Thaw and Non-Conformity, 1954–64 (Edexcel A-Level History): Revision Notes
Thaw and Non-Conformity, 1954–64
Introduction: the zigzag policy
Following Stalin's death, Khrushchev's approach to culture and art was marked by contradictions. His cultural policy alternated between periods of liberalization, known as 'thaws', and periods of renewed control, called 'freezes'. This pattern of shifting policies is often referred to as Khrushchev's zigzag policy.
The zigzag policy refers to the alternating pattern of cultural liberalization and restriction under Khrushchev. Think of it like a zigzag line: up (thaw/freedom), down (freeze/control), and repeat. This inconsistent approach reflected the fundamental tensions within Khrushchev's thinking and the pressure he faced from conservative elements within the Communist Party.
During the thaws, artists and writers enjoyed greater freedom of expression, and works critical of certain aspects of Stalin's rule could be published. However, during the freezes, government control was reasserted, and those who pushed boundaries faced punishment. This inconsistent approach reflected the tensions within Khrushchev's thinking and the pressure he faced from conservative elements within the Communist Party who wanted to maintain strict control and prevent the truth about Stalin's crimes from becoming widely known.
Khrushchev's approach to intellectuals
Khrushchev aimed to build a partnership between the Communist Party and the Soviet Union's creative intellectuals. This was partly a practical decision: successive Soviet governments had invested heavily in education, and as a result, the intelligentsia (educated intellectual class) was growing rapidly. By the 1960s, it had become the fastest-growing section of Soviet society.
Khrushchev held several beliefs about intellectuals:
- They should actively help the government build socialism
- True intellectuals would naturally understand the benefits of communism and therefore willingly collaborate with Soviet leaders
- Communism should liberate artists to create meaningful work
Khrushchev's Fundamental Contradiction
Khrushchev believed that ordinary Soviet workers were not ready for complete freedom or even for the full truth about Stalin's policies. He feared that too much freedom, particularly for ordinary citizens, could destabilize the Party by allowing criticism of the government. This fundamental contradiction between wanting intellectual support while fearing widespread freedom shaped his entire approach to cultural policy.
The 'thaws': periods of cultural liberalization
First thaw (1953–54)
After Stalin's death in 1953, the government permitted publication of novels that acknowledged differences between the new generation of the 1950s and the older generation who had supported Stalin.
First Thaw: Ehrenburg's "The Thaw" (1953–54)
The most significant work from this period was Ilya Ehrenburg's story The Thaw, published in the Soviet journal New World. This novel was critical of various aspects of Stalinism, including the use of mass terror.
The work was so influential that it gave its name to this entire period of cultural liberalization – the term "thaw" came directly from Ehrenburg's title.
Second thaw (1956–57)
Following Khrushchev's Secret Speech in 1956 (where he denounced Stalin's cult of personality), another period of cultural liberalization began.
Second Thaw: Dudintsev's "Not by Bread Alone" (1956–57)
New World published Vladimir Dudintsev's novel Not by Bread Alone. This work told the story of an innovative worker struggling against an unjust Party bureaucracy, and was clearly critical of the Stalin period.
The novel resonated with many Soviet citizens who had experienced similar frustrations with rigid Party structures.
Third thaw (1961–62)
After the Twenty-Second Party Congress in 1961, which voted to remove Stalin's body from Red Square, several books critical of aspects of Stalin's rule were published.
Third Thaw: Solzhenitsyn's "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" (1961–62)
The most famous work from this period was Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's short story One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, which depicted the harsh daily life of a prisoner in the Gulag (Soviet forced labor camp system).
This period also saw cultural rehabilitation of works banned under Stalin. Dmitri Shostakovich's opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, which had not been performed in the Soviet Union since Stalin criticized it in 1936, was performed again in 1962.
Cultural innovations beyond literature
Beyond Literature: Musical and Cultural Changes
The thaws were not limited to literature. During the World Youth Festival held in Moscow in 1957, young people danced to jazz music and African drumming – forms of music that had been discouraged under Stalin as Western decadence.
In terms of education, Western classical music was reintroduced to the school curriculum in 1957. For example, the work of American composer George Gershwin, which was influenced by jazz, began to be taught in Soviet schools from the late 1950s.
The 'freezes': reimposing control
After each period of liberalization, authorities reimposed restrictions when they felt artistic expression had gone too far.
Pasternak and Doctor Zhivago
Following the initial thaw in 1953–54, Boris Pasternak's novel Doctor Zhivago led to cultural restrictions. The authorities considered Pasternak's work unacceptable because it was critical of Lenin's period as leader, not just Stalin's.
The Limits of Criticism
The book was banned in the Soviet Union and remained prohibited until the late 1980s. This demonstrated that criticism of Lenin and the fundamental principles of the revolution remained completely off-limits, even during periods of thaw.
