DOCSLIB.ORG

Stalinist Cosmopolitanism Steven S

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Stalinist Cosmopolitanism Steven S Criticism Volume 58 | Issue 1 Article 9 2016 Stalinist Cosmopolitanism Steven S. Lee University of California, Berkeley, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/criticism Part of the Slavic Languages and Societies Commons Recommended Citation Lee, Steven S. (2016) "Stalinist Cosmopolitanism," Criticism: Vol. 58 : Iss. 1 , Article 9. Available at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/criticism/vol58/iss1/9 STALINIST It has long been common practice to see Western metropolises like COSMOPOLITANISM Paris and New York as compet- Steven S. Lee ing centers of global modernism, as capitals in the “world republic of let- Moscow, the Fourth Rome: ters.” Katerina Clark’s magisterial Stalinism, Cosmopolitanism, and Moscow, the Fourth Rome presents the Evolution of Soviet Culture, an alternate mapping of world cul- 1931–1941 by Katerina Clark. ture, with the Soviet Union emerg- Cambridge, MA: Harvard ing as another potential center, one University Press, 2011. Pp. 432. beyond capitalist bounds. This is a $38.50 cloth. formidable task, given Clark’s focus on the 1930s rather than the 1920s. Few would dispute Bolshevik claims to worldliness in the ear- lier decade—the topic of her 1995 Petersburg: Crucible of Cultural Revolution—which witnessed the heyday of the Soviet avant-garde and Third International. Not so with the 1930s, typically regarded as a time of terror and retreat— with avant-gardism giving way to socialist realism, and with dreams of international revolution over- shadowed by Stalinist realpolitik. By this dominant account, the 1930s marked Moscow’s abandonment of worldly, utopian aspirations—its turn inward in the name of “social- ism in one country” amid heighten- ing Russian nationalism. Clark does not dispute that the 1930s marked various disillusion- ing retreats. Rather, her project is to “integrate a rather neglected inter- national dimension into the overall interpretation of Stalinism” (6)—in short, to draw connections between Stalinist culture and the rest of the world, particularly Western Criticism Winter 2016, Vol. 58, No. 1, pp. 163–167. ISSN 0011-1589. doi: 10.13110/criticism.58.1.0163 163 © 2017 by Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan 48201-1309 Criticism 58.1_06_BM.indd 163 17/03/17 11:17 am 164 STEVEN S. LEE Europe. One goal here, of course, state. Throughout the book, Clark is to correct the historical record— resolves this seeming contradiction to counter the simplified view of by emphasizing the ambiguity of Stalinist culture as merely autarkic cosmopolitanism—the fact that and totalitarian. Clark shows that, one could be “driven by a desire to as the Kremlin abandoned avant- interact with the cultures and intel- garde iconoclasm and centralized lectuals of the outside world” (5) but state power, Moscow remained “a do so from the vantage of a particu- center for a transnational intellec- lar nation. For instance, she shows tual milieu” (25). Socialist realism Tretiakov—the futurist writer who and Stalinist architecture emerged advocated the journalistic writing not simply from official decrees, but technique known as the literature from cultural currents circulating of fact—in 1930 Berlin, where he across East and West. I specify some was sent by an official organiza- of these currents below, but Clark’s tion to assist with propaganda connection between Moscow of efforts. However, he also used the the ’30s and the competing cul- opportunity to acquaint himself tural centers of Paris and Berlin with members of the German left- undergirds the broader, more pro- ist avant-garde—many of whom vocative takeaway from this study: (most prominently Bertolt Brecht) that lurking in current discourses he later hosted in Moscow. A more of transnationalism and cosmopoli- unexpected example of cosmopoli- tanism is a largely forgotten Soviet tan patriotism comes in the form legacy—tucked away in the now of Eisenstein’s exoticist embrace of underused, Comintern-inflected Chinese writing, which in 1935 he internationalism. Ultimately, this is described as “a unique model for a book not just about the Stalinist how, through emotional images ’30s, but an effort to bring the filled with proletarian wisdom and Soviet Union back into models of humanity, the great ideas of our our globalized, post-Soviet world. great land must be poured into the Clark goes about this task hearts and emotions of the millions partly by following the travels and of nations speaking different