Page 160 - Vinkler, Jonatan, Ana Beguš and Marcello Potocco. Eds. 2019. Ideology in the 20th Century: Studies of literary and social discourses and practices. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 160
Ideology in the 20th Century: studies of literary and social discourses and practices
thetic address adopted in Soviet poetry of the time to an intimate con-
versation with the reader. Viewed from this perspective, this was a new
phenomenon, in a way comparable to the epistolary texts and their an-
ti-Soviet (i.e., anti-official) stance, despite the fact that Asatiani’s, Sajaia’s
and Gelovani’s poetry, in fact, merges styles from the nineteenth centu-
ry; namely, both realism and romanticism. Their mixture therefore com-
plements the poetry of an older generation that was still present, especial-
ly in Galaktion Tabidze (1891–1959) and Giorgi Leonidze (1900–1966).
After the war, the political changes occurred in the Soviet Union.
The guns fell silent, and in 1953 Joseph Stalin—the incarnate symbol of
the country—died. Soon the much-talked-about Twentieth Assembly of
the Communist Party of the Soviet Union followed (1956). In a speech
by the leader of the Communist Party, Nikita Khrushchev, the follow-
160 ing was declared:
Comrades, we must decisively abolish the cult of the individual, once and
for all; we must draw the proper conclusions concerning both ideologi-
cal-theoretical and practical work.
It is necessary for this purpose:
First, in a Bolshevik manner to condemn and to eradicate the cult of the in-
dividual as alien to Marxism–Leninism and not consonant with the princi-
ples of party leadership and the norms of party life, and to inexorably fight
all attempts at bringing back this practice in one form or another.
To return to and actually practice in all our ideological work the most im-
portant theses of Marxist–Leninist science about the people as the creator
of history and as the creator of all material and spiritual good of humanity,
about the decisive role of the Marxist party in the revolutionary fight for
the transformation of society, about the victory of communism.
In this connection we will be forced to do much work in order to critical-
ly examine from the Marxist–Leninist viewpoint and to correct the wide-
spread erroneous views connected with the cult of the individual in the
spheres of history, philosophy, economics, and other sciences, as well as in
literature and the fine arts ...
Second, to systematically and consistently continue the work done by the
party’s central committee during the last years, work characterized by min-
ute observation in all party organizations, from the bottom to the top, of
the Leninist principles of party leadership, characterized, above all, by the
main principle of collective leadership ...
Third, to completely restore the Leninist principles of Soviet socialist de-
mocracy, expressed in the constitution of the Soviet Union, to fight willful-
ness of individuals abusing their power (XX syezd KPSS 2018, 3–5).
thetic address adopted in Soviet poetry of the time to an intimate con-
versation with the reader. Viewed from this perspective, this was a new
phenomenon, in a way comparable to the epistolary texts and their an-
ti-Soviet (i.e., anti-official) stance, despite the fact that Asatiani’s, Sajaia’s
and Gelovani’s poetry, in fact, merges styles from the nineteenth centu-
ry; namely, both realism and romanticism. Their mixture therefore com-
plements the poetry of an older generation that was still present, especial-
ly in Galaktion Tabidze (1891–1959) and Giorgi Leonidze (1900–1966).
After the war, the political changes occurred in the Soviet Union.
The guns fell silent, and in 1953 Joseph Stalin—the incarnate symbol of
the country—died. Soon the much-talked-about Twentieth Assembly of
the Communist Party of the Soviet Union followed (1956). In a speech
by the leader of the Communist Party, Nikita Khrushchev, the follow-
160 ing was declared:
Comrades, we must decisively abolish the cult of the individual, once and
for all; we must draw the proper conclusions concerning both ideologi-
cal-theoretical and practical work.
It is necessary for this purpose:
First, in a Bolshevik manner to condemn and to eradicate the cult of the in-
dividual as alien to Marxism–Leninism and not consonant with the princi-
ples of party leadership and the norms of party life, and to inexorably fight
all attempts at bringing back this practice in one form or another.
To return to and actually practice in all our ideological work the most im-
portant theses of Marxist–Leninist science about the people as the creator
of history and as the creator of all material and spiritual good of humanity,
about the decisive role of the Marxist party in the revolutionary fight for
the transformation of society, about the victory of communism.
In this connection we will be forced to do much work in order to critical-
ly examine from the Marxist–Leninist viewpoint and to correct the wide-
spread erroneous views connected with the cult of the individual in the
spheres of history, philosophy, economics, and other sciences, as well as in
literature and the fine arts ...
Second, to systematically and consistently continue the work done by the
party’s central committee during the last years, work characterized by min-
ute observation in all party organizations, from the bottom to the top, of
the Leninist principles of party leadership, characterized, above all, by the
main principle of collective leadership ...
Third, to completely restore the Leninist principles of Soviet socialist de-
mocracy, expressed in the constitution of the Soviet Union, to fight willful-
ness of individuals abusing their power (XX syezd KPSS 2018, 3–5).
