Authors

Georgii Khazagerov¹;  ¹ Independent Researcher, Armenia

Discussion

The report disputes theory of two cultures in the USSR: revolutionary and conservative showing that aesthetic paradigm of Soviet culture consisted of not two, but at least four stages. Alliance with avant-garde. In 1920s, Bolsheviks' expansion was aimed at the world revolution, contours of which looked unclear. Futurists, with their language experiments, were ideally suited to current tasks of propaganda. Alliance with myth. In 1930s, expansion of Bolsheviks was directed inward. Industrial symbols became aesthetic dominant of propaganda. Individual professions and production processes acquired symbolic meaning. Builders built communism, blast furnace smelted iron and melted down old ways of life. Symbolism was ideal for a semi-literate population and typologically resembled the medieval world. Alliance with classicism. Post-war classicism most fully expressed idea of ​​empire and its expansion. A stylistic decorum was created. It depicted USSR peoples  as colorful jewelry on an imperial necklace. Period of boredom. Soviet rhetoric become boring due to growing contradiction between solemn style and cultural, economic and political stagnation. Conclusions. The essence of Soviet propaganda was to replace argumentation with techniques of solemn eloquence. Switching aesthetic paradigm did not change this essence and was dictated by needs of the moment. However solemn eloquence, resistant to fear and suffering, cannot survive long stagnation.