for mass repression, the idea was put forward that the class struggle would inevitably intensify as we move towards building socialism. The history of the party and the revolutionary movement was distorted: on the pages scientific works and periodicals extolled the non-existent merits of the Leader. The personality cult of Stalin was established in the country.

3. Culture of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War

war and post-war period

The most important task of the Soviet government after the war in the field of culture was the restoration of the education sector. The losses were enormous: school and university buildings were destroyed, teachers were killed, libraries, museums, etc. were destroyed. Large funds were allocated from the budget for education. The whole country joined the cause of restoring school education. A large number of new school buildings were built using the vernacular construction method. In 1946, the All-Union Committee for Higher Education Affairs was transformed into the Ministry of Higher Education of the USSR.

Additional investments also went into science. IN short term The material base of scientific institutions was restored. New research institutes were opened, even new Academies of Sciences were created in Kazakhstan, Latvia and Estonia. However, the brutal dictates of non-professional officials continued to dominate the attitude of the authorities towards science.

The Great Patriotic War, which became the greatest test for the Soviet people, awakened in people best qualities. The end of the war was accompanied by optimistic sentiments. The people who defeated fascism and liberated the world from it felt the strength and right to freedom and decent life. Weakening the regime, however, was not part of the plans of the party and state elite. Hence a new round of repression and a deep crisis that gripped Russian culture at the end of the Stalin era.

Opportunities for the development of many promising areas of research continued to be closed. The state cynically exploited the work of scientists convicted of allegedly anti-Soviet activities. They were kept in special zones, “sharashkas,” where they served their sentences and worked for free on scientific problems, the solution of which was of great defensive importance.

Even more destructive was the pressure of the party-state press for the humanities. During the post-war decade, achievements in this area were very small. The scientific community was shaken by one campaign after another: the campaign against formalism was replaced by a campaign against “cosmopolitanism and sycophancy to the West.” Rejection of the achievements of Western culture has become the official position. The main goal of this campaign was to erect an ideological wall between the USSR and the West. Many artists and cultural figures, whose work was alien to narrow patriotic obscurantism, were persecuted. A careless statement that contradicts the implanted dogmas could cost a person not only his job and freedom, but also his life. In addition, the anti-Semitic component was strong in the campaign against cosmopolitanism.

Socialist realism still reigned supreme in literature, painting and sculpture.

The main task of the architects was to restore what was destroyed by the war. Stalingrad, Kyiv, Minsk, Novgorod had to be rebuilt almost anew. Stylistically, neoclassical “Stalinist Empire” continues to dominate. In Moscow, famous high-rise buildings topped with spiers are being built, in which the traditions of ancient architecture are intertwined with elements of ancient Russian. The most successful building is considered to be the building of Moscow University on Vorobyovy Gory.

4. Culture during the “thaw” period

The exposure of Stalin's personality cult, which occurred at the 20th Congress of the CPSU in 1956, marked the beginning of a new period in the life of the country. The democratic transformations that began after the congress and the general liberalization of public life were, however, half-hearted. Lacking the political will to complete what was started, the initiator of this process, First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee N.S. Khrushchev, himself eventually became a victim of the revenge of the conservative elements of the administrative-command system. Stalin's totalitarianism returned in the guise of Brezhnev's “stagnation.” The Khrushchev era, a brief period of relative freedom, was called the “Thaw.”

The significant, albeit temporary, weakening of totalitarian state control and the general democratization of methods of managing culture significantly revived the creative process. Literature responded first and most vividly to the changing situation. Great importance had the rehabilitation of some cultural figures repressed under Stalin.

However, complete freedom of creativity during the “thaw” years was far from complete. Relapses into Stalin's methods of treating cultural figures occurred periodically. In criticism, accusations of “formalism” and “alienity” were still heard from time to time against many famous writers: A. A. Voznesensky, D. A. Granin, V. D. Dudintsev. Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (1890–1960) was subjected to severe persecution. Pasternak was accused of being anti-national and contempt for the “common man.” To top it all off, he was expelled from the USSR Writers' Union.

In the 50s “samizdat” arose - this was the name of typewritten magazines (for example, the magazine “Syntax”), in which young writers and poets who had no hope of publication in official publications published their works.

The renewal processes also affected the fine arts. Realism is being interpreted by artists in a new way. The sixties were the time of formation of the so-called “severe style” in Soviet painting.

Sculptors are working to create memorial complexes dedicated to the Great Patriotic War. In the 60s a monument-ensemble to the heroes was erected Battle of Stalingrad on the Mamayev Kurgan (1963–1967, sculptor E. V. Vuchetich), a memorial at the Piskarevsky cemetery in St. Petersburg (1960, sculptors V. Isaeva, R. Taurit), etc.

The theater is developing. New theater groups are being created. Among the new theaters that emerged during the “thaw”, we should note the Sovremennik founded in 1957 (chief director O. N. Efremov) and the Taganka Drama and Comedy Theater (1964, chief director Yu. P. Lyubimov, from 1964 until the end of his days, V.S. Vysotsky was an actor of the Taganka Theater).

Serious reforms were carried out in the field of education. In 1958, the law “On strengthening the connection between school and life and on the further development of the public education system in the USSR” was adopted. This law marked the beginning of school reform, which included the introduction of compulsory 8-year education (instead of 7-year). Considerable successes have been achieved in the field of education: in the 1958–59 academic year, USSR universities graduated 3 times more engineers than the United States.

