Culture and the People

by Maksim Gorky

English, Russian (translation)

224 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 1970

About the author

Also known as Alexei Maximovich (Aleksei Maksimovich) Peshkov.
Alternate spelling for Maxim Gorky.

Reviews

[Voyager · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maxim Gorky has long been understood as one of the foremost Soviet authors and fathers of socialist realism and this book, a collection of his final writings on the issue of culture, demonstrates why this is.

Although the development of socialist realism as an art form isn't elaborated here in the same detail as in the works of Zhdanov, Gorky masterfully exposes the characteristics of bourgeois culture including the pessimism of figures of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche in addition to bourgeois humanism. In place of the degenerating bourgeois culture prevalent in the west, Gorky explains his ideas to forge the new proletarian man, doing away with the remains of bourgeois culture in the Soviet Union, and celebrating the victories of socialism.

Overall, an excellent book for those interested in Soviet cultural and social policy, and especially those wanting to learn more about the Soviet cultural revolution - an actual cultural revolution, unlike Mao's bastardisation.