October 1917, the Bolsheviks seized power
tearing apart the short lived provisional
government. These Revolutionaries , under
Lenin's leadeship, not only changed the country
politically and economically but under their
rule the lives of millions of Russians would
change. They challenged even the most deep
rooted social institutions including family,
religion and the arts. Redefining the role
of women within society was one of the fundamental
changes the Bolsheviks wanted to bring to
this new Communist Society. Lenin supported
the idea of freeing women from their slavery
at home and making their relationships with
men more equal. The first changes to free
women were brought by early divorce and abortion
laws. The most well known radical feminist
was Alexander Kollontai, an expert on Bolshevik
theory and practice about the woman question
during the early1900's. She believed that
paid work outside the household should be
the centre of a womans life and that families
should be transformed into a network of people
who shared the tasks and responsibilities
of the household. She believed in a much more
free way of loving and marrying because of
love not money. Furthermore, to her, motherhood
was a duty but it shouldn't be a burden. During
the early stages of the Bolshevik State, education
went through great changes. For Lenin it was
an essential tool to build Socialism and so
he entitled each child to 9 years of free
universal education. The Bolsheviks were aggressively
atheistic. They saw religion as a sign of
backwardness and therefore they sought to
destroy religion and replace it with scientific
education. This attitude brought the Bolsheviks
into a direct conflict with the Orthodox Church,
an essential body which millions of peasants
were devoted to. The Bolsheviks were progressively
taking away the power from the Orthodox Church.
For example, they nationalised their lands,
religious education was outlawed, priests
and clerics were declared the servants of
the bourgeoisie and therefore they were arbitrarily
arrested or even executed. With a Communist
State art was bound to change and could no
longer be just for a small elite to enjoy. The
Bolshevik Party set up the Commissariat of
Popular Enlightenment, which was headed
by Anatoly Lunacharsky. Workers and peasants
were encouraged to produce their own culture
- The Proletkult - also known as a Proletarian
cultural movement. He believed that the Proletkult
would be able to move people towards Communism.
Initially it was exempt from supervision,
although it was developing as an independent
organisation, something the Bolsheviks wouldn't
tolerate.Lenin finally shut down its regional
and central offices during 1921 and 1923.
Art was greatly used in propaganda and for
aggitational purposes. Artists of the avant-garde
were excited by the changes and wanted to
take part in Soviet social experiments. Many
movements like Futurism or Constructivism
surged and influenced each other. Film was
also a key component of the developing Soviet
culture. A Politbureau decision in 1925 not
to intervene in matters of form and style
of the arts give Soviet film a period
of great creativity. The most outstanding film
maker of the period was Eisenstein, who wanted
to show the power of co-operation. An example
of this is seen in his film of the Bolshevik
revolution 'October'. However the Soviet people
preferred Hollywood movies to his complex
works. Lenin's death in 1924 and Stalin's
succession after a six year power struggle,
meant he had another set of deep changes for society. 
While Stalin set forth his 5 year industrialization plans and collectivized agriculture,
he also lead many changes within society they mainly 
focused on the return to class warfare and
a great retreat to more traditional values.
The Cultural Revolution was an attempt to
find truly proletarian approaches to science,
philosophy, arts, cinema. It was more than
an attack on bourgeois values. People believed
great changes were imminent. Young Communists
mounted fierce attacks on religion in the
villages, attacked the middle classes and
were enthusiastic in accomplishing all Bolshevik
goals. The cultural Revolution was not simply
a manipulation from above, it gained a momentum
of its own. The Komsomols or the Young Communist
League, was a very important part of the government
to keep track of all possible threats. Their
main tasks were to be soldiers of production
in the industrial drive, to impose labour
discipline, to enforce collectivization, to
lead anti-clerical campaigns and to loot the
bourgeoisie. During the 1930's there was a
great retreat back to family values, the result
of several government policies,especially
collectivization and the 5 year plans, created
a quicksand society which left millions of
young people without parents. Birth rate decreased
and juvenile crime was increasing due to homelessness.
As a result the government needed to root
the society again returning to traditional
values to do so. The State encouraged a new
family code that outlawed abortion and made
divorce much harder. With child support payments
in order to create a more stable society.
Stalin not only returned traditional values
to family but also to education. He was outraged
with the chaotic and inefficient state of
schools and universities. He restored discipline
and the authority of parents and teachers over
students. Stalin also ensured that schools
were guided by strictly delineated and carefully
worked out programs and study plans. He wanted
future educated workers for skilled jobs.
Under Stalin art was also changed, avant-garde
artists were excluded from society to establish
an over arching artistic movement known as
Socialist Realism, which was similar to Lenin's
idea that art and literature had to educate
workers in the spirit of Communism. Stalin
liked Realism which was easily understood
and gave a story. It showed men and women
building a glorious socialist future. Art,
literature, film and music were all under
tight State control. To Stalin constructing
the USSR was not limited to building the
structures to attain Socialism but also shaping
the citizens that were to live in that system.
This new Soviet man would possess a specific
morality, values and characteristics, he would
be an educated and dedicated servant of the
State and far from the illiterate peasant
that had long represented the backwardness
of Russia and the USSR. All sorts of forces
including but not limited to education and
entertainment and campaigns to improve behaviour
such as reducing alcohol consumption acted
upon citizens to shape them into the Soviet
ideal of men.