Key distinction: Criticism of Stalin might be tolerated during thaws, but criticism of Lenin was absolutely forbidden.
Khrushchev and abstract art
After the final thaw, Khrushchev reacted with fury to an exhibition of Moscow artists featuring abstract art. He was horrified by what he saw and shouted loudly that the work of abstract artist Ernst Neizvestny was "dog shit". This outburst demonstrated the limits of Khrushchev's tolerance and revealed his fundamentally conservative aesthetic tastes despite his political reforms.
Arrest of artists
The final freeze led to the arrest and imprisonment of several artists. The poet Josef Brodsky, for example, was arrested in January 1964. His case illustrated how those who refused to conform to official cultural standards faced serious consequences, even during Khrushchev's relatively liberal period.
Challenging non-conformity through propaganda
The new style of propaganda
Under Khrushchev, Soviet propaganda underwent a significant change. During Stalin's rule, Soviet people had been depicted as heroic, conventionally beautiful figures, and Soviet farms and factories had been shown as modern, efficient, and harmonious. After 1954, this changed dramatically.
Propaganda posters began to poke fun at Soviet citizens rather than celebrate them. Graphic designers such as V. Fomichev and N. Denisovski created posters that showed Soviet people in a new and unflattering light. Their artistic style represented a break from the past, as they produced work similar to American cartoons of the period.
Popular oversight
Popular Oversight: People Policing People
The new posters aimed to challenge non-conformity through what was called 'popular oversight'. This system encouraged ordinary citizens to monitor each other's behavior and intervene with moral advice rather than reporting problems to the police.
This approach represented a shift from direct state control through police and secret services to indirect social control through peer pressure and public ridicule.
Posters depicted non-conformist citizens as ridiculous figures – shown as comically overweight, balding, or idle:
- The Lazy Bureaucrat (1961) showed a plump man sitting at a disorganized desk
- The Alcoholic (1959) depicted a drunk man lying in a pool of his own vomit
- When Two Girls Met (1963) presented a moral tale contrasting a disciplined child from a good working-class upbringing with a lazy, selfish, fashion-obsessed child from an indulgent intellectual family
Acknowledging inefficiency
Khrushchev-era posters also broke from the past by recognizing the inefficiencies of Soviet farms and factories. For example, The Cowshed (1958) mocked wasteful spending on Soviet farms by showing two cows living in a palace complete with chandeliers. The poster included a quote from Khrushchev criticizing wasteful spending on farms, showing that even the leadership acknowledged problems in the Soviet system.
Disciplining 'style hunters'
The campaign against stilyaga
Khrushchev's government went to considerable lengths to ensure that women conformed to Soviet standards of appearance and behavior. Officials were particularly concerned that women would be seduced by consumerism into lives of glamour and excessive shopping. Consequently, there was an official campaign against young women who adopted Western fashion, called 'stilyaga' (style hunters).
Government Concerns About Fashion and Sexuality
Government planners at Gosplan apparently believed that women's desire to shop could lead to lasting economic problems in a consumer society. Female sexuality was also a cause of official concern, as the government assumed that fashionable clothes implied sexual promiscuity.
As a result, there were official campaigns against Western fashion and what authorities termed 'loose women' in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
The 1957 World Youth Festival
The 1957 World Youth Festival in Moscow heightened official concerns about Soviet women's behavior. Authorities worried that young Soviet women were having sexual relationships with male delegates from other countries. Notably, the authorities did not consider Soviet men having relationships with foreign women to be problematic – this double standard revealed deeply sexist attitudes.
Punishment at the World Youth Festival
During the festival, squads of Party members patrolled the streets and forcibly shaved the heads of young Soviet women they found having relationships with foreign men.
In some cases, these women were deported and forced to work on farms in the Virgin Lands as punishment for their supposed crimes.
Official concerns about female sexuality
Women's lifestyles worried policymakers due to rising rates of teen pregnancy, abortion, and the many children born after the festival. Soviet officials were troubled by what they considered a new phenomenon: female sexual desire. Officials viewed male heterosexual desire as natural and normal, but considered female sexual desire of any kind to be a sign of unhealthy Western influences. Welfare policies attempted to direct women towards marriage and childbearing as supposedly healthier expressions of their sexuality.
Controlling consumer choice
As levels of consumer goods increased, so did consumer choice. However, economic planners and government propaganda campaigns sought to guide women to make what they considered the 'right choices'. Planned production of consumer goods was used to constrain women's choices. Economic planners determined the production of cosmetics and clothes according to semi-official standards of beauty.
Teacher's Gazette: Setting Standards for Soviet Women
The Teacher's Gazette, a magazine aimed at female teachers, set out guidance on how to dress appropriately in the consumer age. Teachers were considered role models for young women.