Great successes in the late 50s and early 60s. achieved by Soviet scientists. Physics was at the forefront of the development of science, becoming in the minds of people of that era a symbol of scientific and technological progress and the triumph of reason. The works of Soviet physicists gained worldwide fame. Under the leadership of the scientist and designer S.P. Korolev, rocketry was developed. In 1957, the world's first artificial satellite, and on April 12, 1961, Yu. A. Gagarin made the first flight into space in the history of mankind.

5. Culture of stagnation

The stagnation that gradually engulfed socio-political and economic life in the USSR after the end of Khrushchev’s brief “thaw” also affected culture. Soviet culture under L.I. Brezhnev developed largely according to the inertia given to it by the previous period. This is not to say that there were no achievements, but most of them have their roots in that brief period of relative creative freedom that resulted from the 20th Congress. Quantitative indicators grew, but little bright and new was created.

In the 70s, the division of culture into official and “underground”, not recognized by the state, was becoming more and more clearly visible. During the Stalin years, a culture not recognized by the state could not exist, and objectionable figures were simply destroyed. Now that the Soviet people had a great school of fear behind them, such crude methods could be avoided. Most talented poets, writers, artists, and directors, as a rule, found themselves in the border space between official and unofficial culture. Therefore, a small hint was enough, and publishing houses stopped accepting manuscripts, performances were removed from the repertoire, and films were shelved. It was possible not to shoot, but to force him to go abroad and then declare him a traitor. Even prominent, honored artists felt the pressure of the so-called “artistic councils”, which decided what might be necessary and understandable to the Soviet audience and what not.

Among the writers whose work did not cause a negative reaction from the state and whose works were widely published, Yu. V. Trifonov, V. I. Belov, V. P. Astafiev enjoyed the greatest reader interest.

However, not all writers had the opportunity to freely publish their works. Much of what was written during the years of “stagnation” was published only during the era of “Perestroika”. The only way to reach the reader completely freely, without any censorship (though only to a narrow circle of initiates) was “samizdat.” The works of A.I. were distributed throughout the country in lists and typewritten copies. Solzhenitsyn.

The Leningrad poet I.A. also had to leave. Brodsky. There were no political motives in his poems, nevertheless, Brodsky’s work and his very personality irritated official circles no less than Solzhenitsyn.

Forced emigration awaited many representatives of the creative intelligentsia. Writers V. Aksenov, V. Voinovich, poet N. Korzhavin, bard A. Galich, director of the Taganka Theater Y. Lyubimov, artist M. Shemyakin, sculptor E. I. Neizvestny had to leave the country. The creativity of the “second wave” of emigration continued the traditions of the culture of the Russian diaspora, which arose after October revolution, creating a special page for it.

The policy of governing painting was also based on a balance of unmotivated prohibitions and temporary relaxations. So, on September 15, 1974, an exhibition of 24 avant-garde artists was destroyed in Moscow (“bulldozer exhibition”), but already at the end of September, seeing that this event caused a great public outcry, the official authorities allowed another exhibition to be held, in which they accepted participation of the same avant-garde artists. Long years of the dominance of socialist realism in painting led to the degradation of the taste and artistic culture of the mass Soviet audience, who were unable to perceive anything more complex than a literal copy of reality.

Cinema is developing rapidly. Literary classics are being filmed. An epoch-making phenomenon in the development of Russian cinema was the monumental film by S.F. Bondarchuk "War and Peace".

Pop music played a huge role in the cultural life of Soviet people. Western rock culture gradually seeped out from under the Iron Curtain, influencing Soviet popular music. A sign of the times was the appearance of “via” - vocal and instrumental ensembles (“Gems”, “Pesnyary”, “Time Machine”, etc.).

Tape recordings became a kind of musical and poetic “samizdat”. The widespread use of tape recorders predetermined the widespread dissemination of bard songs (by V. Vysotsky, B. Okudzhava, Yu. Vizbor), which was seen as an alternative to official culture.

The most important achievement of the Soviet school was the transition to universal secondary education, completed by 1975. Ninety-six percent of Soviet youth entered life having completed a full course high school or a special educational institution (vocational school, technical school), where they entered after the eighth grade and where, along with training in a profession, compulsory completion of general education subjects was provided for in the amount of a complete secondary ten-year education.

Quantitative indicators are growing in higher education: the number of students and higher education is increasing educational institutions. In the early 70s, a transformation company takes place pedagogical institutes in autonomous republics, territories and regions to universities. By 1985, there were 69 universities in the USSR.

The successes of domestic science were concentrated mainly in the field basic research: Soviet physicists and chemists still occupy leading positions in the world; the Soviet Union still holds the leadership in space exploration. At the same time, the lack of interest of industry representatives in intensifying production led to the fact that all the brilliant achievements of scientific and engineering thought did not find practical application in the national economy. Applied fields of science developed poorly: the Soviet Union remained far behind developed countries in the development of computer technology.

6. Cultural life in the USSR in 1985–1991

The era of Perestroika refers to those periods national history, for which the significance of the processes taking place in culture is especially great. M. S. Gorbachev began his reforms precisely in the sphere of social and cultural life. One of the first slogans of the new era was “Glasnost”, which was conceived as a revival and modernization of state ideology, and although from the very beginning it was emphasized that it had nothing to do with “bourgeois freedom of speech”, but to keep the process that had begun under state and party control failed. An open discussion of issues that previously, in the era of total control, were discussed only secretly “in kitchens” began everywhere.