lan- trajectories of four Soviet intel- guages” (201). That is, Eisenstein lectual adventurers—filmmaker saw Chinese as a formula for the Sergei Eisenstein and writers Ilya advancement of Soviet cultural Erenberg, Mikhail Koltsov, and hegemony, and Clark describes Sergei Tretiakov. Clark calls these how he arrived at this view in part figures “cosmopolitan patriots,” by attending Chinese actor Mei who pushed for engagement with Lanfang’s 1935 performances and non-Soviet culture even as they lectures in Moscow—which also remained committed to the Soviet occasioned Brecht’s “first published Criticism 58.1_06_BM.indd 164 17/03/17 11:17 am ON MOSCOW, THE FOURTH ROME 165 formulation of his theory of alien- used to legitimate its postcapitalist, ation” (192)—as well as by his postreligious order. This is a city expos ure to Lucien Lévy-Brühl’s where words were sacred, where La Mentalité Primitive (Primitive rulers were presented as writers, Mentality, 1923) and to Marcel and, as Clark demonstrates, writ- Granet’s La Pensée chinoise (Chinese ers around the world took notice. Thought, 1934). The latter book Most notably, a recurring presence was a birthday gift to Eisenstein in the book is Moscow’s colony of from the African American per- Germanophone writers and editors former Paul Robeson, who also who were in exile from Nazism. visited Moscow in 1935. Moscow, Prominent among these was the Fourth Rome is filled with such Georgy Lukács, and Clark traces exchanges among artists and intel- his active participation in Soviet lectuals across national and racial intellectual life and particularly in lines; taken together, they lend the development of socialist real- striking credence to the notion of a ism—according to him, bound to Soviet-centered world culture. both the ancient Greek epic and the Accordingly, Clark builds up “great bourgeois realist novel” (165) Moscow as a place that aspired to be of Western Europe. world class, as evidenced by efforts On the foundation of these con- to reconstruct it as a “higher order crete physical exchanges, as well place” (27) in the mold of ancient as explicit efforts to blur East and Athens and Rome. Describing West, Clark paints a more abstract, various plans for the building of at times impressionistic portrait of a “new Moscow,” she notes that the techniques, themes, and fash- the monumental, socialist realist ions joining Stalinist culture to architecture that predominated in the rest of the world. Dispelling the ’30s drew from classical and the notion that this culture simply Renaissance traditions, as well as reflected the whims of Stalin, Clark from contemporary Manhattan. Of presents a field of cultural options course, Moscow was not the only circulating across Europe, from city during the interwar years to which Soviet intellectuals and (in claim ancient Rome as a precedent, the final instance) officials picked but, in Clark’s presentation, what and chose. For instance, she sug- set it apart was a unique conver- gests that the appearance of frescos gence of art and politics. Moscow and mosaics on Soviet buildings emerged as a “lettered city”—able in the early ’30s can be related to to be read, through its architec- a simultaneous reaction against ture, as a text; and obsessed with Le Corbusier in France (109). the written word and, in particu- Likewise, she posits a transatlantic lar, literature, which the regime conservative turn in the late ’30s, Criticism 58.1_06_BM.indd 165 17/03/17 11:17 am 166 STEVEN S. LEE as seen in the coincidence of the Friedrich Schiller’s formulation Soviet campaign against formalism, and “delightful horror” in Edmund Nazi attacks on degenerate art, and Burke’s—is likewise made to dove- the rise of Hollywood puritanism. tail with Stalinist repression; as To her credit, Clark does not press is the lyric, which Clark associ- such connections, nor does she go ates with the cult of Byron in late about the daunting task of explain- 1930s Moscow, a sudden emphasis ing their root causes. Rather, these on personal over politicized poetry, work as heuristic devices to open and the feverish introspection Stalinist culture to Western culture found in “purge discourse.” This is and vice versa. Stalinist culture at its most legible The result is disconcerting, for scholars of Western literature, particularly as Clark traces how but also at its most bloodstained Stalinist culture changed from the and terror-stricken. early to late ’30s—that is, to the In short, amid her efforts to peak of the Terror—for it is at this open our understanding of 1930s point that this culture becomes Moscow—to unseat such