Alexander Pushkin and His Literary Heritage in the Soviet Union in 1917–1937: from Criticism to Veneration

The article takes the process of changing attitudes to the creative heritage of Alexander Pushkin in the Soviet state as the subject of research. The goal of the research is to reveal the role played by the heritage of Alexander Pushkin in the policy of the so‑called “cultural revolution” and to what extent it contributed to the revolution’s success. Within the framework of this goal, the following tasks were set: to identify which political circumstances influenced the process under review, how strong was the overestimation of the significance of Pushkin’s creative heritage, what role it played against the background of ideological education. The task was also to consider specific events and, first of all, the 100th anniversary of the poet’s death as the moment of the final consolidation of Pushkin’s top position in the pantheon of Russian classics. The novelty of the research consists in considering changes in the attitude towards Pushkin and his creative heritage in conjunction with changes in theoretical objectives that determined the cultural development of the country. In the course of the research, the following conclusions were successfully reached. Despite the paramount importance of the theory of “two cultures” and the ideological attitudes of the Soviet government in its early years, in terms of which Pushkin as a representative of the exploiter class had to be criticized, there was no complete denial of his creative work even among the representatives of the Proletkult (the Proletarian Culture movement). At the time the cultural uniformity was established through the use of the only possible artistic method — socialist realism with highly valued ideologic content, simplicity and concreteness — models for inspiration were actively looked for. Eventually, the simplicity and national spirit of Pushkin’s characters managed to satisfy the demands in the best way possible. Despite the fact that the preparation and celebration of the Pushkin jubilee in 1937 were held according to the rules set by ideological campaigns, it had a tremendous positive effect and introduced Pushkin’s works to the broad masses of people. Pushkin’s creativity captivated millions of people. From there, we can say that the cultural development of the Soviet Union cannot be perceived one‑sidedly.