Glasnost, which opened up Soviet man the full depth of the crisis into which the country fell, and which raised the question of ways for further development to society, aroused enormous interest in history. There was a rapid process of restoration of those pages that were suppressed in Soviet time. In them people looked for answers to questions posed by life.

"Fat" literary magazines published literary works previously unknown to the general Soviet reader, recollections of eyewitnesses and memoirs representing A New Look to historical truth. Thanks to this, their circulation increased sharply, and subscriptions to the most popular of them (“Neva”, “ New world", "Youth") fell into the category of acute shortage and were distributed “according to the limit,” i.e., in a limited number.

Over the course of several years, novels by A. I. Solzhenitsyn, Yu. Dombrovsky, E. I. Zamyatin, B. L. Pasternak, M. A. Bulgakov, V. V. Nabokov were published in magazines and separate editions. On the theatrical stage, journalistic drama takes on decisive significance. Works that touched upon the theme of Stalinism and Stalinist repressions caused a particular public resonance.

A similar situation was observed in other forms of art. There was an intensive process of “returning” the creative heritage of artists who were previously under an ideological ban. Spectators were able to once again see the works of artists P. Filonov, K. Malevich, V. Kandinsky. The work of A. Schnittke and M. Rostropovich was returned to the musical culture, representatives of the musical “underground” appeared on the wide stage: the groups “Nautilus”, “Aquarium”, “Kino”, etc.

Artistic analysis of the phenomenon of Stalinism became the determining direction in the work of writers, musicians and artists who worked directly during the years of Perestroika. A notable phenomenon in the literature of the Perestroika era, a kind of bestseller, was the novel by A. N. Rybakov “Children of the Arbat” (1987), in which the era of the cult of personality is recreated through the prism of the fate of the generation of the 30s.

Little of what was created in that critical era has stood the test of time. IN fine arts The “spirit of the times” was reflected in the very mediocre and sketchy paintings of I. S. Glazunov (“Eternal Russia” 1988). The poster is becoming a popular genre again, as has always happened at critical moments in history.

In the artistic and documentary cinema of the perestroika years, a number of wonderful films appeared, in tune with the era: “Repentance” by T. Abuladze, “Is It Easy to Be Young” by Y. Podnieks, “You Can’t Live Like This” by S. Govorukhin, “Tomorrow there was a war” by Y. Kara, "Cold summer of '53") At the same time, in addition to serious, deep films filled with reflections on the fate of the country, its history, many very weak films were shot, the authors of which tried to ensure audience interest through a deliberately gloomy image social reality. Such films were designed for scandalous popularity; their image system was built in contrast with traditional Soviet cinema, in which it was customary to avoid excessive naturalism, sex scenes and other vulgar techniques. Such films are colloquially called “chernukhas” (“Little Vera” directed by V. Pichul).

Journalism has acquired a huge role in cultural and social life. Articles were published in the magazines “Znamya”, “New World”, “Ogonyok”, and in “Literaturnaya Gazeta”.

However, television journalistic programs such as “Vzglyad”, “The Twelfth Floor”, “Before and After Midnight”, “600 Seconds” had the widest audience.

The results of Perestroika in the field of education are ambiguous. On the one hand, glasnost revealed serious shortcomings in secondary and higher schools: the material and technical base was weak, school and university programs and textbooks were far behind the times, clearly outdated, which means traditional principles were ineffective educational work(subbotniks, pioneer rallies, Timurov’s detachments). Thus, the need for immediate reforms became apparent.

On the other hand, attempts to correct the current situation often only led to a deterioration in the quality of the educational process. Refusing to use old educational literature, schools found themselves either without textbooks at all, or were forced to use very of dubious quality new. Introduction of new subjects into school courses (such as “Ethics and Psychology” family life", "Informatics") turned out to be unprepared: there were no qualified teachers ready to teach new disciplines, no technical capabilities, no educational literature. The outdated pioneer and Komsomol organizations were finally abolished, but nothing new was created in their place - the younger generation dropped out of the educational process. In most cases, the “reforms” came down to changing names: in en masse ordinary secondary schools, vocational schools and technical schools began to call themselves gymnasiums, lyceums, colleges and even academies. The essence did not change with the change in signage. Attempts to create a flexible education system that meets the needs of the time were met with the inertia of a significant part of the teaching staff and a lack of funds.

The sphere of higher education, in addition to problems common to the entire system of public education, is faced with the problem of a shortage of teachers, many of whom left universities for commercial firms or went abroad.

The problem of “brain drain” has become even more relevant for science. While research in applied fields is noticeably invigorated during the years of Perestroika, fundamental science, which for decades has been a source of national pride, is inevitably heading towards decline, the reasons for which were difficulties with financing, a decline in prestige and a loss of understanding of the social significance of the work of a scientist in society.

In general, the cultural consequences of Perestroika are still awaiting assessment. It is quite obvious that along with the undoubted positive effect that democratization brought (the discovery of the heritage of writers, artists and musicians whose work had been suppressed, the general revival of cultural life), one cannot help but notice the negative consequences of not fully thought-out reforms (the deepening crisis in the education system, the decline fundamental science).