distinc- most familiar and, in many ways, tions as East versus West, socialist appealing. Clark argues that the realism versus modernism, dissi- period witnessed a pan-European dent versus stooge—Clark remains turn from classicism to romanti- keenly aware of the ever-tighten- cism, which in Soviet culture was ing grip of Stalinism. Two of her marked by emphases on interior- four cosmopolitan patriots per- ity, adventure, the sublime, and ished during the purges, the 1939 the lyric. After explaining inte- Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact repulsed riority through the writings of many from the Soviet orbit, and Konstantin Stanislavsky—who by cosmopolitan emerged in postwar the late ’30s had been enshrined Moscow as a code word for Jewish. by the Soviet state—she proceeds Indeed, Moscow’s failure to remain to connect his insistence on “emo- a nexus of world culture is sig- tional truth” (228) to the show naled in the book’s title.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Kyiv, Ukraine: the City of Domes and Demons from the Collapse Of
    Roman Adrian Roman Cybriwsky Kyiv, Ukraine is a pioneering case study of urban change from socialism to the hard edge of a market economy after the Soviet collapse. It looks in detail at the changing social geography of the city, and on critical problems such as corruption, social inequality, sex tourism, and destruction of historical ambience by greedy developers. The book is based on fieldwork and an insider’s knowledge of the city, and is engagingly written. Roman Adrian Cybriwsky is Professor of Geography and Urban Studies at Temple University in Philadelphia, USA, and former Ukraine Kyiv, Fulbright Scholar at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy. He divides his time between Philadelphia, Kyiv, and Tokyo, about which he has also written books. “Roman Cybriwsky knows this city and its people, speaks their language, feels their frustrations with its opportunist and corrupt post-Soviet public figures Roman Adrian Cybriwsky who have bankrupted this land morally and economically. He has produced a rich urban ethnography stoked by embers of authorial rage.” — John Charles Western, Professor of Geography, Syracuse University, USA “Kyiv, Ukraine is an interdisciplinary tour de force: a scholarly book that is Kyiv, Ukraine also an anthropological and sociological study of Kyivites, a guide to Kyiv and its society, politics, and culture, and a journalistic investigation of the city’s darkest secrets. At this time of crisis in Ukraine, the book is indispensable.” — Alexander Motyl, Professor of Political Science, Rutgers University, USA The City of Domes and Demons “Filled with personal observations by a highly trained and intelligent urbanist, Kyiv, Ukraine is a beautiful and powerful work that reveals from the Collapse of Socialism profound truths about a city we all need to know better.” — Blair A.
    [Show full text]
  • Ross-Wolfe-Stalinism
    STALINISM IN ART AND ARCHITECTURE, OR,... Ross Wolfe “STALINISM IN ART AND ARCHITECTURE, OR, THE FIRST POSTMODERN STYLE” Book Review: Boris Groys’ Total Artwork of Stalinism and Vladimir Paperny’s Architecture in the Age of Stalin: Culture Two ast year, the English translations of two major works of art and architectural criticism from the late Soviet period were rereleased with Lapparently unplanned synchronicity. A fresh printing of Vladimir Paperny’s Architecture in the Age of Stalin: Culture Two (2002, [Культура Два, 1985]) was made available in June 2011 by Cambridge University Press. Verso Books, having bought the rights to the Princeton University Press translation of Boris Groys’ Total Art of Stalinism (1993 [Gesamtkunstwerk Stalin, 1988]), republished the work in a new edition. This hit the shelves shortly thereafter, only two months after Paperny’s book was reissued. Each book represents an attempt, just prior to the Soviet Union’s collapse, to come to grips with the legacy of its artistic and architectural avant-garde of the 1920s, as well as the problematic character of the transition to Socialist Realism and neoclassicism in the mid-1930s, lasting up until Stalin’s death in 1953. Not only do Paperny’s and Groys’ writings follow a similar trajectory, they intersect biographically as well. The two authors collaborated closely with one another, reading and revising each other’s manuscripts as they went. But their arguments should not for that reason be thought identical. Paperny began his research much earlier, in the late 1970s, and Groys’ own argument is clearly framed in part as a polemical response to his colleague’s claims.