The magazine advised that Soviet women should dress in ways that reflected the socialist consensus rather than seeking to express individuality. It specifically warned that "overly bright lipstick, colour on the eyelids and red nail varnish make a woman look vulgar".
Restricting Western influence
The Soviet Government went to great lengths to restrict public access to the 1959 American National Exhibition, which featured an American beauty salon and fashion show. Government posters contrasted wholesome Soviet young women who wore knee-length skirts and plaits with young women who, following American fashions, wore capri pants and had shorter blow-dried hair.
Khrushchev's government, like the Soviet Government of the 1920s, associated modern fashion with frivolity, wastefulness, and decadence. They saw Western fashion as a threat to Soviet values and social stability.
The failure to control fashion
The rise of stilyagism
Despite government efforts, authorities were unable to stop the rise of stilyagism (the fashion hunting movement). The government failed to constrain the Soviet desire for fashion and Western styles. Between 1964 and 1970, consumer spending on clothes tripled. In cities, over half the clothes available in shops never sold because shoppers considered them unfashionable and poorly designed.
Wealthy urban families employed private dressmakers who worked from foreign fashion magazines to produce clothes that satisfied modern tastes. By 1985, 450 Western magazines were available on the black market in large Soviet cities, providing inspiration for those seeking fashionable clothing.
Western influence through film
The government's attempts to combat Western fashion influence were further undermined during the 1970s when trade with the West increased. Soviet cinemas began showing films from the United States and Western Europe that effectively showcased Western fashion. Soviet directors followed the lead of popular American films. For example, the heroine of The Blonde around the Corner (1983) wore Western clothes and lived in a fashionable apartment. This strategy proved highly successful, attracting 24 million viewers.
The 1970s and early 1980s
During the 1970s and early 1980s, the government remained concerned about Western styles. Soviet magazines continued to ridicule Western ways of dressing, and teachers were expected to discourage Western styles at school.
However, official attempts to discourage new fashions sometimes backfired. For example, the comedy film An Office Romance (1977) ridiculed a fashionable young female secretary for her love of 'provocative' clothes. Rather than being put off, audiences identified with the secretary rather than her conservative, poorly dressed boss. This shows how propaganda could produce the opposite of its intended effect.
Men adopt Western fashion
Where women led, men followed. During the 1970s, men also began approaching private tailors to get suits with the latest Western looks. In terms of popular culture, the government lost the battle against non-conformity, at least among urban women. By the mid-1970s, the fashion hunters had won.
Deviant artists and samizdat
The underground publishing movement
Khrushchev's thaws did not allow all Soviet artists to publish their work through official government-owned publishing houses. Therefore, from the late 1950s, writers produced 'samizdat' (self-published) magazines and books. This term literally means 'self-published' and referred to underground literature that circulated outside official channels.
The Samizdat Movement
Alexander Ginzburg is the best-known figure in the underground samizdat movement. He edited the magazine Syntax, which circulated on the Soviet black market. This magazine featured works that could not be published through official channels.
Doctor Zhivago, which was refused publication in the Soviet Union in 1954, was smuggled into the country in foreign editions. Samizdat editions were also produced and circulated illegally, allowing Soviet citizens to read this banned work despite government prohibition.
Punishment through psychiatric institutions
Artists who refused to submit to government control faced severe punishment. They were sent to psychiatric institutions supposedly to be 'cured' of their non-conformity. This approach allowed authorities to frame dissent as mental illness rather than legitimate criticism.
Psychiatric Institutions as Punishment
Josef Brodsky, for example, was sent to the Serbsky Institute where he was confined with people who suffered from mental illnesses that made them violent. Some artists were forcibly medicated as part of their 'treatment'. This was a form of torture designed to break their spirit and force conformity.
Conditions in these hospitals were extremely poor:
- Inmates survived on watery soup
- Cold and damp conditions caused physical and mental health deterioration
- Artists were mixed with violent patients
- Forced medication was used as a control mechanism
This punishment served both to neutralize dissenting artists and to warn others of the consequences of non-conformity.
Remember!
Key Points to Remember:
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Khrushchev's zigzag policy alternated between 'thaws' (cultural liberalization) and 'freezes' (renewed control), reflecting contradictions in his approach and Party pressure
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The three main thaws occurred in 1953–54 (Ehrenburg's The Thaw), 1956–57 (Dudintsev's Not by Bread Alone), and 1961–62 (Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich)
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Criticism of Stalin was sometimes permitted, but criticism of Lenin and the revolution remained completely off-limits
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The government used new propaganda techniques like 'popular oversight' to encourage citizens to monitor each other through ridicule and moral pressure rather than police reports
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Despite intense official campaigns against stilyaga (style hunters), the government ultimately failed to prevent the spread of Western fashion, with fashion hunters winning by the mid-1970s
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The samizdat (self-published) movement allowed banned works to circulate underground, while dissident artists faced punishment in psychiatric institutions