Questions on Von Geldern and Stites, Week 6
"Swell the Harvest" (1930)
What is the "message" of this song?
What is the song's political aim?
"Rammed It Through" (F. Panfyorov, 1930)
This account was published two months after Stalin's "Dizzy With Success" speech.
How did this account portray relations between collectivized and uncollectivized peasants?
Explain how the district colelctive farm chairmen got their decisions "approved" by the collective farmers.
How did this account portray the relationship between peasants and "white collar" workers?
How did this account portray the relationship between peasants and local party officials?
How did the author explain the reasons that peasants went into the collective farms in 1929-early 1930?
How did the author (and the Stalin leadership) explain the "excesses" of collectivization?
Bread (V. Kirshon, 1930)
This play was written at the height of forced collectivization (before March 1930).
Who are the "good guys" and who are the "bad guys"? Explain.
What is the point of the play's ending?
What message were viewers supposed to get from this play?
Pavlik Morovoz (M. Doroshin, 1933)
Pavlik Morozov was a boy who in 1932 turned his own father into the secret police for being a "kulak" and then was murdered by his father's family. He was considered a hero by the Soviet regime.
How does this poem portray Pavlik? His father? His father's family? Pavlik's patriotism? His murder?
What point are readers supposed to get from this poem?