    [Show full text]
  • To the New Shore: Soviet Architecture's Journey from Classicism to Standardization Katherine Zubovich-Eady Summer 2013 Katheri
    To the New Shore: Soviet Architecture’s Journey from Classicism to Standardization Katherine Zubovich-Eady Summer 2013 Katherine Zubovich-Eady is a PhD Candidate in the Department of History at the University of California, Berkeley. Acknowledgements I would like to thank Professor Yuri Slezkine and the participants in his Fall 2011 Soviet History research paper class for their comments on earlier versions of this essay. I would also like to thank Professor Andrew Shanken, whose generous comments on my essay graphic design in Arkhitektura SSSR have made their way into this paper. Figure 1: “K novomu beregu,” Arkhitektura SSSR, November 1955. To the New Shore: Soviet Architecture’s Journey from Classicism to Standardization In November 1955, the leading Soviet architects’ journal, Arkhitektura SSSR, featured a “friendly cartoon” (druzheskii sharzh) satirizing the uncertain state of the architectural profession (Fig. 1). Titled “To the New Shore,” this image showed the greats of Soviet architecture as they prepared to embark on a journey away from the errors of their past work. “After a lengthy and expensive stay on the island of excesses,” the cartoonists explained in their narrative printed alongside the image, “the architectural flotilla is preparing itself, at last, to depart for the long- awaited shore of standardization and industrialization in construction.”1 At the lower right of the cartoon, three of the architects of Moscow’s vysotnye zdaniia say goodbye “from the bottom of their hearts to their excesses (izlishestva),”2 which they have been prohibited from taking on board. Other key figures of Stalinist architecture are guided toward the vessel by their younger colleague, and most vocal critic, Georgii Gradov.
    [Show full text]
  • On Balcony State/Citizens Intersection in a Socialist
    ON BALCONY STATE/CITIZENS INTERSECTION IN A SOCIALIST ROMANIAN BLOC OF FLATS By Florin Poenaru Submitted to Central European University Department of Sociology and Socio-Anthropology In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Supervisors: Professor Judit Bodnar Professor Daniel Monterescu CEU eTD Collection Budapest, Hungary 2007 Abstract This paper inquiries into the social functions, meanings and ideologies specific to balconies in the socialist architecture by suggesting that the socialist balcony lies at the intersection between the socialist State and its citizens. For that matter, the first part of the paper examines and contrasts different architectural conceptions that underpinned the functions of balconies from its bourgeois emergence, to Lenin’s revolutionary architecture, Stalinist developments and to Ceausescu’s style, by pinpointing how the official architectural discourse, in general, and balconies, in particular served ideological purposes and expressed the official intersection between State and citizens. The second part of the paper balances the analytic view by scrutinizing the relationship between the state and citizens from the view point of people’s regular balconies, and the everyday practices attached to it, as they unfold in a Romanian neighborhood built in the 1980’s. CEU eTD Collection ii Contents 1. Introduction.............................................................................................................................1 2. The Balcony: intersection of four theoretical
    [Show full text]
  • Ideology and Urbanism in a Flux Making Sofia Socialist in the Stalinist Period and Beyond