Despite all the objective disadvantages, the USSR became a powerful power that forced the entire world community to reckon with itself, and in this we see the continuation of the traditions of Yaroslav the Wise, Peter the Great, Catherine the Great and other rulers who, with all their deeds and thoughts, stood up for the greatness of Russia. We have become a country with one hundred percent literacy, the most widely read, and this series can be continued for a long time - the question is how to look at it. The main thing that you need to understand and understand for yourself is that you cannot simply cross out this complex and contradictory period of Russian cultural history, no matter what the foundations on which it was built.

Bibliography

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Since the late 1920s, government authorities have increased control over the development of the spiritual life of society. There have been changes in the structure of cultural management bodies. Management of its individual branches was transferred to specialized committees (for higher education, radio communications and broadcasting, etc.). A. S. Bubnov, who had previously held a leadership position in the Red Army system, was appointed the new People's Commissar of Education. Prospects for the development of culture began to be determined by five-year national economic plans. Discussions on issues of cultural construction took place at congresses and plenums of the Party Central Committee. In the activities of party and state bodies, a large place was occupied by work aimed at overcoming bourgeois ideology and establishing Marxism in the minds of people. the main role in the unfolding socio-political struggle, it was assigned to the social sciences, the press, literature and art.

The resolutions of the Party Central Committee “On the journal “Under the Banner of Marxism”” and “On the work of the Comacademy” (1931) outlined the tasks and main directions for the development of social sciences. They were required to overcome the gap between science and the practice of socialist construction. The resolutions formulated the thesis about “the intensification of the class struggle on the theoretical front.” Following this, the search for “class enemies” began on the “historical front”, on the musical and literary “fronts”. Historians E.V. Tarle and S.F. Platonov, literary critic D.S. Likhachev were accused of “counter-revolutionary sabotage.” In the 30s, many talented writers, poets, and artists were repressed (P. N. Vasiliev, O. E. Mandelstam, etc.).

The transfer of forms and methods of class struggle into the sphere of culture had negative impact on the spiritual life of society.

Education and science

During the pre-war five-year plans, work continued to eliminate illiteracy and illiteracy, to increase cultural level Soviet people. A unified plan for teaching reading and writing to the adult illiterate population was drawn up.

1930 was an important milestone in the work aimed at transforming the USSR into a literate country. Compulsory universal primary (four-grade) education was introduced. Significant funds were allocated for school construction. During the Second Five-Year Plan alone, over 3.6 thousand new schools were opened in cities and workers’ settlements. More than 15 thousand schools began operating in rural areas.

The tasks of the country's industrial development required an increasing number of literate and qualified personnel. At the same time, the educational level of workers was low: the average duration of their schooling was 3.5 years. The percentage of illiterate workers reached almost 14%. There is a gap between the general educational training of workers, the level of their general culture and needs National economy. To improve personnel training, a network of industrial training was created: technical schools, courses and clubs to improve technical literacy.

Measures were taken to develop the system of specialized secondary and higher education. Restrictions on “class alien elements” when entering universities were abolished. Worker faculties were liquidated. The network of higher educational institutions has expanded. By the beginning of the 1940s, there were 4.6 thousand universities in the country. The implementation of national economic development plans required an increase in the training of specialists for all sectors of the economy. During the period from 1928 to 1940, the number of specialists with higher education increased from 233 thousand to 909 thousand, with secondary special education - from 288 thousand to 1.5 million.

One of the features public consciousness The 30s, reflected in the development of higher and secondary schools, was the understanding of their time as a certain stage in national history. The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks adopted a resolution on the teaching of civil history in schools (1934). On its basis, the history departments at Moscow and Leningrad universities were restored. Another resolution concerned the preparation of history textbooks.

Work continued on the creation of research centers, and industrial science developed. The Institutes of Organic Chemistry, Geophysics, and the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences named after V.I. Lenin (VASKhNIL). Research was carried out on problems of microphysics (P. L. Kapitsa), semiconductor physics (A. F. Ioffe), and the atomic nucleus (I. V. Kurchatov, G. N. Flerov, A. I. Alikhanov, etc.). The work of K. E. Tsiolkovsky in the field of rocketry became the scientific basis for the creation of the first experimental rockets. The research of the chemist S.V. Lebedev made it possible to organize an industrial method for producing synthetic rubber. Shortly before the start of the Great Patriotic War, methods for protecting ships from magnetic mines were created under the leadership of A.P. Alexandrov.

Branches of the USSR Academy of Sciences and research institutes were created in the regions of the RSFSR and union republics. In the second half of the 30s, over 850 research institutes and their branches operated in the country.

Artistic life

Starting from the second half of the 20s, literature and art were considered as one of the means of communist enlightenment and education of the masses. This is precisely what explained the intensification of the fight against “counter-revolutionary” ideas and “bourgeois theories” in the sphere of artistic life.

In the second half of the 20s, the number of literary associations increased. The groups “Pereval”, “Lef” (Left Front of Art), the All-Russian Union of Writers, and the Union of Peasant Writers were active. Literary Center of Constructivists (LCC), etc. They held their own congresses and had press organs.

Several of the largest literary groups formed the Federation of United Soviet Writers (FOSP). One of its goals was to promote the construction of a socialist society. In the literature of these years, the theme of labor developed. In particular, the novels by F. V. Gladkov “Cement” and F. I. Panferov “Badgers”, essays by K. G. Paustovsky “Kara-Bugaz” and “Colchis” were published.

