In this chapter you will read about Soviet culture in the period from 1917–1953, from the time of the 1917 Revolution to the death of Stalin. Specifically, consider the following questions:

1. When and why did the Bolsheviks encourage art forms that were revolutionary in nature?
2. When and how did the Bolsheviks change strategies on culture?
3. How did the state, under Stalin, control culture?
4. What were the two major categories of cultural figures in this period?
5. What were the major artistic works of the period in literature, architecture, and music?

Match the Russian with the English: Russian names and events are in chronological order, but English names and events are chronologically scrambled. Note how the events are expressed in Russian. In this chapter, the chronology matching exercise is presented in four parts, each part corresponding to a particular period in the history of Soviet culture from 1917 to 1953 as described below.