Пролетарская vs Советская литература: (как партия руководила литературой)

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The paper analyzes the process of formation and introduction into practice of party control over the literary process. The correlation/opposition of the terms “proletarian literature” and “Soviet literature” in the first decade of Soviet power is considered through the prism of increasing party influence on society. The first manifestation of party control is the decree “On Proletkult” (1920), after which the organization entered the structure of the People’s Commissariat of Education. Adopted in 1925, the resolution “On the party’s policy in the field of fiction” clearly pointed to the only possible way of development: literature can and should develop within the framework of Soviet ideology. The resolution of 1932 “On the restructuring of literary and artistic organizations” demonstrated to the literary community that RAPP did not have the capabilities of a “state administrative organization”. Only a party that can and should use literature as an ideological tool has such opportunities. The restructuring of literary organizations has changed the status of fiction, which overnight became “Soviet”. The first All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers in 1934 finally consolidated the concept of “Soviet” for the country’s fiction, which made it the bearer of party ideology. The prerequisites for such strict guardianship of the state are connected with the peculiarities of the historical development of the Bolshevik Party, the nature of which was the suppression of dissent. An analysis of the development of relations between the party leadership and literary organizations in the USSR during the period under study indicates that the actions of the party in its desire to control are associated with the desire to turn literature into an ideal propaganda tool.