In 1932, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks adopted a resolution “On the restructuring of literary and artistic organizations.” In accordance with it, all literary groups were abolished. Writers and poets united into a single creative union (it numbered 2.5 thousand people). In August 1934, the First All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers took place. A. M. Gorky gave a report on the tasks of literature. Following the all-union, writers' congresses were held and writers' unions were created in some union republics. Among the leaders of the USSR joint venture in the 30s were A. M. Gorky and A. A. Fadeev. The Union of Soviet Composers was created. With the emergence of creative unions, the relative freedom of artistic creativity was eliminated. Issues of literature and art were discussed on the pages of newspapers as matters of fundamental importance. Socialist realism, the most important principle of which was partisanship, became the main creative method of literature and art.

The regulation of artistic creativity restrained, but did not stop, the development of literature, painting, theater and music. The musical culture of these years was represented by the works of D. D. Shostakovich (operas “The Nose” and “Katerina Izmailova”), S. S. Prokofiev (opera “Semyon Kotko”) and others.

At the turn of the 20s and 30s, a new generation of poets and composers came to literature and art. Many of them participated in the development song creativity. The authors of the songs were poets V.I. Lebedev-Kumach, M.V. Isakovsky, A.A-Prokofiev. Composers I. O. Dunaevsky, the Pokrass brothers, and A. V. Alexandrov worked in the song genre. In the 30s, the poetry of A. A. Akhmatova, B. L. Pasternak, K. M. Simonov, V. A. Lugovsky, N. S. Tikhonov, B. P. Kornilov, A. A. Prokofiev received wide recognition . The best traditions of Russian poetry were continued in their work by P. N. Vasiliev (poems “Christolyubov’s Calicoes” and “Salt Riot”) and A. T. Tvardovsky (poem “Country of Ant”). The works of A. N. Tolstoy and A. A. Fadeev became a noticeable phenomenon in literary life.

Interest in the cultural and historical past of the country has increased. In 1937, the centenary of the death of A.S. Pushkin was solemnly celebrated. Films on historical topics(“Alexander Nevsky” directed by S. M. Eisenstein, “Peter the Great” by V. M. Petrov, “Suvorov” by V. I. Pudovkin, etc.). The theatrical art has achieved significant success. The theaters' repertoire has firmly established works of domestic and foreign classics, plays by Soviet playwrights (N.F. Pogodin, N.R. Erdman, etc.). Immortal creations were created by artists P. D. Korin and M. V. Nesterov, R. R. Falk and P. N. Filonov.

The industrialization of the late 20s and early 30s contributed to the development of mass urban planning and the formation of Soviet architecture. Near the factories, workers' settlements with a system of cultural and community services, schools and child care facilities were built. Palaces of culture, workers' clubs and health resorts were built. Architects I.V. Zholtovsky, I.A. Fomin, A.V. Shchusev, and the Vesnin brothers took part in their design. Architects sought to create new architectural forms that would meet the challenges of building a new society. The result of the search for new means of expression were public buildings, the appearance of which either resembled a giant gear - the Rusakov House of Culture in Moscow (architect K. S. Melnikov), or a five-pointed star - the theater of the Red (now Russian) Army in Moscow (architects K. S. Alabyan and V.N. Simbirtsev).

Work on the reconstruction of Moscow, the capital of the USSR, and other industrial centers acquired a wide scope. The desire to create cities of a new way of life, garden cities, led in many cases to great losses. During construction work, the most valuable historical and cultural monuments (Sukharev Tower and the Red Gate in Moscow, numerous churches, etc.) were destroyed.

Russian abroad

An integral part of the national culture of the 20-30s is the creativity of representatives of the artistic and scientific intelligentsia who found themselves abroad. By the end of the Civil War, the number of emigrants from Soviet Russia reached 1.5 million people. In subsequent years, emigration continued. Almost 2/3 of the total number of people who left Russia settled in France, Germany and Poland. Many emigrants settled in the countries of Northern and South America, in Australia. Cut off from their homeland, they sought to preserve their cultural traditions. Several Russian publishing houses were founded abroad. In Paris, Bernina, Prague and some other cities, newspapers and magazines were published in Russian. Books by I. A. Bunin, M. I. Tsvetaeva, V. F. Khodasevich, I. V. Odoevtseva, G. V. Ivanov were published.

Many prominent scientists and philosophers ended up in exile. Being far from their homeland, they tried to comprehend the place and role of Russia in the history and culture of mankind. N. S. Trubetskoy, L. P. Karsavin and others became the founders of the Eurasian movement. The program document of the Eurasians “Exodus to the East” spoke of Russia’s belonging to two cultures and two worlds - Europe and Asia. Due to the special geopolitical situation, they believed. Russia (Eurasia) represented a special historical and cultural community, distinct from both the East and the West. One of the scientific centers of Russian emigration was the Economic Cabinet of S. N. Prokopovich. The economists who united around him analyzed socio-economic processes in Soviet Russia in the 1920s and published scientific works on this topic.

Many representatives of the emigration returned to their homeland in the late 30s. Others remained abroad, and their work became known in Russia only several decades later.

The results of fundamental changes in cultural sphere were ambiguous. As a result of these transformations, lasting values ​​were created in the field of spiritual and material culture. The population's literacy has increased and the number of specialists has increased. And at the same time, ideological pressure on social life, regulation of artistic creativity had a heavy impact on the development of all spheres of culture.