    southeastern europe 41 (2017) 112-140 brill.com/seeu Ideology and Urbanism in a Flux Making Sofia Socialist in the Stalinist Period and Beyond Elitza Stanoeva European University Institute, Florence, Italy [email protected] Abstract The socialist reconstruction of Sofia evolved at the juncture of institution-building, for- mation of professional expertise and social engineering, framed by a party ideology in a flux that time and again revised the social mission of urbanism and the professional role of the architect. This paper first focuses on four areas of Sofia’s reconstruction that illustrate the interplay of ideology and urbanism in the Stalinist years: the endorse- ment and subsequent betrayal of Marxist guidelines for urban planning; the replica- tion of the leader cult and its prime monument, the Mausoleum; the reorganization of architects into a Soviet-style professional union; the application of the Stalinist art canon in monumental architecture. The paper then discusses how de- Stalinization affected urban planning, public architecture and architects’ professional standing. It concludes by reflecting on the post-1989 transformation of Sofia as a radical breach with socialism or a symptom of path dependence. Keywords communist ideology – socialist city – Stalinist architecture – Mausoleum – leader cult – socialist bureaucracy – de-Stalinization – post-1989 transition In 1931, Lazar Kaganovich, First Secretary of the Moscow Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (cpsu), proclaimed: “Our cities became
    [Show full text]
  • 'Soviet Architectural Avant- Gardes: Architecture and Stalin's Revolution
    H-SHERA Battsaligova on Udovički-Selb, 'Soviet Architectural Avant- Gardes: Architecture and Stalin’s Revolution from Above, 1928-1938' Review published on Saturday, June 12, 2021 Danilo Udovički-Selb. Soviet Architectural Avant-Gardes: Architecture and Stalin’s Revolution from Above, 1928-1938. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2020. Illustrations. 264 pp. $115.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-4742-9986-2. Reviewed by Liana Battsaligova (Yale University)Published on H-SHERA (June, 2021) Commissioned by Hanna Chuchvaha (University of Calgary) Printable Version: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=56120 Architecturally speaking, one would be hard-pressed to find two buildings that differ more drastically than the main building of Moscow State University (the alleged symbol of Stalinist architecture) and a khrushchevka (the standardized multifamily housing introduced under Nikita Khrushchev). Yet both buildings belong to the same “architectural method,” even if only ideologically.[1] Such a paradox reflects the tumultuous history of the term “socialist realism” in architecture, the main style and artistic method to be adopted by Soviet architects following the example of Soviet writers and artists. In Soviet Architectural Avant-Gardes: Architecture and Stalin’s Revolution from Above, 1928-1938, Danilo Udovički-Selb counters reductionist analyses of the period as conservative, revivalist, largely historicist, or totalitarian, and instead offers a more nuanced and complex reading of the modernist architectural forms that were incorporated into the eclectic silhouette of socialist realist architecture, even finding their way into the “historicist” forms of Stalinist architecture of the 1940-50s. Udovički-Selb intends not to provide a catalogue of all buildings imagined and built in the 1930s but rather to “bring to light important examples that can support the claim of a strong presence of modern architecture” at the time (p.
