The Anniversaries of the October Revolution, 1918-1927: Politics and Imagery by Susan M. Corbesero B.A., Pennsylvania State University, 1985 M.A., University of Pittsburgh, 1988 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2005 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Susan Marie Corbesero It was defended on November 18, 2005 and approved by William J. Chase Seymour Drescher Helena Goscilo Gregor Thum William J. Chase Dissertation Director ii The Anniversary of the October Revolution, 1918-1927: Politics and Imagery Susan M. Corbesero, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2005 This dissertation explores the politics and imagery in the anniversary celebrations of the October Revolution in Moscow and Leningrad from 1918 to 1927. Central to Bolshevik efforts to take political and symbolic control of society, these early celebrations not only provided a vehicle for agitation on behalf of the Soviet regime, but also reflected changing popular and official perceptions of the meanings and goals of October. This study argues that politicians, cultural producers, and the urban public contributed to the design and meaning of the political anniversaries, engendering a negotiation of culture between the new Soviet state and its participants. Like the Revolution they sought to commemorate, the October celebrations unleashed and were shaped by both constructive and destructive forces. A combination of variable party and administrative controls, harsh economic realities, competing cultural strategies, and limitations of the existing mass media also influenced the Bolshevik commemorative projects. Approaching political culture through a study of civic ritual and revolutionary symbolism, this work examines the official mass parades, street art, mass media, popular entertainment, and workers’ club campaigns in the holidays during this turbulent era of civil war, reconstruction, and political consolidation. The study concludes by looking at Moscow’s Decennial of the October Revolution in 1927 and explores how the Bolsheviks ultimately mobilized the population and harnessed cultural forces to project legitimacy and the iii image of national consensus as the regime embarked on the Stalinist path of rapid societal and industrial transformation. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction............................................................................................................................ 1 2. Communism Triumphant? ................................................................................................. 18 2.1. Revolutionary Designs.................................................................................................... 23 2.2. Aporias and Accommodation ......................................................................................... 37 2.3. Celebrating the “Triumph of Communism” ................................................................... 43 2.4. A Contentious Wedding of the Arts................................................................................ 49 2.5. Cultural Borrowings and New Beginnings..................................................................... 52 2.6. Mobilizing New Media and Marketing........................................................................... 64 2.7. Towards A New World Order?....................................................................................... 67 3. Bread and Circuses (1919-1921)......................................................................................... 72 3.1. “A Strict Economy”: Priorities and the Party ................................................................. 75 3.2. Enlisting the Cultural Workers: Opportunities and Opportunism .................................. 86 3.3. War Holidays.................................................................................................................. 93 3.4. October’s Message and the Masses .............................................................................. 101 3.5. Compromise(d) Theater of the Revolution................................................................... 111 4. October on Display (1922-1926) ....................................................................................... 125 4.1. October and Political Culture: Exhibitionism and Inhibitions...................................... 126 4.2. Octobering..................................................................................................................... 138 4.3. Spectacles of the New Economy................................................................................... 141 4.4. Battles for October On Screen ...................................................................................... 151 4.5. October on Stage........................................................................................................... 156 4.6. October in the Clubs ..................................................................................................... 164 5. Epilogue: The October Decennial in Moscow (1927) ..................................................... 171 BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................................................... 199 v 1. Introduction Anniversaries, for some reason, are dear to the Bolshevik heart. Perhaps it is because the regime is still young, so that each repetition of the day it began its existence is a cause for rejoicing, as children rejoice over their birthdays. Walter Duranty, 19321 In the first decade of Soviet power the anniversary celebrations of the October Revolution served as powerful tools to forge national consensus. Central to Bolshevik efforts to take political and symbolic control of society, these early commemorations not only provided a vehicle for agitation on behalf of the Soviet regime, but also reflected changing popular and official perceptions of the meaning and goals of the Revolution. For the regime, the commemorations fit into the state’s larger political and cultural agenda, which aimed to unify national culture, mobilize the masses, transmit ideology, and mold a Soviet citizenry. With mass parades, street art, theatrical productions, popular entertainment, and workers’ club holiday campaigns, these impressive commemorative projects constituted a strong nexus for the state, cultural producers, and for the public. Throughout the twenties, celebratory practices such as the commemorations took shape and were influenced by a diverse range of social groups, such as politicians, cultural ideologues, artists, and workers who contributed to the design, meaning, 1 Walter Duranty, “Fifteen Years of Soviet Power,” in Sunday Magazine, November 6, 1932 cited in William Duranty, Duranty Reports Russia, ed. Gustavus Tuckerman, Jr. (New York, 1934), 3. 1 organization, and execution of the revolutionary festivals, engendering a negotiation of culture between the Bolshevik state and the participants. Like the Revolution they sought to commemorate, the anniversary celebrations unleashed and were shaped by constructive and destructive forces in this decade of upheaval. In their efforts to create a new revolutionary festival, symbolism, and celebratory practices, the Bolshevik commemorators intended to destroy the vestiges of the tsarist order and (tenacious) pre-Revolutionary cultural traditions. In the construction of a new identity, the anniversaries of October provided the new Soviet state with a vehicle to communicate patriotic values and a political agenda, as well as an opportunity to mobilize the public to participate in the framing of the October Revolution. However, competing strategies for structuring the commemoration frequently undermined the creation of an unambiguous historical narrative of the Revolution, effective political propaganda, and a unified cultural model for the festivals. Party and cultural producers had designed and contributed celebratory practices, symbolism, and art forms expressing differing views of culture—utilitarian, popular, conservative, and proletarian. From below, worker passivity, resistance to overt (and often incomprehensible) agitation, and divergent popular cultural tastes thwarted official plans to mobilize the citizenry. Moreover, in this turbulent era of civil war, reconstruction and political consolidation, Bolshevik commemorative projects suffered from a combination of financial restraints, variable party and administrative controls, scarce material and human resources, as well as the limitations of the existing mass media. Subsequently throughout the decade of revolutionary change, the form and content of the early commemorative celebrations presented those in power with conflicting and shifting interpretations of the Revolution and its aims. By 1927, the Soviet state had succeeded in 2 achieving greater control of the design, coordination, and execution of the commemorative project, presenting an outwardly unified and disciplined display of national unity and mass mobilization. However, as this study suggests, the centralized system of national coordination for the political anniversaries circumscribed, but did not completely annihilate, alternative meanings and challenges to the official meaning of October. Once considered anecdotal marginalia of history, official commemorations recently have been embraced as integral elements of emerging national identities and the