Education

30s - one of the most controversial periods in the history of not only the political, economic, but also cultural development of the Soviet state. In the field of education, first of all, the fight against illiteracy continued. Universal compulsory primary education throughout the country was implemented by the end of the second Five-Year Plan (1937). In 1937, universal compulsory seven-year (incomplete secondary) education was introduced in cities, and in 1939 the task of transition to universal secondary education (ten years) was set. However, education in high school became paid in 1940 (300 rubles per year). This switched the interest of most urban youth from secondary school to vocational schools and factory training schools (FZO), which prepared personnel reserves of qualified labor.

In the early 30s the dominant one in the 20s was rejected. theory of the withering away of the school. Universal education was accompanied by a serious reform of primary and secondary schools, a turn to the traditions of the pre-revolutionary school with its fundamental knowledge. Schools introduced a strictly defined schedule of classes and strict regulation of the educational and social work of schoolchildren. The main form of organizing the educational process was the lesson. Instead of “loose books,” stable textbooks on the basics of science were introduced. But, as in the 20s, they tried to bring training closer to production. Most schoolchildren drove community service within the framework of pioneering and Komsomol organizations. In 1934, by decree of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, the teaching of history in schools was restored, and history departments were opened at Moscow and Leningrad universities, training highly qualified historian teachers.

In higher education since 1932, emphasis has been placed on the quality and fundamentality of specialist training. Entrance examinations to universities were restored, the brigade-laboratory method of teaching was replaced by lectures and seminars, and collective responsibility for the quality of studies was replaced by individual responsibility. Party mobilizations for studying at universities (Party thousand members), reservation of places for women, social restrictions on admission to universities and; finally, the famous workers' faculties. To increase the responsibility and role of teachers in educational process The Council of People's Commissars established academic degrees and titles in 1934.

The science

In the 1930s, main feature the development of science has become a sharp turn towards the needs economic development countries. As before, the main scientific center of the country was the USSR Academy of Sciences, whose branches began to be created in the capitals of the union republics in 1932. More than a thousand research institutes of the USSR Academy of Sciences and economic people's commissariats developed the main scientific and technical problems provided for by state plans.

In the early 1930s, based on the developments of Soviet chemists led by Academician S.V. Lebedev, the production of synthetic rubber from ethyl alcohol was established. In 1932, geologists under the leadership of Academician I.M. Gubkin discovered new oil-bearing areas in the Urals and Bashkiria, called the “Second Baku”. Academician N.I. Vavilov collected the world's largest unique collection of cultivated plants from five continents for study and practical use. Particularly significant were the scientific developments of physicists - A.F. Ioffe, S.I. Vavilov, D.S. Rozhdestvensky, P.L. Kapitsa, I.E. Tamm, I.V. Kurchatov, L.D. Landau and many others who worked for defense. In 1933, the Jet Propulsion Research Group (GIRD) created and launched the first Soviet rockets. This group included the future creator of the world's first jet weapon (Katyusha) AT. Kostikov and the future chief designer spaceships S.P. Korolev. The beginning of the study of the stratosphere by Soviet scientists dates back to this time. In 1933, the first Soviet stratospheric balloon “USSR” rose to a height of 19 km. In 1934, the second stratospheric balloon “Osoaviakhim-1” with its crew rose to a height of 22 km. The second space exploration ended in the death of the crew, but this did not stop scientific developments.

A special page in the scientific chronicle of the 30s. entered by Arctic researchers led by O.Yu. Schmidt. In July 1933, he led a scientific expedition across the Arctic Ocean on the ship Chelyuskin, which soon fell into ice compression and sank in February 1934. In the distant Chukchi Sea, on a drifting ice floe, polar explorers created the “Schmidt camp”. It was only in April that they were removed from the ice floe. For heroism in rescuing polar explorers, the Soviet government for the first time awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to pilots. In 1937, the study and development of the Arctic was continued by I.D. Papanin, E.T. Krenkel, E.K. Fedorov, P.P. Shirshov. In 274 days, the four polar explorers drifted on an ice floe in the ocean from the North Pole more than 2,500 km. Reference weather and radio stations were created in the North Pole area. Thanks to them, in 1937, pilots V.P. Chkalov, G.F. Baidukov and A.V. Belyakov made the first non-stop flight across the pole to the United States along the shortest straight line.

The Soviet aircraft industry also achieved significant success (development of the design of an all-metal aircraft by A.N. Tupolev and others), but in the late 1930s. many scientists, including aircraft designers, were arrested. Some of them continued their work in custody in special laboratories of the NKVD system.

In the field of social sciences, special importance was attached to a new reading of history communist party. The work of historians was closely followed by J.V. Stalin personally, who demanded that Trotskyist concepts be eradicated from historical party science. In 1938, under the editorship of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, with the participation of I.V. Stalin, it was published "A short course on the history of the CPSU (b)", which for many years became the main reference point for socio-political research.

In 1937-1938 The scientific historical school of Academician M.N. Pokrovsky, who died in 1932, was sharply criticized. His name was removed from the name of Moscow state university, which in 1940 was named after M.V. Lomonosov.

In the second half of the 1930s. The process of politicization and ideologization of Soviet science sharply intensified. Political labels have begun to be actively used in scientific discussions. Opponents were often deprived not only of work in their specialty, but also of freedom and life. The President of VASKhNIL N.I. Vavilov was removed from the leadership of the academy in 1935 and was soon arrested. Two subsequent presidents were shot, and VASKHNIL was headed by T.D. Lysenko, who promised Stalin to solve the grain problem by breeding branched wheat.

