The changing of the Soviet Union

10-15-13 Willow

The Soviet Union evolved during the inner war period between the years of 1930-1940. The changing views of religion and soviet film were factors that made this possible.

One of the big attributes that the Soviet Union gained and was able to be quite revered in was film. During that time period, the film industry was ruled by an organization called, Soiuzkino. This companys goals were focused on having responsibility over the financing and productions of film rights. The companys director, Boris Shumiatski, wanted to take an aggressive approach in shaping the aesthetics of Soviet film. Boris demanded that the films were to be assessable, enjoyable, and entertaining for everyone, but still have some political fidelity was still a must for the film industry. Boris was able to dethrone a few popular film directors such as Sergei Eisenstein. Complicated bureaucracy controlled the creating of film scenarios. Even though Eisenstein and other film directors found themselves at a loss due to the popularity of the soviet audiences focusing on Boris Shumiatskiis work, this new system gave them some encouragement. In 1934, two popular films were produced that are worth mentioning are, Happy Go-Lucky Fellows, directed by Grigorii Alekgandov, and the Vasilievs Brothers film, Chapeav. One of Segeis former assistant directors, Aleksandrov wanted to create a movie musical knowing that it would attract a ton of attention from the soviet people. An example that made the musical so popular was that Aleksandrov hired a famous Russian singer named, Leonid Utesov to play the main lead role in the movie. In the film, Leonid plays a shepherd from the Crimean village of Abrau , whose singing talent is discovered by vacationing Muscovites.

Growing up as a child in that time period in the on growing soviet society was based on following rules and falling under the propaganda that the soviet government cast out to people. If you were a child growing up in that area, a lot of opportunities were given to you for free basically, with little to know cost, expect for your exemplary study skills and ability to follows rules. The education system during those years was able to give out to the world some of the brightest and most educated children of any soviet generation. Young people were provided with educational and recreational opportunities. This was used to hopefully improve the young peoples socialist consciousness. Childhood tended to be very strict because of the expectations that were forced upon them. Children were forced to follow a high standard educational policy rule by rule. High ranking people were very watchful over the childrens lives and didnt really give them much freedom at all. Even with this strict system that the children seemed to be covered by, they were able to hold on to their sense of fun. The children were able to hide from the watchful eye of their elders. The standards of the childrens patents were strict and demanding, but they were also difficult to enforce upon them.

Religion played another role in the changing times for the Soviet Union. In 1918, the state created new restrictions against the church including a new law on the religious organizations issued in 1929, which forced the church to have little room to act upon this. During this time, the churches were overthrown and turned into warehouses, activists pursued different campaigns, mobilizing the people to destroy the poison of faith. Many scared objects that belonged to the church were melted down for their metal resources. Along with the new attacks on the churches came the uninterrupted work week called, Nepreryvka. This was introduced in 1929 and was meant to increase the productivity by keeping machines in full operations throughout the year, which also was used to wean workers away from the

Sundays and religious holidays. With this new work system and scheduling introduced, the people working were only given five days off during the year. These five days only including soviet holidays since religious holidays were abolished. Introduction of the Nepreryvka required cultural organizations, educational institutions, shops, baths, laundries, and other facilities to adjust to the staggered schedule, but over time, this fell apart due to the shortages of supplies and breakdown of machines.

The Soviet Union has been through many events throughout their history that has had some impact on their culture. These changes impacted how the Soviet Union become who they are today in terms of agriculture and industrial power. Because of these growing changes to Russia, they were able to provide a great amount of support towards the war effort in World War II.

Information and sources:

http://www.soviethistory.org/