    [Show full text]
  • Architecture in the Age of Stalin Culture Two
    Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-45119-2 — Architecture in the Age of Stalin Vladimir Paperny , Translated by John Hill , Roann Barris Frontmatter More Information ARCHITECTURE IN THE AGE OF STALIN CULTURE TWO Architecture in the Age of Stalin: Culture Two examines the cultural mechanisms that affected the evolution of architecture in Russia during the Stalinist period. Defining two conflicting trends – Culture One and Culture Two – that have alternately prevailed in Russian culture,Vladimir Paperny argues that the shift away from the architectural avant-garde of the 1920s was not entirely the result of Stalin’s will. Rather,he demonstrates how the aesthetic choices of Stalin and his architects were con- ditioned by the prevailing cultural mechanisms of the 1930s and 1940s. Combining academic precision with engaging nar- rative,and using previously unavailable archival materials pub- lished in the West for the first time in this edition,Paperny leads the reader through the remarkable trajectory of architec- tural and cultural transformation that marked a pivotal mo- ment of Russia’s history. Vladimir Paperny received his doctorate from the Russian State University for Humanities. Currently a Los Angeles–based de- signer,he is former fellow of the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies. He has taught at the University of Southern California and has contributed to a variety of journals and pub- lications on aspects of Russian modern architecture and cul- ture. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge
    [Show full text]
  • The Holocaust in Ukraine: New Sources and Perspectives
    THE CENTER FOR ADVANCED HOLOCAUST STUDIES of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum promotes the growth of the field of Holocaust studies, including the dissemination of scholarly output in the field. It also strives to facilitate the training of future generations of scholars specializing in the Holocaust. Under the guidance of the Academic Committee of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, the Center provides a fertile atmosphere for scholarly discourse and debate through research and publication projects, conferences, fellowship and visiting scholar opportunities, and a network of cooperative programs with universities and other institutions in the United States and abroad. In furtherance of this program the Center has established a series of working and occasional papers prepared by scholars in history, political science, philosophy, religion, sociology, literature, psychology, and other disciplines. Selected from Center-sponsored lectures and conferences, THE HOLOCAUST or the result of other activities related to the Center’s mission, these publications are designed to make this research available in a timely IN UKRAINE fashion to other researchers and to the general public. New Sources and Perspectives Conference Presentations 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW Washington, DC 20024-2126 ushmm.org The Holocaust in Ukraine: New Sources and Perspectives Conference Presentations CENTER FOR ADVANCED HOLOCAUST STUDIES UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM 2013 The assertions, opinions, and conclusions in this occasional paper are those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect those of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The articles in this collection are not transcripts of the papers as presented, but rather extended or revised versions that incorporate additional information and citations.
    [Show full text]
  • Stalin's Sacred Capital
    Cities in Europe, Cities in the world - 12th International Conference on Urban History. Portugal, Lisbon, 3-6 September 2014. Session M50. Urban Design for Mussolini, Stalin, Salazar, Hitler and Franco During the Interwar Period Stalin’s Sacred Capital: Dreams and Reality, Propaganda and Necessity in 1930s Moscow Olga Zinovieva Lomonosov Moscow State University [email protected] Alexander Lobodanov Moscow State University [email protected] Last revision: February 12, 2015 Keywords: Stalin, Boris Iofan, Ivan Zholtovsky, Alexei Shchusev, 1935, Soviet Russia, Moscow, 1918-1953 Abstract Stalinist urban planning and architecture still have a most noticeable presence in Moscow. Contemporary architects and designers use citations of this controversial period, ironically, patronising it. But the city, even in its post-modernistic manifestation keeps following the main trends of the so-titled 1935 Master Plan for the Reconstruction of the City of Moscow. This plan, incomparable in its scope with any other undertakings of that kind, was meant to change the look of the ancient city dramatically: the main streets and squares were broadened, huge ensembles appeared, the Moscow Metro and Volga Cannel were laid. It was both practical and propagandistic, aimed to solve urgent city problems and to immortalize the name of Josef Stalin. The utopian image of the Communist paradise was created in order to make people work harder for the sake of a brighter future. It contrasted with images of gunned kolkhoz women and men, as a part of the militarisation process. A complex system of floral, military and human symbols with its convincing potential to tell stories, give advice, promise or warning was formed.
