Von Geldern and Stites, readings for week 5 (pp. 32-138)
Read the following:
Shaginyan, Mess-Mend (1923)
Zoshchenko, The Lady Aristocrat (1923)
Bublichki (1920s)
Zhukov, Voyage of the "Red Star" Pioneer Troop to Wonderland (1924)
Anecdotes
Leninist Fairy Tales (around 1925)
Zhiga, The Thoughts, Cares, and Deeds of the Workers (1928)
Questions:
Mess-Mend:
This was a very popular story (mentioned in the Suny book, too). What about it might have made it popular?
How are the American capitalists portrayed? European "royalty"? The few workers and sailors we meet in this chapter of the story?
The Lady Aristocrat:
Both the editors of this collection and Suny refer to Zoshchenko as a very popular satirist. Who is he making fun of in this story?
How does the narrator characterize the woman in the story? What "type" in NEP society
does she represent?
Bublichki:
As we know, the soviet government was very concerned with using art to build popular support for the regime. This song was banned in the USSR until the 1980s. Why? What kind of picture of NEP life does it paint?
Voyage of the Red Star:
What does this children’s story tell you, first of all, about the sort of activities that the Pioneers (the main Soviet youth group) were supposed to participate in and the sorts of values that the organization was supposed to instill?
What does the description of the socialist "wonderland" of the future (1957!) tell us about the goals of the Soviet regime (or at least as they were understood by this writer)? What would the radiant future of world socialism be like?
Anecdotes:
Who is each of these jokes are making fun of? Be ready to explain each one.
Leninist Fairy Tales:
The first of these tales is from 1918. How does this story depict Lenin, his abilities, and his relationship with ordinary workers, soldiers, and peasants? How does it explain the causes and the purpose of the revolution?
The second story is from around 1925. In it, Lenin has faked his own death. What sort of things "happen" in the story after Lenin is "dead"? And how does Lenin react?
What do you think the point of this "fairy tale" is?
The Thoughts, Cares, and Deeds of the Workers:
Think of the discussion of workers’ lives during NEP in the Suny book. What sort of descriptions of living conditions do we find in this essay, and how does it relate to what we learned in Suny?
The essay presents descriptions of men’s barracks and women’s barracks. What sort of comparisons between men’s and women’s lives during NEP can we draw from these descriptions?
In what ways do the descriptions show workers’ support for and workers’ frustration with the Soviet system and the Communist Party?