"“The International” is outdated for our people". Creation of the national anthem of the USSR (1943-1944)

Abstract

The article examines the process of work of the state commission headed by K.E. Voroshilov and A.S. Shcherbakov on the creation of the text and musical accompaniment of the new National Anthem of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics instead of the "International". "The source base of the article was made up of previously unknown materials of the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, the State Archive of the Russian Federation and the Archive of Russian Foreign Policy, as well as published documents and memoirs. Since the poems and music for the new anthem were selected on a competitive basis, dozens of Soviet poets and composers were able to participate in this competition. Stalin closely followed the work of the Voroshilov-Shcherbakov commission. He periodically gave instructions to the authors of the words of the anthem (S.M. Mikhalkov and G.A. Urekioyan), attended the auditions of its musical accompaniment. It is concluded that the work on the creation of a new anthem of the USSR in 1943-1944 was the implementation of an important state project that had no analogues in Soviet history. Keywords: "International", the National Anthem of the USSR, I.V. Stalin, K.E. Voroshilov, A.S. Shcherbakov, the Union of Soviet Writers of the USSR, the Committee for the Arts of the USSR, the Union of Soviet Composers of the USSR.