    [Show full text]
  • The Stalinist Reconstruction of the Capitals of the Soviet Republics
    JOURNAL OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM ISSN 2029-7955 / eISSN 2029-7947 2015 Volume 39(1): 3–16 doi:10.3846/20297955.2015.1031434 Theme of the issue “Center and periphery: borderline cities and borderlines of cities” Žurnalo numerio tema „Simbolizmo tradicija architektūroje“ IN THE SHADOW OF MOSCOW: THE STALINIST RECONSTRUCTION OF THE CAPITALS OF THE SOVIET REPUBLICS Rasa ČEPAITIENĖ Lithuanian Institute of History, Department of the 20th Century History, Kražių g. 5, LT-01108 Vilnius, Lithuania E-mail: [email protected] Received 13 November 2014; accepted 13 March 2015 Abstract. Looking through the prism of USSR national policy the article analyzes the reconstruction of Stalinist cities. The study is based on the visual analysis of the city landscapes of the capitals of 12 of 15 former Soviet republics. Focusing attention on the mechanisms and tools of the formation of the capitals of the Soviet republics, the strategies and tactics of the reconstructions carried out in these cities are discussed. As their result in the late period of Stalinist culture the creation of an ideological-visual narrative of a major Soviet city, consisting of a united “content of socialist realism” and local “national forms”, was completed. The conclusion is made is that mainly using plant and geometric ornaments of local folk art in the decor of the buildings of the socialist realism style, these capitals were “marked” in a specific way. However, although this aesthetic program allowed one to distinguish visibly these cities from one another, and to highlight some of the features of national cultures, however, the fostering of such narrowly understood and apolitical “folk character” at the same time restricted the possibilities of the Soviet connected nations to keep the abilities to preserve free and uncontrolled authentic expression of their cultures.
    [Show full text]
  • Politics and Architecture: at the Crossroads with Young Moscow Architects
    University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Inquiry Journal 2009 Inquiry Journal Spring 2009 Politics and Architecture: At the Crossroads with Young Moscow Architects Andrew McKernan University of New Hampshire Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/inquiry_2009 Part of the History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons, and the Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies Commons Recommended Citation McKernan, Andrew, "Politics and Architecture: At the Crossroads with Young Moscow Architects" (2009). Inquiry Journal. 11. https://scholars.unh.edu/inquiry_2009/11 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Inquiry Journal at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Inquiry Journal 2009 by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. UNH UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH JOURNAL SPRING 2009 research article Politics and Architecture: At the Crossroads with Young Moscow Architects —Andrew McKernan (Edited by Brigid C. Casellini) It was Thanksgiving weekend of 2007, and I was trying to find my hostel in Moscow. I had gotten off at the wrong metro stop. I was wandering the streets in the pre-dawn temnota (somehow, the Russian word for “darkness” works better here), trudging uphill through a couple inches of slush when I noticed a shadow before me and looked up. I had seen pictures of this skyscraper, but even warned of its size and grandeur (it is styled more like a Gothic cathedral than the typical American’s idea of a skyscraper), I found the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, built at the end of Joseph Stalin’s 1928–1953 rule, to be literally awesome.
    [Show full text]
  • Department of Historical Studies
    University of Bristol Department of Historical Studies Best undergraduate dissertations of 2013 Emily Thomas Post-war architecture in a Cold War climate: The building of domestic architecture in Moscow from 1945-64 The Department of Historical Studies at the University of Bristol is com- mitted to the advancement of historical knowledge and understanding, and to research of the highest order. We believe that our undergraduates are part of that endeavour. In June 2009, the Department voted to begin to publish the best of the an- nual dissertations produced by the department’s final year undergraduates (deemed to be those receiving a mark of 75 or above) in recognition of the excellent research work being undertaken by our students. This was one of the best of this year’s final year undergraduate disserta- tions. Please note: this dissertation is published in the state it was submitted for examination. Thus the author has not been able to correct errors and/or departures from departmental guidelines for the presentation of dissertations (e.g. in the formatting of its footnotes and bibliography). © The author, 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the prior permission in writing of the author, or as expressly permitted by law. All citations of this work must be properly acknowledged. Student number: 0927358 Post-war architecture in a Cold War climate: The building of domestic architecture in Moscow from 1945-64 HART 31048 B.A. Honours History of Art 2013 University of Bristol Table of Contents Introduction 2 Chapter 1: Sacrifice 6 Chapter 2: Beneficence 17 a) Stalin 17 b) Khrushchev 22 Chapter 3: Paradise 29 Conclusion 34 Bibliography 37 List of Illustrations 45 Illustrations 47 Locations of the architecture studied 82 1 Introduction Housing was the architectural focus of the major European cities in the years following the Second World War.
    [Show full text]