Creators of the New: from the Working Experience of Moscow Proletkult

Abstract

The present paper continues the series of publications on theoretic foundations of the Proletkult movement and the issues of relationships with authorities during the first decades of the 20 c. It is to analyze the experience of creative activities of organizations for cultural education in post-war Russia. Drawing upon basically archival data the author specifies literary, theatrical, musical, artistic and design directions of activity of Moscow Proletkult. Numerous examples attest to the incorporation of the workers into creative process. The study draws attention to the role of ideology in shaping of a person of the new revolutionary era. The main structural organizations to engage the workers used to be the studios, clubs, circles, creative workshops. As the paper emphasizes, organizations of Proletkult provided a powerful impetus to the artistic activity of the population. And although the attempt of finding new ways in culture and creating a special, “elite” proletarian culture came to be unsuccessful, the school of Proletkult has trained a range of creative specialists, performed considerable educational work and ensured leisure activities of the workers during the Civil war.