Literature and art

The development of literature and art in the 1930s was determined by the decree of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks “On the restructuring of literary and artistic organizations” (1932). All associations of the creative intelligentsia were liquidated, and the process of creating unified “industry” organizations of a republican and all-Union scale began. In 1932, the Union of Soviet Architects, the Union of Soviet Writers, and republican unions of Soviet composers and artists were created. A major event in the cultural life of the country was the First Congress of Soviet Writers, held in August 1934, which elected A.M. Gorky as chairman of the board of the Writers' Union. Gorky, who finally returned to his homeland in 1931, became an active propagandist socialist realism, which was proclaimed the main artistic method. Socialist realism required combining the historical specificity of the artistic depiction of reality with the education of workers “in the spirit of socialism.”

In 1936-1937 The struggle against formalism in literature and art began. Innovation in musical and theatrical art was condemned; modern drama, satire, and love poetry were actually prohibited; non-political topics were curtailed. The military theme dominated in books, films, plays, and music.

Among the most important achievements of Soviet literature of the 1930s. include the novels “The Life of Klim Samgin” by A.M. Gorky, “Virgin Soil Upturned” by M.A. Sholokhov, “How the Steel Was Tempered” by N.A. Ostrovsky, “Peter the Great” by A.N. Tolstoy, books for children by A.P. Gaidar, etc. The poetic creativity of A.A. .Akhmatova, B.L.Pasternak, O.E. Mandelstam. It should also be noted the dramaturgy of N. Pogodin, L. Leonov, Vs. Vishnevsky and others.

The largest phenomena in musical life were the works of S.S. Prokofiev (music for the film “Alexander Nevsky”), A.I. Khachaturian (music for the film “Masquerade”), D. D. Shostakovich (opera “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”, banned in 1936 “for formalism”). The songs of I. Dunaevsky, A. Aleksandrov, V. Solovyov-Sedoy gained wide popularity.

Cinematography has made a significant step in its development (films “Chapaev” by S. and G. Vasilyev, “Baltic Deputy” by I. Kheifits and A. Zarkhi, “Alexander Nevsky” by S. Eisenstein, comedies by G. Alexandrov “Jolly Fellows”, “Circus” ").

Historical and revolutionary themes were actively developed in painting (“Death of a Commissar” by K. Petrov-Vodkin, “Defense of Petrograd” by A. Deineka, “Trumpeters of the First Cavalry Army” by M. Grekov, etc.), as well as the portrait genre (works by M. Nesterov , P. Korina, etc.). The most outstanding sculptural work of the 1930s. became the monument to V. Mukhina “Worker and Collective Farm Woman”.

In the 1920s, the main task of cultural development was the task of eliminating illiteracy. The 1919 decree “On the elimination of illiteracy among the population of the RSFSR” introduced compulsory education for citizens aged 8 to 50 years. By 1926, 5 million people had eliminated their illiteracy. By the end of the 30s. Compulsory primary education was introduced, and in cities - seven years. To create a Soviet intelligentsia from workers and peasants, workers' factories were opened at the institutes. In higher education since 1932, emphasis has been placed on the quality and fundamentality of specialist training. Entrance examinations to universities and the lecture method of teaching were restored. In 20-30 years. Soviet science has achieved great success: chemists Lebedev and Gubkin, physicists Vavilov, Kapitsa, Landau and Kurchatova. Artists welcomed the revolution. Part of the old intelligentsia was subjected to repression and expulsion. In 1922 large group cultural figures, among them philosophers Berdyaev, Bulgakov, writers Osorgin, historian Milgunov, were expelled from the country. The method of socialist realism was introduced into literary art. Among the writers, Alexei Tolstoy, Sholokhov, and Tvardovsky came to the fore. Babel, Vsevolod Ivanov, and Trinev wrote in a new way, revealing the psychological conflict. During the same period, Sergei Yesenin’s talent was revealed. In the visual arts, a variety of groups emerge with their own platforms, manifestos, and systems of visual media. Among them, the leading place was occupied by the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia. The works of Grekov, Brodsky, Cheptsov revealed the everyday life and heroism of socialist construction. Among the sculptors, the works of Golubkina and Matveeva stood out. Cinema made a great contribution to the development of culture. Such films as “Chapaev” (The Vasilyev Brothers), “The Trilogy about Maxim” (Kozintsev), “We are from Kronstadt” (Zarkhi) were created. Vivid images in films and performances were created by artists Zharov, Orlova, Oleinikov. Music life country is associated with the works of Prokofiev, Khachaturian, Khrennikov, Dunaevsky, Kobalevsky. Soviet culture of the 20s - 30s. became a reflection of the socio-economic and political processes taking place in the country.

Option 3

Culture of the USSR in the 20s - 30s.

One of the main tasks in the field of education in the post-October period was the task of eliminating illiteracy (decree on the elimination of illiteracy, 1919; creation of the “Down with Illiteracy” society, 1923; organization of educational programs, a network of libraries; reform of education - creation of a unified labor school, etc. .d.). By the beginning of the 1930s. Illiteracy was eliminated, many new schools were built, and first universal primary education was introduced, and then seven-year education. School reform of the 1930s. was aimed at improving the level of education of children. To train qualified personnel, the network of universities and workers' faculties was expanded. The development of science, literature, and art was under strict ideological (the principle of the class nature of culture), and often administrative control of the state and party. Calls from the authorities to achieve new successes in science and art, the desire to attract the scientific and creative intelligentsia to their side were combined with administrative methods of management, with the expulsion of a group of outstanding scientists from the country (1922). Many scientific and cultural figures who did not recognize Soviet power emigrated from the country. The Academy of Sciences, VASKhNIL and other scientific centers were created in the country, many scientific institutes were formed ( scientific achievements I. P. Pavlov, K. E. Tsiolkovsky, N. E. Zhukovsky, N. I. Vavilov, V. I. Vernadsky, etc.). After the revolution, new organizations in the field of culture were created - Proletkult, the Russian Association of Proletarian Writers, etc. The struggle of various creative groups, realists and avant-garde artists, in literature and art (you can characterize the work of cultural figures of different directions - writers, artists, architects, musicians, representatives of theater, cinema, etc.). The establishment of the principles of socialist realism in literature and art, totalitarianism in the field of culture led to the glorification in works of art new principles of life, pomp and pomp in its depiction. This had a great influence on mass consciousness. Representatives of all areas of culture, the entire Soviet artistic intelligentsia were under the pressure of censorship, completely dependent on existing regime, who encouraged those close to power and punished dissenters (give examples difficult relationships intelligentsia and authorities, the tragic destinies of many representatives of culture). The confrontation between the authorities and the church became particularly acute (harassment of the church intelligentsia, persecution of Patriarch Tikhon and other church leaders, destruction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in 1931, etc.).

USSR in the late 30s: internal development, foreign policy. (Ticket 16)

Option 1

The nature of the society built in the USSR by the end of the 30s was determined by the processes that took place in the country in the post-revolutionary period:
- approval of a totalitarian system that had its own political, economic, and spiritual foundations;
- carrying out accelerated industrialization, which ensured the laying of foundations in the country industrial society, developed heavy industry at the cost of ruin Agriculture, declining living standards of the population, lagging light industry, etc.
- carrying out complete collectivization, which turned the USSR into a country of collective farms and was accompanied by a significant decrease in agricultural production - carrying out mass repressions, several waves of which (the most famous is the so-called great terror of August 1936 - late 1938) destroyed the leadership of the party, state, army, caused irreparable damage to science and culture. The exact number of victims of terror is still not known, but it is measured in millions of people in all social strata and groups of the population (see ticket No. 11);
- a change in the social appearance of the country - a very rapid growth of the working class, a decrease in the number of the peasantry (by no less than 30%, despite the introduction of the passport system and the ban on collective farmers leaving the village without an employment contract with the enterprise), an increase in the number of party-state nomenklatura and a qualitative change its composition (the death of old personnel, the predominance of young party members who emerged on the wave of terror, the increase in the number of prisoners, special settlers, and people in settlements.
Specific directions of the internal policy of the USSR in the late 30s. were determined by the aggravation of the international situation, the increase in the military threat, especially after September 1, 1939 (the attack of Nazi Germany on Poland, the outbreak of World War II).
Under these conditions, additional measures were taken aimed at strictly centralizing management and planning, strengthening labor discipline, accelerating the development of the defense industry, and strengthening the Red Army. These measures were also designed to overcome the crisis that was growing in the late 30s. (decrease in the pace of industrial development, staff turnover, lack of qualified labor):
- special attention was paid to the development of the fuel and energy complex (construction of new hydroelectric power stations on the Volga, Kama, etc.; laying coal mines and mines in Siberia, the Urals; development of the oil-bearing region between the Volga and the Urals);
- the construction of so-called backup enterprises in the east of the country was accelerated (these enterprises duplicated those located in the European part of the USSR);
- built and modernized railways, highways and transport hubs;
- spending on the defense industry and science was sharply increased, mass production new types of aircraft (Yak-1, MiG-3, etc.). samples of tanks (KB, T-34), Katyusha-type artillery mounts were created;
- a decision was made to switch to a seven-day working week and an eight-hour (from the spring of 1941 - eleven to twelve hour) working day, work books were introduced, unauthorized departure from the enterprise was prohibited, criminal liability was introduced for violation of labor discipline, production of low-quality products;
- a vocational education system was created to train personnel for industry;
- the size of the Red Army was significantly increased, the service life of privates and junior command personnel was increased, the conscription age was set at 18 years (previously - 21 years), the law “On universal military conscription” was adopted, the People’s Commissariat of Defense was reorganized, the need for which was revealed by the failure of the USSR winter war with Finland 1939-1940
On the foreign policy of the USSR in the late 30s. To summarize, we note: the USSR was preparing to repel military aggression. But the first days and months of the Great Patriotic War showed that the country's leadership made serious military-strategic mistakes. The repressions decapitated the army and deprived it of experienced military leaders and officers. Documents show that at the beginning of the war, only 7% of officers had a higher military education. The military doctrine did not take into account the peculiarities of modern mechanized warfare and was based on the well-known ideological postulate of “transferring the war to enemy territory” and “victory with little bloodshed.” The direction of the main attack of the Nazi army was incorrectly determined. The General Staff rightly believed that the main direction would be the Smolensk-Moscow direction, J.V. Stalin was confident that the Nazis would deliver the main blow to Ukraine. Stalin stubbornly refused to believe intelligence information about an impending German attack. The tragically high cost of these mistakes was determined in the initial period of the Great Patriotic War.